Price and Availability Warnings on Calendar

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Maybe this feature has been around a while and just hasn’t popped up on my calendar. Has anyone ever seen this themselves? I have several days tagged with:

“Surrounding higher prices and little availability”

I looked and it was the truth. I felt the price to be fair (yet overpriced all at the same time) but it was way lower than what remains. Clearly it was higher or my listing less desirable than what has already booked. But I think I have 2 choices: fight to be first (get volume) w/ lower prices (or more amenities/features or both) or be a “fair deal” in a sea of overpriced listings.

BTW, I mentioned in another thread I had lowered (slightly) the price but then I got a sketchy request. That’s when I paid attention to the “price/availability warning” and realized I brought “sketchy” on myself.

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I recently raised my prices to match the price of my competition. I do check often and adjust pricing accordingly.

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I do also but something changed dramatically in just a few days. I admit it caught me off guard :flushed:

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As long as I can remember Airbnb had a designation for in demand days. It used to be a little red dot. Now it’s a much bigger black circle with an arrow. It’s been that way since they changed the calendar but I’m not sure how long that’s been. 2 months? When it was the red dot it may or may not have had the same wording about prices and availability. Maybe someone with a better memory will chime in.

I’m one of those who in the past would actually raise my prices closer to open dates because once the low price listings are gone, they are gone. Also because of the kind of bookings I get, that tends to work. Someone is driving across country and they stop for the night and look at their map and then look for their place to stay. My place pops up at the top of their search. Sure if they had booked two weeks ago there would be places just as nice as mine for 30% less. But now all they see is my place. They don’t know it’s not the best “value” because they didn’t see all those cheaper places.

Right now I have my cancel policy set at moderate and I’m only opening up the next 5 days at a time. That means no one who books is entitled to any refund unless they book more than one night. I’ve had one booking/cancel and I kept their money because I didn’t rebook.

I don’t know what the last minute demand is for entire homes in your area. My guess would be that unless someone had a similar market to me, raising prices closer to the stay wouldn’t work.

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Over the Australian Summer holidays, basically from Xmas till the end of January/Australia Day I put my prices up. Because of lockdowns last year when they announced there wouldn’t be one over this period my bookings quickly picked up. I had about a 20% surcharge for “High Season” and double them over Xmas/NYE, pretty much like everyone else. After long periods without guests I definitely needed the money and Xmas is when I make enough to pay for some needed improvements and new expensive items. Then my two late January bookings cancelled but I picked up some smaller weekend and three day bookings. One of them was for a family of 4 over a weekend. Because the two kids were over 2 they paid $70 pppn extra or $140 per day on top of the $250 pd for 2 (usually $220 out of season) + $90 for Air’s fees. Readers, I got the worst review of my Airbnb life. She made it clear that for $480 she expected much, much more!!! And then proceeded to go around and list every little thing she could find, some real, but minor and some imagined and some because she didn’t read the listing. I mean a 2 for cleanliness which surprised my cleaner who had spent 2 hours cleaning the place. 1 for value. 2 for listing truth. Basically she just didn’t get the sort of place you would get if you paid $480/night in November instead of January for 2 people. And with two toddlers just over 2 is in that parent denial zone where they can’t understand how it now costs double to go on holiday than when they were just a couple. I mean they are only small right? Can’t they sit on my lap on the plane?
I worked out the holiday bump in my base rate was about 20% which is pretty modest. I charge $70 pppn for more than 2 because it really is set up for couple or singles but I have an extra bedroom so I figure if people are prepared to pay that much then I am happy to take their money and grubby kids and pay my cleaner extra for it as well.
So apart from getting that off my chest I wouldn’t be too worried about charging top dollar for your area. The concept of “Overpriced” in a free market is meaningless. Economics 101 tells us price is a function of supply and demand, not some intrinsic value. The market price is when the most desperate seller meets the most optimistic buyer. Just don’t be surprised if they leave you a bad review (and I followed the advice I have given people here to not reply to it and just let it sink amongst the 300+ great reviews).

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This. The wise @georgygirlofairbnb told me once “the last place to get booked wins”. Our Xmas and New Year’s prices are almost four times the price of our low-low season. We’re the last one to get booked! Most years, we get a four-star from our Xmas guests. But that’s OK because we have lots and lots of five-star ratings and I’d rather have the money.

I suspect part of this is dependent on what the guests are used to. Our New Year’s guests this year were from London and they left a glowing five-star review even though it was a couple and their young daughter in our three-bedroom villa, paying full price for six people.

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Sigh. I understand this. I had a guest unhappy that toddlers were included in the guest count (max 6 - 3br 2.5 ba condo). Her sticky fingered toddlers left peanut butter & jelly smears on every single surface within their reach.

The cleaner cleaned & finally said you can finish or it’s an extra $200. Oh my word, bannister, spindles, kitchen & bathroom cabinets, coffee table tvs—every single surface. I think those parents never washed the children’s hands. I photographed & sent the parents a notice of extra billing for additional cleaning because of sticky surfaces & where a child threw up on the carpet & they didn’t even try to clean it up.

I ended up closing that STR & moving it to LTR a few years ago after a 3 problem renters.

  1. Excess guests & mess
  2. Toddlers with overwhelmed parents
  3. Toddler & hyper vigilant (anxious) mother
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I can’t believe what a mixed bag we all get. What were they thinking!?!

I hosted families with little ones my last 2 stays. There was some sticky on the floor and some prints but it was clear they’d tried to be clean. Now… not like me…I’m a tad OCD so my kids ate meals and snacks and treats at the dining table only and washed hands after being excused. But I get that I’m not like the “humans”, as my husband says :slight_smile:

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I expect to get slaughtered in my reviews this upcoming summer. I priced as high as I could possibly imagine…and am already booked out. The house is almost all 5 star reviews…but it will be interesting to see how the stars settle at the highet prices. In the past my higher prices have lead to 4 star reviews. Doesn’t matter to me…the extra profit is so big that I am going for it.

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Same here, but I wouldn’t consider it OCD. It’s a lot easier and less time-consuming than having to clean up food mess all over the house to teach your kids from the beginning that eating happens at the table and you wash your hands when they have food on them.

Besides, isn’t it our job as parents to teach them civilized behavior? It’s not doing kids any favors to raise them in such a way that they aren’t particularly welcome anywhere.

Seems like a lot of parents expect their children to just wake up one day and be responsible people.

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I’ve raised summer prices (50% increase), 5 day minimum & added a cleaning fee. I’m already getting bookings for summer.

I usually don’t get any summer bookings until mid-late March so this is early.

I’m shocked at what some of the neighbors are asking for summer 2022 nightly rates (high). Close to the end of May I’ll assess my pricing & bookings. I will increase or decrease my nightly rate depending on what nights are left.

Looks like a boom vacation summer is coming.

Btw: I’m expecting my value stars to take a beating but I’m probably going to lose superhost anyway so big whoop.

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My mom wasn’t OCD. She was very quick to figure out how to save labor or to get us 4 kids to do it, which meant cleaning up & putting way everything so that she didn’t have to do it. That meant that she was rarely overwhelmed by housework.

My dad the handyman was building storage bins out of scrap wood for toys. My parents never stepped on a toy in bare feet. :wink:

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Fingers crossed for all five-star ratings for you this summer, @georgygirlofairbnb !

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I tend to get booked up only a few weeks in advance, I think it is a combination of my higher prices and strict policy. Yet I do get booked, I do think that closer to the date there are less available and nothing cheap left so I get booked. Works for me.

RR

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Exactly the same.

…

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This is how I was raised, how I raised my children, and how future generations in my family are being raised. It’s THIS that makes us human. The sticky fingers on the bannister and the throw up on the carpet is disgusting.

I’ve raised my prices $5 a night and I have steady bookings through March. I expect April will soon start being booked as there are NO listings like mine close to the new construction going on. I get a lot of people coming to meet with builders or realtors and they love my location.

I’m getting good guests, declining the ones that don’t fit (gut and communication), and my 20/30-something Europeans are back and they’re freaking adorable.

When my children were little, cleanup started at 4:30pm so that Daddy (husband #1) would walk into a clean home, clean kids, and a nice family dinner. I had the luxury of being a stay-at-home mom. When I became single, cleanup happened before dinner and again before bed. Makes life much easier.

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Joke for you:

Guy comes home from work, has to move the kids’ trikes and other stuff to drive in the driveway, sees toys, bathing suits and clothing scattered all over the yard. The kiddie pool has the hose in it, turned on full, overflowing the pool and soaking the yard. The place never looks like that- something’s wrong.

He rushes into the house- there’s jam smeared all over the doorknob, cheezies all over the floor, toys everywhere, dirty dishes piled high all over the counter, table and sink. Food everywhere, a puddle of milk on the floor. The kitchen tap is running. He calls out to his wife and kids, no answer.

Runs upstairs- the bathtub water is also running, almost overflowing the tub, he trips over more toys and clothes on the floor. Opens the kids’ door to find them playing happily with their dolls.
“Oh hi, Daddy.”
“What’s going on here, where’s Mom?”
“She’s in the bedroom.”

He rushes in. She’s sitting up in bed, reading a book, what appears to be a cocktail on the nightstand, some bowls of nuts and other snacks.

“OMG, honey, are you sick? Are you hurt? What happened?”

“Oh no, I’m fine. Had a lovely day, actually.”

“I don’t understand- it looks like a cyclone tore through here, the place is a disaster.”

“Oh, that. Well, you know how when you come home from work you always ask me what I did all day? Well, today I didn’t.”

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This is one of my all-time favorites. When married to #1 I took a part time job on weekends and left him with the kids. Similar scenario and he - big strapping jock - was exhausted!

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:rofl: I was a stay-at-home mom, too, and I couldn’t even bother to respond when people would ask what I do all day. Really? With 4 kids, you have to ask!? They’d be like a little line of ducklings waddling around behind me.

I was forced to institute “All Nap Hour” at some point. All 5 of us in my bed, door closed & childproof locked. Not sleepy? I DON’T CARE! Read a book, daydream, whatever. Just no one leaves this room until me and whoever was “baby” at the time had slept.

I miss those days; such sweet babes :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

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Yes, thinking something is overpriced is sunk cost fallacy.

While in theory you want to be the last one booked, in reality you have to take some margin for error. In a market with 300+ listings, I really like it when I get bookings when there are < 20 listings. Getting booked when there are 100+ listings means I’m under charging. Not getting bookings when there are < 10 listings means charging too much. I’m guilty of the latter but I do enjoy getting bookings at high rates at the last minute.

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