Smart Pricing from airbnb?

Does this look similar to http://www.airhostsforum.com/t/minor-pricing-issue-guests-appear-to-have-booked-below-my-going-rate/5731? I never did get any kind of closure for this. See also http://www.airhostsforum.com/t/keeping-a-record-of-airbnb-account-settings/5744

Does your issue appear similar?

1 Like

hahahahahahahahahahaha

1 Like

O. M. G.
must be 20 c

Good advice. Forget the Smart Pricing thing. Itā€™s a very bad idea, for us anyway. True, you can set the lower limit, which should only be a couple of dollars lower than what you feel your place is worth. So just donā€™t use it. I ignore their price suggestions now and have settled on a fixed rate that I do not change regardless of the season, demand, etc. The rate is just fine for me and itā€™s very cheap for guests who, like me, appreciate the set rate. Iā€™m booked most days.

2 Likes

Hi @J_Wang,

What your rate? And what is your location? Would you care to share your listing url? Iā€™ve also got a fixed rate, at least for now. Varying the price gets complicated, and I also donā€™t trust Airbnb to use the right price. At least once I think they used the wrong price. But hey, itā€™s hard (impossible?) to prove, because all the relevant information is on Airbnbā€™s own web site.

You hit the nail on the head. Itā€™s a great system for some hosts but not for others.

That would never work for me. There is a distinct tourist season when hotel prices double. For certain events, they go even higher and I see no reason why I should leave money on the table so I charge the market price.

There are at least two members here, for example, who have listings near to Formula One circuits - theyā€™d be crazy to leave their prices the same during a race weekend. I have a friend with a listing which is an hour away from Monaco. She charges $40 for an apartment that sleeps four. When Formula One is at Monte Carlo some of the local hotels charge up to $9000 per night. It would be crazy of her to charge $10 per person in view of that.

Every host is different and smart pricing wonā€™t go below your minimum price.

Your place is beautiful! I wish you could host a family as weā€™re taking a road trip this coming spring and Lookout Mountain is one of our planned stops. Though as thatā€™s at the beginning of our trip, weā€™ll probably be camping.

Sorry to go off-topic.

As someone who was new to AirBNB, Iā€™m glad I had enough common sense to know a realistic value of my space, because I would have either 1) decided it was not financially worth it or 2) devalued my place and my market to go by the suggested minimums.

And I get it. I have 4 kids and trying to find an affordable place to stay is hard. But people still have to recoup costs, make their time worth it, make a little money. ā€œSmart-pricingā€ is I think intended to make new hosts devalue their place to bring the market down.

3 Likes

Thank you for your nice comments about my house. I agree with your comments on ā€œSmart pricingā€.

Hello Faheem. Thereā€™s my listing. Since my place is so cheap anyway, the fluctuations in pricing they suggest arenā€™t that drastic. But I have seen my ā€œprice suggestionsā€ go down to $25/night, which is ridiculous. Iā€™ve settled on a price thatā€™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 areaā€“lots of students, convention attendees, etc.ā€“I only offer a spot for one guest so I get a different demographic. However I do have a listing in Palm Desert thatā€™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 :slight_smile: 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 Iā€™ve seen my price suggestions go down to USD15.:slight_smile:

It looks like you have everything from November 2016 blocked off, so Iā€™m not sure what you mean by April 2017 already being booked.

What I meant is that Iā€™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 theyā€™ll be collecting a 9% occupancy tax that theyā€™ll pay the City of Palm Desert. This is going to make my rates pretty high.

Hi @J_Wang,

Thanks for the clarification. It didnā€™t occur to me (though it should have) that you were booking outside Airbnb. So, if I understand correctly, youā€™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. Itā€™s annoying, but what are you going to do?

I probably wonā€™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 donā€™t live near the desert place, so I donā€™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 messā€“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 donā€™t think you gave the link to the Palm Desert one. Sorry about the confusion.

You can see the Palm Desert listing on ā€œother listingsā€ I think itā€™s called. Are you in India? Would you mind sharing your listing? Iā€™m so curious. Thanks.

True, I forgot they were connected by the host listing.

Yes, Iā€™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 youā€™ll be raising it just a little in the future as you get more guests who will, Iā€™m sure, give you great reviews.

Thanks for sharing! James

1 Like

Hi @J_Wang,

Thank you for your kind words. Actually, the going rate in Bombay is relatively low, as youā€™ll see if you compare listings. There are lots of places with prices even below mine. And the area is really crowded with listings. Iā€™ll consider raising it a tad once I get more reviews. Iā€™m hoping to get Superhost in the next cycle, which will probably help get me more exposure.

2 Likes

What other platforms are recommended by those of you who are using other platforms? Iā€™m about to start advertising on other platforms, again, too, and would appreciate knowing which perform best for you. Thank you, Amy