Misleading rates

@cmpipe some of the hosts on this thread can give valuable feedback on how to make your listing more appealing.

You may wish to send the link to a few via private messaging and ask for their opinions.

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@Annet3176 Thank you! I have read alot of questions & answers on this forum, some with ā€œnewbiesā€ asking for help, and it seems that hosts, in general, donā€™t really want to give advice like that. It seems that being successful in this platform (to some) is proprietary information. I get it. I suffered/paid my dues, and so shall youā€¦kind of thingā€¦lol! But you are very kind to suggest it, and your helpful attitude is what this forum is all about, right? 7 months in to this ā€œcompetitive gameā€ and Iā€™m learning. Take care & best of luck with your listing.

@mille100piedi Hi there! Well, the house Iā€™m talking about with the super low listed price may be just an extra property that the host owns and decides to rent. I only noticed the house because I was researching competitive prices in my general area. Homes w same configuration- # bedrooms,bath,etc. Being new to the short-term rental market, I needed to price accordingly. So I did a search & thereā€™s the house prices waaaaay below what others charge. They had alot of good reviews & calendar was filled. I could not imagine how they even covered their expenses! Lol! And, their home was at the top of the search results. Anyway, for a giggle, I pretended to book, and found that the actual rate they charge is at least 3x whatā€™s on their listing page.
I asked how this was done & got my answer: just one low ball night will do it.
The result is obviously that folks will see the price & review the listing. Itā€™s attractive, so the higher booked price must be ok. Itā€™s a pricing game & for them has become an effective strategy.
What annoys me is that Airbnb is including their house in comps for the area, and no one comes close to their crazy listing price. Now, if the comp results showed the average booked price, then the research would be more helpful. Sigh.

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@mille100piedi I have to agree. Their search results are useless if youā€™re trying to price your property based on comparable # of beds, etc. Shows that you cannot base your pricing strategy on their search results. Then you question their ā€œsmart pricingā€ which incorrect if theyā€™re basing it on the listing price of homes. Opens up a can of worms! Iā€™ve read many times that smart pricing is too low. We know why, right?!
Makes me curious as to how many folks use 3p pricing toolsā€¦

@KKC Iā€™m glad you asked what ā€œaccessibleā€ means as Iā€™ve found ( on Airbnb) that many folks donā€™t know that it means wheelchair accessible when youā€™re referring to propertiesā€¦taken in context, of course.
I exaggerated the radious.
I have rented long-term for years using a Property Manager. Itā€™s safe and the money is consistent, but how much you can charge per month obviously has its limits. Then thereā€™s the tenancy laws,etc.; maintaining the propertyā€¦list goes on.
Short-term rental can be more profitable and theyā€™re out in a few days- you can see damage right away, etc. Iā€™ve found it has its advantages as long as the price is right & you get booked.
The work, Iā€™ve found is in pricing correctly & making the listing more appealing than Ć²thers.
If youā€™re lucky to have a home where many people want to go on holiday ( London, New York) then unless thereā€™s a glut of properties, chances are, for a decent place, you open the door and they fall in. I donā€™t have that tourist-driven traffic. Iā€™m in the suburbs just outside Atlanta, so I have to pull people in by marketing, pricing, advertising, etc.
So, itā€™s been alot of work getting bookings.
I know what I need to make-itā€™s a matter of getting there.
Cheers!

@cmpipe

There are hosts on this forum who are helpful. If you send them personal messages you are not subjecting your listing to critique by the many. There are several on this thread an others who would give you helpful feedback. All you need to do is ask them. If you donā€™t know who to message, Iā€™m sure the moderators would make recommendations, as would I.

Iā€™m having trouble understanding this statement. Two weeks ago there was a shortage of rooms due to multiple conferences, events & ball games in Atlanta. If your listing is properly presented, you shouldā€™ve had rentals.

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Some websites show a range or average price. At least they are obliged to offer the rate listed for the date. Using TripAdvisor and putting in dates then clicking through to the cheapest booking site (Bookings.com is the worst abuser) the actual rate is often much higher. If TA were genuine in trying to be honest they would randomly check rates and throw off the worst ones but those are also their clients who pay them $$$$.

Hi, yes, July is doing ok, but I canā€™t say the same for August, etc. Iā€™ve had a problem with pricing, so I just signed up with Wheelhouse. I get stressed because my home/rental is my future security.
If youā€™d like to take a peek at my home? Just first impressionsā€¦like is it inviting?


wowā€¦ thatā€™s bigā€¦lol! ( the link results)ā€¦

Like many have already answered, we have weekend and holiday rates that are higher than our base rate. But we also follow the lead of local hotels and may charge even higher rates when we have already booked a certain percentage of our available dates. We do this rather then block those dates but are perfectly comfortable if no one books at the higher rate. However, we never offer a rate lower than our base rate.

No, not to me.

You focus on a very small niche market. A group of guests that is does not use AirBnB as their first choice to find a place. You focus a lot on this, so this could scare other guests away.
Also when these guests look for an accessible place, they will use the filters, so no need to put it in the listing title.

Also the first description are all bulletpoints. And due to the use of caps, ~, $ and bad and useless abbreviations the whole thing is not friendly to the eye and hard to read:

"ā€¢ SAVE $ w Fully equipped Kitchen. "

This just hurts my eyesā€¦ and how do you think this will look in AirBnBā€™s auto translate.
It would be a lot better to write a friendly paragraph of text.

Look at your your main competitor in accessible listings: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/20458108?location=Smyrna%2C%20GA%2C%20United%20States&s=Qdzo0O0g

His pictures could be better, but his description is a lot more readable.

I would also change the main picture. Now it is just a drone picture of a green house, that could use some tweaking of the levels and curves. (The second picture is a bleached picture of the entrance, followed by an simple picture of a bedroom.)

But think of what people would like about the house, give people ideas of what the house has to offer them during the stay. For example, for summer bookings I would dress up the wooden patio, and create a family outside dinner setting, and use that as the main picture. So when people see your listing they will think: ā€œthat is what I want for my familyā€.

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I donā€™t really get why so many people are jumping to the conclusion that hosts that might have individual nights priced much lower than average are trying to trick anyone.

You know that airbnb is the one who chooses to flag this ā€œprices start as low asā€ and not include all fees, not the host.

I personally will often heavily discount the odd unsold nights left over between other reservations as they get closer just to fill them. Iā€™m doing it to get revenue for a night that would otherwise go vacant, not to affect how my listing is displayed.

Lol, who cares what other host do! I looked at my listings and the price displayed is my lowest price plus the cleaning deposit, no ABB fees. I just lowered a few Tuesday nights to get that number down so more people will see my place. Its not trickery its business.

RR

Did you see I gave the example of a fellow with one cheap night that he had no intention of booking out? I clicked on it to see if I could book it because if I could get a $200 a night place for $50 I would stay there one night and move to another airbnb for the other nights. It wasnā€™t bookable because he has a 3 night minimum.

It is deceptive if the service or product is not actually available at that price. Itā€™s like a store flyer with a cheap item, you go to buy the item and they are out and they point to the small print that says ā€œno rain checks.ā€ When you complain to the manager he says ā€œitā€™s not trickery, itā€™s business. We had 5 of them but sold out.ā€ Iā€™m sure you would just admire their clever business sense, you wouldnā€™t be irritated, but I would.

Itā€™s one thing to have nights based on demand like the hotel thatā€™s $20 a night cheaper on T-W-Th, itā€™s another to just have artificially low prices to get people to look.

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When I was in retail they would sell paper towels on the ad for less than we paid for them, and then put them in the back of the store so you have to go past everything else to see them. Costco mixes stuff up all the time to make you search. No difference. Plus you can book my tuesday rate its not fake.

RR

It is available at that price in my case. I have a one day minimum so anyone who wants to book my cheap Tuesday night is free to do so and I will be happy to host them.

My thanks to the OP for pointing out this strategy!

RR

yes! i absolutely agree with you on artificial prices. perfect word: artificial. and, the example you gave of trying to get that elusive $50 price was spot on.
no, we canā€™t dictate what other hosts do, however, my point was that when Airbnb compiles a list of ā€œsimilar listingsā€ to use as a comparison, i have to wonder at these low ball prices. Airbnb keeps saying lower my pricesā€¦to the low ball one? trick the public the same way?
discounting prices based on demand, orphan date, etc. is not what weā€™re talking about. nothing wrong, certainly, with managing your booking that way. itā€™s smart.
bottom line: airbnb cannot expect me to offer ā€œconsistentlyā€ low ball prices to match the competition when that price is artificial. this certainly makes it hard for a new host, i can tell you that!

And you can book my cheap Tuesday night as well, no minimum night stay here.

RR

thank you, chris, for taking the time to critique my listing! you were very thoughtful and i really appreciate your advice.
i thought the bullets would make it easier to read. some people have said if itā€™s too wordy folks wonā€™t bother reading it? Iā€™ll look at that other listing.
appreciate your input, chris!
cheers!

I know in my own town there are some nice, inexpensive places but there seems to be more demand than supply so I just wait it out. The last minute people have to pay more, not less if Iā€™m the only listing left. And if it doesnā€™t book out, I take a night off. I donā€™t lower my price anymore.

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