@faheem UK is only one hour flight away. We’re practically neighbors:) Most of my guests are from UK, then US and then all the rest.
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Hi @MarkP,
If you’re Slovenian, your English is very good. Then again, there’s no reason it shouldn’t be, I suppose. And impressive review ratings. 5 stars in all categories; a difficult trick to pull off at 60 reviews.
@faheem Thank you. I’m doing my best:) Have a great day!
I don’t know if other places use chlorine to purify the water, but I would assume that it’s not exclusive to Los Angeles. Here’s an article with some details.
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Me too. I actually like guets who stay only one night. Sure, I like guests who stay 4 nights (or more) even better:) That said, guests who stay for 1 night have advantages. They tend to fill the gaps in calendar. Most of the time in the apartment they just sleep. Then in the morning they leave. Wear and tear is minimal. I have a cleaner and we charge for cleaning anyway. 90% of those guests leave reviews and all of them are great. Some of them return for longer stays a few months later.
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Yes! We’ve had numerous guests driving from points west and south of southern Maine. They arrive astonished and exhausted (and LATE) because they were not expecting the insane traffic through all the areas you mentioned, which you pretty much must go through to get here. I believe you are right, and they were expecting a Lexus commercial.
Do you ask them that in the listing or after they’ve booked?
My two things:
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Set a low, low price — but only for the first couple of weeks or months! Make sure you don’t allow people to book your introductory price during your high season. I had a couple of summertime bookings when I first started out that cost me a lot of money (not terrible, but enough to be annoyed at myself.)
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Don’t ever cancel on a guest. I’ve never done this, but I was warned off by reading forums like these. If the guest needs to cancel, have them do it on their end
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(Sneaking in a third) - if you have damage, document everything with tons of photos and submit it to Airbnb within 24 hours of check out. (The official rule is 48 but you don’t want to push it.) And if you need to get things repaired or serviced, get invoices with official company names on top.
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I have some thoughts on the low, low price advise. We did set our price very low at the beginning. It’s coming back to bite us now. We have several regulars who want to book at the initial price every time they stay. We wish we hadn’t initially set it so low as they now believe that they are overpaying.
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Delicate situation, I did a terrible choice in the beginning with the pricing and it was summer 
I am having many guests wanting to be back and to make things easier I am redirecting them to Airbnb. So far none of those guests booked, I am guessing it is because of the price. And to be honest I don’t want them back at the price I started. So if they are not boojing, good for me, others will.
If any of them come ask me why the price is so different I will just say it is based on demand. So they will know if the book they are not making me a favor, and also if they don’t book they need to accept that others in my area will be similar price as I am now.
I believe it even teaches them that my place has value.
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@EllenN Hopefully you have new guests who will book instead. Replacement guests.
As a guest, I’d be disappointed if I saw that a place I stayed and loved had gone up in price. But then I’d look at the rest of the market and realize that the new price is fair market value, and I’d gotten a huge deal to begin with.
From a host’s perspective, you lose nothing by not having these guests book with you — as long as you can fill those days. If you can’t, you’re able to give the repeat guests a discount.
As @Vera says 
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Hosts also need to remember that Airbnb is padding the price so they can earn commission off your place.
Thankfully I take payment directly. That way a guest cannot argue that the price is too high. They don’t have to use Airbnb.
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Just got a returned guest booking directly with me a few hours after I wrote here. She didnt complain the price difference at all and was happy to save in Air fees for this booking.
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I disagree so much! Despite the fact that Airbnb recommend it. In the same way they recommend Smart Pricing and Instant Book - strangely hosts are willing to accept the low price advice but not SP and IB. (Both of which I use).
Low prices can start a price war. If I see that my neighbour is now using Airbnb and changing $25 less than me, and I reduce my price to match it, then he’ll reduce his price to an even lower figure. So I reduce my price, so he does … and before long we’re offering wonderful accommodation at rock bottom prices - which helps no-one.
People do not shop on price factors alone. Next time you’re in a parking lot, cast a glance at the cars there - are they all the cheapest models? In the supermarket, check to see what other people are buying - are they buying the cheapest possible generic goods?
The retail industry spends millions (possibly gazillions) every year to determine why consumers make the choices they do. Yes, some consumers are motivated by price but that’s not the whole picture. If they did, you’d never see a BMW, an Apple computer or a bottle of Chanel.
It’s all about branding, and people buy (or book) for their reasons, not ours.
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Another reason in my view not to set your prices very low is the new Guest Refund Policy. If the guest has a “travel issue” and Airbnb rehomes the guest, the host will have to pay the difference between what the guest would have paid to stay at the host’s listing and the new accommodation. Here is the wording from the new Terms of Service.
If the Guest is relocated to an alternative Accommodation, you may lose part or all of the Accommodation Fee payment for the booking and you may be responsible for reasonable additional costs incurred to relocate the Guest to the alternative Accommodation.
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This is a really good point Ellen! Never thought of it before!!
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That’s a really interesting perspective — and a very good point. I don’t use SP but I do use IB.
To clarify — I really only mean the first couple of weeks in the calendar after a listing is active. My experience is, and understanding after listening to lots of hosts, that it’s almost essential to offer a discount to the market get your first booking or two under your belt. I travel frequently and stay in Airbnbs myself; I usually stay with superhosts, but I sometimes stay in new listings that are looking to get their first few guests. If a listing doesn’t have any reviews and is market price, I won’t choose it.
Also, this could be advice for a fairly saturated market. If there’s like 3 listings in your area, sure, then don’t start an obvious price war with hosts who will notice your listing right away. But if there’s dozens or hundreds of listings, your initial price cut likely won’t be noticed.
My overall point actually was the opposite of what you might have heard: Remember to limit your low price!! If you’re new, set your base price for the year at or above market rates. But go in and manually change the next upcoming weeks to lower (but not dirt cheap) so that you get a few guests.
For example, if the market price for your listing is $150/night, offer your place for $95/night for the first two-three weeks and see if you get any bites. Then, be an amazing host, surprise them in unexpected ways (like a bottle of wine that isn’t included in the photos/listing), and ask them for a 5-star overall review, and explain that you’re new and this is really important to show what a great host you are. (Also, politely ask them not to put the bottle of wine in the review, because you can’t do that for every guest, so you don’t want to raise expectations.)
@EllenN — another great point. But again I’m talking about literally just the first couple of bookings, which can be the riskiest time anyway for a host. It’s all or nothing.
The single biggest thing I’ve learned is to under promise. That way it’ll be a lot easier to deliver on everything you promise. The business should fit you and your life. It should always work for you. If it become super stressful then offer less services.
I’ve still been dinged on the things I under delivered. Bonuses and pluses that are underplayed on my listing but which they still nit picked over. Frustrating
Did you mean to say under promised?
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