Why does Airbnb keep screwing with the website? Geez, such a lack of basic sense with this company!
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Hosts abused this.
They put 1 day somewhere in the future at a very low rate. So people would be attracted to their listing.
But it would be impossible to book the room at that low rate.
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There is such a remarkable lack of common sense with this company. If I am travelling for a month I want to look at all listings with their prices, I will make my plans to fit the booking I want. Putting in dates eliminates a number of more desirable places, since the ones that have bigger holes in their calaendar (because they are less desireable to rent) are going to be the only ones made available for me to see. I put in some random dates for my own neighborhood and the selection was very small and of course they were available because they are not places that would be on top of oneās list of places to stay.
If a host wants to have various prices then they can have to tab where one has to put in their travel dates, I am confident having to jump through that hoop will be a detriment to their bookings or they will get a lot if guest trying to negotiate a price. If a host only have one price ( which I would imagine is most people), then leave their listing alone.
Airbnb has a pretty good thing going and they sure seem determined to screw it up.
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And that is where you are wrong.
There are very few that have the same price whole year round.
AirBnB even pushes to not have the same prices with their price tips and automatic pricing.
So you prefer to open every listing, to find that the prices are much higher than AirBnB advertises on the search?
My November prices are about 1/3rd of the September prices, but in the search AirBnB would show the November prices. This is very annoying to guests.
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Ha! Ha! I would never use Airbnb recommended price!
I saw that firsthand. A host had a very lead pic and apparently nice room with good reviews and it had $10 with an instant book icon. Hovering over the dates I couldnāt find anything lower than $60. Thanks for the explanation.
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I change my prices manually almost daily, at the minimum weekly.
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OK, I see both sides of this. Some guests have flexible dates and can shop and plan around a property. Base prices have been useful guides for me in the past when selecting a unit and price increases are usually on par with other properties so it doesnāt end up being terribly misleading. But this process takes a really long time for heavily touristed locations so itās an option that only some people will pursue.
I know that the majority of my guests have pretty set dates with a bit of flexibility on either end and are entering dates to search.
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If you go to a listingās page, you can hit the arrival date button without putting anything in and then you can hover over the calendar to see the daily rates. However, I doubt many guests know this trick. I like VRBOās (I think itās them) that shows the low-to-high rates for a listing much better.
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At least they could offer something like VRBO where one can check the box if they do not want to input specific dates and the price listed is āaverage priceā . I think this new system is so poorly thought out. If there is an issue with someone putting a price in the header yet never offering it at that price then Airbnb needs to grow a pair and cancel their listing.
Can someone share their thoughts on how this is an improvement?
A lot of my guests book me from Wish Lists they have made previously. They plan an upcoming getaway with NO dates yet planned, but do their research to find properties - based on both what they like and price.
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I can understand why Airbnb made that change. I had one inquiry where the potential guest accused me of false advertising because the price for the dates she wanted was higher than the lowest price that used to be featured on the listing. The guest we have now, who uses Airbnb frequently, said that she is frustrated that she will pick a listing based on the price only to be surprised by a higher price when she fills in the dates. I explained to her that she needs to open the calendar and hover over the dates she wants to get the correct price.
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Hosts should be able to opt out if they keep their prices steady. I raised my price in late spring and plan to raise it again next spring. As a traveller I also want to just look at places and see what the price is as I look at available places and if reasonable (for myself and the host) I will book. I would feel totally jerked around as well if I was not as familiar with how the site worked and booked a place not understanding how the host could offer all sorts of different prices for the same place.
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Iām with Chris and with Airbnb in this one. There are many guests that start their with no travel dates in their minds. They just know where they are going to spend their vacations but they havenāt decided their travel dates yet. For those guests the price filter is the main one when they start choosing places and there will be many hosts under their wish lists that wonāt charge what they thought becuase their base price is very low in comparisson of what they really charge when their define their trip dates. This kind of selection process filters out many hosts that put as their base price what they really charge and is unfair. For me, the base price is non-sense. It should be just a simplify way to let us define our price structure in case you want to charge the same across the entire year but the vacation rental pricing is seasonal everywhere. For me, thumbs up for the new modification on the search page.
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Are you aware that hotels and motels also change their prices according to the day of the week, the season, local attractions like music festivals, etc.?
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Between now and April 2017 my prices vary from $89 to $173. And when I open up inauguration week I expect prices to go past $250.
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I range from low ($175) to normal ($250-$300) to special events ($350) to graduation week ($600). Thatās a huge spread.
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Right! So we can imagine if someone was shopping for grad week, but didnāt want to put their dates in yet, and thought ācool! $175!!ā. Man, they would be pretty ticked to have prices come up at $600 once they get ready to book the dates.
Yes, that happened to me many times with the old system. I much prefer this one. Yes, it makes it a bit harder to shop. I just put in some possible dates, shop around, add places to my wish list, then, change the dates a bit and see if I missed anything that looks good.
But I usually have a pretty good idea, just looking at the property, if itās going to be in my price range or not. Sadly, most are not.
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Why? I use Smart Pricing and find that the prices they set are mostly higher than those I would. And they get booked.
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