I find myself very irritated every time Airbnb sends me an email to lower my prices. I don’t think the young men running Airbnb have any knowledge of the gas station wars of the '60s. If we all continue to lower our prices, their algorithms will continue to spiral the suggested prices lower. Airbnb does not seem to take in my proximity to the pedestrian mall or open space and hiking trails, nor do they factor in special events, such as the Dead & Co. concert (booked 7 months in advance!), the Boulder Ironman race, etc.
This summer, I have noticed a dramatic decline in foreign guests – as in none. I’ve had zero. I had a family in the spring where the husband was from England but his wife was from California, so I don’t think that counts. Also, I have seen more and more Airbnbs pop up in Boulder. Thus, I have been diligent in playing with my pricing strategy.
If your Airbnb is in a high tourism area, this might work for you, too: I could rent my place solidly at the suggested prices of $200 +/- night. Historically, I have gotten up to double that during the summer, especially on weekends. If I booked 30 nights at $200, that’s $6000, but that’s also more work and more wear and tear. I start the pricing at $400/night. That way, if someone wants to book months in advance to secure a special weekend (like Parents’ Weekend – Boulder is also a university town), they have to pay a premium. I already have two bookings in October and one in December at my premium rate. However, I have no bookings for September. In a few weeks, I will start adjusting my September prices, but I will keep the home football weekends high. I adjusted my unbooked August nights to $325 at the beginning of this month, and I just got my last big booking today; I am at $8K for August with 7 unbooked nights. 3 of those nights cannot be booked because they are “onsies”, and I have a 2 night minimum. I dropped the price for the two sets of 2 midweek nights down to $150/night and that seems to be the right amount to get those filler nights booked. Even though I am down a bit from last summer, I think my strategy is mostly working.
Any thoughts or suggestions welcomed