It’s also a gay destination, isn’t it? That’s a great market.
Yes it does, in November. Do you have parking? If I was driving from London to Brighton in an old car like that I’d want to spend at least one night there so the car could recover!
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Yes, we’ve been very popular with lesbians!
It’s the quirky festival season now, so there’ll be beer fests, chilli fest, the old crocks run, possibly a gin festival, and if history is anything to go by, a failure of a cheese festival.
There is a lot of Airbs about, so it must just be down to price, as I was buoyed with confidence following Juy and August, I was still sitting on high prices
Also, I only use Airbnb as a platform, perhaps I should my finger out and cover more bases
OR, big OR, value for money. Can you add value rather than lower your prices? I really don’t like this bargain basement thing.
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good point. Could maybe do the parking for free during the grey months, but I suppose thats just dropping the price again. I’ve just promoted the kettle area, to a kettle and coffee machine area, I’ll add pics
Free parking is a huge benefit that we offer. I’ve looked at the hotels nearby and despite the fact that anything decent is more expensive than our rental, almost all of them charge for parking. The usual fee is about $35. PER NIGHT!
Although local restaurants etc. have parking lots, they are usually patrons-only and all street parking is metered. So free parking is a huge benefit for guests. And it’s not as if we are particularly close to the restaurants and shops - they are walkable but not, for instance, in high heels. Guests park here and then use Uber to get about.
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Would you share how you calculate your break-even, or anyone else on this post for that matter? (Or should I start a separate thread, or is there one already in the library of content?) I’m curious as to the approach, not so much the actual numbers.
Well, our minimum price is a combination of things. Easier now with a couple of years experience under our belt; originally the amount was a SWAG based on some assumptions, some known values and some estimated values including:
- Average cost for the breakfasts I serve
- Average cost of other consumables (bottled water, bottle of cheap wine, soap cakes, cleaning supplies, TP, paper towels, laundry soap, etc.)
- Outrageous cost of insurance ($5500 per year)
- Utilities costs for the listing, separate from the main house
- Per night prices of both immediate vicinity listings of all kinds and those with comparable amenities (pool access, beach proximity, neighborhood, provided breakfast, etc.)
So, for example, it costs about $4 to provide our gourmet breakfast for two; about $6 per stay for consumables; SWAG $2 for utilities (water & electric); $55 in insurance (assuming 100 guests a year). That’s about $67 cost, plus we’d like to make something for our time and effort hosting, cleaning, etc.
We have a High Season (December to May) and Low Season. During High Season we charge $99 a night (one-third the cost of a hotel a mile away), and during Low Season we charge $70 a night. Generally in Low Season there are 4 months when we’re lucky to have one or two guests per month. During High Season we’re booked almost solid.
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I’ve only just seen this post! And it’s a good one too 
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What about other expenses, such as linens, anything you upgrade?
Those are “capital expenses” not everyday running expenses. Those come out of what profit there is.
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I change prices at a minimum daily, if there isn’t a booking for the next 24 hours then more often. My sister in law is a national accommodation manager for a large chain and when I told her that’s what I do, she replied with: you have to, it’s normal practice. There are companies that do it for you but I don’t like giving them a percentage of my money.
About two weeks out I start reducing prices until I have a booking and the lowest I go is about 50%. I tell friends to never book in advance as you are paying a premium.
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My formula was longer term guests like miinimum 1 week (most stay longer like a month or even more ) in low season and short terms for higher season.
Now I changed to one week minimum all seasons but of course price is different. Works for me perfectly.
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I have found that based on the increased competition in my area and to also get bookings from the Boston market (I’m 7 miles from the city), I have had to decrease my rates and am making about $500 less per month than I did in 2017 but I’m still making enough of a profit to cover my mortgage, taxes and insurance. I most of the cleaning myself and a lot of my visits are 1-2 nights so I make money on the cleaning too. Having said that, there’s a sweet spot between going too low and getting poorer quality guests which are just not worth the aggravation.
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If you’re providing great value for money (rather than bargain accommodation) then you should always think very carefully before lowering your prices. And remember that in many travel industries (airlines, rail travel etc.) people save money by booking in advance.
If I were to book a flight today to Europe, it would probably cost me in the region of $700 if I was booking a couple of months in advance. If I wanted a flight tomorrow, it would cost considerably more. The so-called ‘last minute’ prices are a gamble as regards availability. Most people who are travelling, with the exception of those who are deliberately looking for bargains, prefer to know that their flight/accommodation is safely booked rather than gamble on the chance of getting a late bargain.
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This is pretty much how I do it. I also enjoy tinkering with prices. As far as waiting till the last minute; that’s fine in some cases, but in my locale in the summer, if you wait too long you’ll either be reserving a dump, getting nothing, or paying way too much. Simple supply and demand. In the winter it’s a totally different story.
I have no problem paying a bit more for the place I want. I’ve watched more than one airbnb I had my eye on get reserved by someone else while I waited for a better price. And as for hotels, that’s not consistent either. There’s a NYC hotel that sends me emails about twice a year with excellent advance prices, about half price. I haven’t been able to take advantage yet though.
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I’m the same. I’m usually a planner when I travel and I would be unhappy if I didn’t get the place I wanted.
If you want a bargain priced flight then you book well in advance but bargain priced accommodation is best found last minute.
However, because I travel a lot and for long periods I’m not your standard person looking for somewhere lovely to stay. If we are travelling for a few months and scrimping on accommodation then we will pay a little more every couple of weeks to stay somewhere nicer but generally we are happy with what the hotel chain calls 3*. Of course if we can get 5* accommodation (hotel stars not Airbnb stars, I only book 5* Air places) for a 3* price then we will!
We generally book 1- 3 days before we arrive and never have any trouble finding somewhere, even in peak periods like between Xmas and New Year. The type of travelling I do is to see the world not to sit in my accommodation all day so clean and functional is fine.