How do you guys let the guests know when you lower your night price?
what are you talking about – you mean after they’ve stayed with you & you’re trying to get them to return?
Yes and no. For example: You had a last minute cancellation and your flat is free for 3 days. So, you put your price lower than before trying to get some guests. How are the possible guests noticed about your discount?
Well, anyone doing a search for those dates will see your new low price (which you manually set in your calendar). If you’re trying to entice people to come last minute by offering a low rate, there’s no way to do that without putting the low rate and dates into your title. From what I’ve seen, people search on AirBNb with specific dates in mind and they don’t do a generic search just looking at properties.
I am totally up front to my guests about that, if they even notice. I tell them I adjust the price every night if the place is empty to remain competitive in my area. What’s it to them? They booked on a competitive night. Too bad. No discount. If I were you I’d just do a search for available properties on the days you are free and set it to cheaper for just those nights. You might get a last minute booking if it’s really low, or no booking at all. Or, if I want a break, I set the price higher.
I always get confused about the price because depends on the day. Should exist something showing a calendar and the price each day of the calendar.
I agree with cs. While I am almost always booked, August was slow; I checked around and saw that other Airbnb listings have August vacancies too. So I lowered my price and produced results. I generally do not raise my price.
Marcy
From a pricing perspective, I agree you should discount for approaching unbooked nights. We think that is so important, we made sure to build that into our dynamic pricing algorithm at www.everbooked.com. For our clients, our software automatically lowers prices as unbooked nights approach (or become available due to a cancellation) toward a minimum level set by the host in advance. That way situations like the one you describe are automatically taken care. Hope that helps.
btw, re: informing potential guests, you could write a note about the dates available at the top of your description in Airbnb mentioning those dates are available at a discount - so book now!