Here we go again - pricing suddenly magically changed on calendar!

1

Major whinge coming …

In September I spent a day updating the prices on my three properties in readiness for an influx of bookings for the end of this year and into next year (we can all dream!).
So … I changed the prices on the calendars and then, because I’ve been caught out before, I took a screenshot of every month for each of our three properties.

Since then I have periodically checked the calendars to make sure they are ok but it is time consuming and I have’t done it for a week or so.

Today I got a December booking for our studio for £100 per night - it should have been £125. I checked on the calendar and, sure enough, the prices had magically changed back to what they had been previously. I checked my screenshots and they depicted the correct prices.

I have raised it with Airbnb and was initially told I didn’t press the save button! I explained my process to them (update calendar - exit calendar - go back into calendar to make sure it’s correct then take screenshot) and also reminded them that if I hadn’t pressed save the prices wouldn’t have changed.

As it stands, I have lost £75. Airbnb have offered me a couple of choices: either inform the guest that the price was incorrect (it was unclear if they expected me to do this, or if they would do this on my behalf) or cancel the guests with no penalty.

Needless to say I am less than impressed. Either choice makes me look like an incompetent fool (I may be a fool, but I’m not incompetent). It is not my fault, so I feel I shouldn’t lose the booking, neither is it the guests’ fault - they booked in accordance with the advertised price.

I pointed this out to the customer service person who has said they understand and to “let me check what can we do”.

I don’t want to let the guests down so I will probably have to take the hit as I doubt if Airbnb will make up the difference.

I had a similar problem in August last year when all three calendars were blocked out for most of the winter for works to be carried out but a guest still managed to book. I took this up with Airbnb (with screenshots as evidence) and they cancelled the booking with no penalty but then did nothing further, even though I asked them to investigate why the problem happened in the first place.

If a host makes a mistake we have to accept the penalty, rightly so but when the system changes things no one in Airbnb seems to be able to help. Do the powers that be at Airbnb really expect us to check each nightly price on our calendars on a regular basis to make sure nothing has changed? if so, how regular?

Whinge over …

2 Likes
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I just watched a You Tube video a couple of months ago that said the discount given to guests for new hosts is not removed which he said is causing a 10 to 20% discount automatically given to guest regardless of price set by host. Not sure if it’s true but I followed his instructions to change prices back to what they should be, just in case he’s right. Let me see if I bookmarked that video. If so, I’ll post it here.

Update: How to Turn Off 20% Discount From Airbnb Listing [For First 3 Guests] - YouTube

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Do you have Smart Pricing turned on or off?

If Smart Pricing is in effect then prices do go up AND down, not only UP.

You can override Smart Pricing by going to your calendar, clicking the offending date, and then turning Smart Pricing off for that date.

If Smart Pricing is off then your problem must be magic!

4

Hi
I’m not a new host and I don’t have smart pricing turned on because there is no comparable property in our area. I have been setting our prices since the end of 2018.

I started taking screen prints because when it happened before I really thought it was my mistake. I actually thought I was losing the plot! The first time I had proof of a problem was when Airbnb unblocked the calendar for one of my properties, leaving the other two blocked. I had taken screenshots because I had blocked off all the properties for six months from Oct to April to have lots of work carried out and yet I still got a booking!

Magic it may be, but seriously annoying is the way I would describe it.

I now take screenshots of any changes I make, whether it’s prices, amenities, booking rules, everything.

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5

Have you checked to see that somehow, unknown (ur unintended) by you:

  • customized “duration” discount turned on
  • last-minute booking discount turned on
  • advance booking discount turned on
6

@RitaMeerkat - get a channel manager like OwnerRez instead of relying on Airbnb honesty

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I see this happening daily on mine. I am a new host, started in August this year, but do not have smart pricing on. It rarely changes the pricing of dates that I have manually gone in and set, but it VERY often changes the pricing on dates where I just have the standard price. Very irritating.

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From the website it looks like OwnerRez is for designed mostly for hosts with multiple properties. It looks really good tho! $40/month for one property is more than I want to spend, alas. For 5 it’s $88

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Thanks for everyone’s comments. Just to clarify, all my prices are manually set - I have never used any standard prices or suggested prices. It’s tedious to do it but it should give me some form of control. I am also aware of any discounts I choose to set - plus they show up on the calendar and so would show up on my screenprints.

Thanks for telling me about OwnerRez which I will take a look at as I have three properties but I do think that Airbnb make enough out of hosts and guests to make sure they get things right.