Thank you for your nice comments about my house. I agree with your comments on “Smart pricing”.
Hello Faheem. There’s my listing. Since my place is so cheap anyway, the fluctuations in pricing they suggest aren’t that drastic. But I have seen my “price suggestions” go down to $25/night, which is ridiculous. I’ve settled on a price that’s doable for me, and when I look at what others in my area are offering at a similar rate I think guests are getting a good deal.
Of course you have to adjust your pricing with your type of listing. Your situation is quite different. While I am in a fairly heavily travelled tourist area–lots of students, convention attendees, etc.–I only offer a spot for one guest so I get a different demographic. However I do have a listing in Palm Desert that’s very near the Coachella and Stagecoach music events. For those I go with pricing according to what the market will bear, as they say 
Most of April '17 is already booked.
Hi @J_Wang,
that looks like a nice place. Your rate is actually rather similar to mine. And I’ve seen my price suggestions go down to USD15.
It looks like you have everything from November 2016 blocked off, so I’m not sure what you mean by April 2017 already being booked.
What I meant is that I’m booked well into the future, mostly by Snow Birds (Canadians) that I get by simply putting a sign in the window and not through Airbnb. The April dates and some others previous are from Air, though. Also, just now, I blocked off any remaining open days from the calendar since getting a notice from Air that they’ll be collecting a 9% occupancy tax that they’ll pay the City of Palm Desert. This is going to make my rates pretty high.
Hi @J_Wang,
Thanks for the clarification. It didn’t occur to me (though it should have) that you were booking outside Airbnb. So, if I understand correctly, you’re not planning to rent through Airbnb in the future? And you are now not renting via a site at all? Airbnb collects tax for the Indian govt here as well. It’s annoying, but what are you going to do?
I probably won’t rent the Palm Desert place through Airbnb any longer, partly because of this tax thing, but also because I get enough renters from putting up a sign; and most of them have been using our place for a number of years. Also, I don’t live near the desert place, so I don’t get to meet the people and check them out. Last year for the Coachella Fest/Stage Coach I had pretty good luck, but even still, I think they sneaked in extra people and they left the place in a bit of a mess–doors open, clothing left behind, AC left on.
Hi @J_Wang,
Oh, I missed the fact that you have two different rentals. I was looking at the Long Beach one. I don’t think you gave the link to the Palm Desert one. Sorry about the confusion.
You can see the Palm Desert listing on “other listings” I think it’s called. Are you in India? Would you mind sharing your listing? I’m so curious. Thanks.
True, I forgot they were connected by the host listing.
Yes, I’m in India. http://towerroom.net redirects to my listing. If you want to comment on my listing, you could post on this existing thread: Please comment on my listing - Airbnb hosts forum
Faheem, your place is amazing! I want to come stay there! Years ago I visited Mumbai when it was called Bombay. Had a great time. Juhu Beach was a highlight.
Your rate seems very low for a private room with such lovely amenities. Perhaps you’ll be raising it just a little in the future as you get more guests who will, I’m sure, give you great reviews.
Thanks for sharing! James
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Hi @J_Wang,
Thank you for your kind words. Actually, the going rate in Bombay is relatively low, as you’ll see if you compare listings. There are lots of places with prices even below mine. And the area is really crowded with listings. I’ll consider raising it a tad once I get more reviews. I’m hoping to get Superhost in the next cycle, which will probably help get me more exposure.
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What other platforms are recommended by those of you who are using other platforms? I’m about to start advertising on other platforms, again, too, and would appreciate knowing which perform best for you. Thank you, Amy
UPDATE: It’s been awhile since I posted my comments about smart pricing. I have since, at the advice of Zandra and Kona I believe, learned that I can set the lowest rate you’d accept, which I’ve done. Their suggested lowest rate was absurd as was the highest suggestion, which I did choose but have never had it go that high.
My only gripe is that if a guest books a several days stay, the lowest rate in that period is the one that is applied to the other days. Has anyone else noticed this?
I created an account just to tell you I’m amazed at how dismissive/didnt read your comments that jaquo was.
Agree - smart pricing stinks
Can you edit your post to remove the link to your website and your write ups. We don’t allow that here, just so you know.
I think that the lower bound for smart price is really (i mean really) low. As for the rest, I use it regularly
I feel your frustration in this thread. You are 100% correct. Smart Pricing has ruined everything! I have been doing subleasing short term for 10 years in Brooklyn. I would have higher prices for a month because it was furnished, utilities included and its short term. With new buildings in my already expensive neighborhood and more young ppl moving in and renting out their dirty little rooms and charging nothing for cleaning - Airbnb is asking me to rent rooms for less than I pay a month. They only care about the travelers not the guests. It may work if we could turn smart pricing on for a week here or there, but as it is right now it sucks. They have prices going down while all of our expenses are going up!!! Most of my guests now are travelers escaping a crappy Airbnb.
I feel ya! This is about being a hospitality, and with these cut-rate prices, it just makes me not want to go through any extra effort, because it is not worth it in the end. I lost $4,000 in 2017 using Airbnb instead of Craigslist.