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The base price is a joke. I have seen a lot of listings with a base price that is more than 50% less expensive than the real price (when you fill your travel dates) with the main purpose to attract travelers in a first filter stage.
There are some guests that already know their travel dates but others don´t and the misleading base price starts being unnecessary noise in their search experience. A traveler might first filter out their desired listing by narrowing the price of their search but if there are no travel dates they will see a price that is totally different than the real price.
Another strategy that some hosts use is to attract guests is look for the very short stays with low prices but paired with super high cleaning fees. If you were browsing the site with dates on, Airbnb will use the cleaning fee and add it to the total hence you get the real price. I’m not sure what´s the point of showing the base price.
I agree. I saw a “too good to be true” listing with a rate of “$16.” I searched and searched the calendar looking for that one $16 day but gave up. I wonder how many guests get turned off of using airbnb entirely by that practice.
I air a room in my house on a “homestay” basis, I have a price and that price is what it is… all included what I offer, so no surprises
I don’t like to “catch” guests with this “base price nonsense” as it annoys me a lot when I book somewhere and then the price just rises due to mark-ups and extras (like car hire)…
I do give discounts though for weekly or monthly stays, as I like to host longer term.
We have a base price of $135. Smart Pricing increases this from time to time and I adjust the calendar manually when there are special events. Hotels and airlines do this and I see no problem with upping prices when demand is high.
