Guests wants to book for less

[Gifty5]

I have a 3 bedroom and 2.5 bathrooms house with huge living room and other amenities. in Illinois where my property is located, people are paying; for rent for 2 bedrooms with 1.5 bathrooms for $3000 plus a month. Guests even have seen the listing price, of my property, knowing the house sleeps 6 people will be asking between $1500-1800 for my property. I haven't been receiving many bookings, is something missing? Is there something am not doing right? Is anyone using software for pricing? Need help, thank you in advance.

[Omaris1 · Accepted solution]

Hi Gifty5

I just happen to check the community center and came across your question. I was just curious to see what other host are struggling to learn something new. I've been a host in Knoxville, TN since 2020. I have a lot of long term rental experience and I can share a few things I noticed in your listing that might be the issue that is preventing you to get bookings. 

I took a screenshot of your listing reserving your home with 6 guest total, and to my surprise your listing came up at $230 at night and an extra whooping $2500 extra guest fee on top of the night rate, making a 5 nights reservation total before tax at $4,382. So you may be scaring guest away with that high extra guest fee. 

You can offer the guest a price between what they are looking for and what is the lowest monthly rental in the area, usually I do that and let them know I did my research. So if the lowest is 3k and they can do $1800 see if they accept $2400 sort of middle. At the end is up to you if you want the booking and start getting some reviews. Some may calculate what cust to run the Airbnb like mortgage, utilities etc plus what profit you want to make and come up with a number. When I first open my Airbnb I took $700 for monthly stay just for a bedroom, now I turned that bedroom in micro studio with a kitchenette and I make $1400 a month just bookings and if I get a monthly long term the lowest I leave it is $1200 Im making double now but I started low to build my reviews. 

Here are a few tips I can share to help you be successful and competitive: 

1. Do not charge extra guest fee, This is the ONE DETERANT ON YOUR LISTING. Your price is way too high for the what you offer also, you do not have to charge per person if your home can sleep 6 people. This is only use if you do not offer beds for the total guest you can accommodate but you do have floor space where people can bring air mattress or sleeping bags to accommodate a bigger group or just an extra person. My Unit 1 can accommodate 4 people between a queen bed and a queen size sofa bed, so I do not charge per person, but If they want to bring 6 in a studio that room 4, I can make an exception by offering air mattress and charging a extra person fee. Change this setting in your booking tab, remove the fee per person. 
2. This is a new listing and you have no reviews. So every time I open a new listing even with the good track record I have from others, I offer a special offer that Airbnb automatically ask you if you want to give 20% for the first 3 bookings. This is great and you will attract guest faster, and get reviews faster, which leads to more bookings. Your goal is to get great reviews to attract other guest. So I suggest, offer a discount through the Airbnb App for the first 3 guest, if you already did that
3. I suggest to also lower your price to attract more guest looking for affordable airbnb. Once you build a good rapport with your reviews and taken guest feedback to make your place better, you start making adjustment as of price etc. I started renting a room for $30 and now I rent a studio room for $50 - 75 a night and my price fluctuate, I'm talking about a 13 x 16 bedroom turned into a micro studio and I get 90% booking every month. I build my reputation through reviews and upgraded my units. 
4. You should retake some of your listing pictures and use an online photo editor to make them look brighter and sharp. This area I'm still not 100% because I'm still making changes to my units and once Im done I will hire a professional photographer. But I do my best to take great shots and edit them to be bring and sharp. 
5. Compare your listing to other listing even if they do not fit 6 guest., you need to see what other listing looks like, decor, how modern they are and trendy, how much they rent for, look at the host calendar and see how far advance they are book, this gives you insight What people want in their rental, and you can start making little upgrades eventually once you have made your profit. Some areas of your home are not upgraded like the bath. So you can do some DYI and change some colors, paint the shower tiles white or light gray, paint the floor tile charcoal gray, paint the cabinets etc,  if you do not own this home is not recommendable, but if you do, think about how you can bring your space a notch more, without braking the bank to make it appealing. The more you upgrade and make it lux, the higher you can charge.  You may not think this matter but it does, if you compare your place and price with another listing more upgrated, modern, elegant and attractive and cost $20 - 50 more, the guest who are willing to pay will pay for more to get more, so you open the door to the guest who are budget friendly and those who don't care what they pay

[Gifty5]

@Omaris1,

I really appreciate your input and response. Firstly, i posted a rate for per person and guest were mistaken that can be for how many people they want to bring. I changed it group just like listings in my neighborhood with my price lower than those whose homes are just like mine. 

The same thing happened to the monthly rates, am not sure why they multiplied it by 6 guests per night. I will make those changes and be checking it frequently to make sure it's in sync. thank you

[Nur785]

@Gifty5 

Hi Gifty, I think you need to revise your pricing. $100 extra per guest per night after the first guest is really not something I've encountered before.

The monthly fees for your place for only 2 people is $8481 before taxes. 

For 6 people, it's $20777 before taxes. 

[Nur785]

[Gifty5]

@Nur785 I really appreciate your input and response. Firstly, i posted a rate for per person and guest were mistaken that can be for how many people they want to bring. I changed it group just like listings in my neighborhood with my price lower than those whose homes are just like mine. 

The same thing happened to the monthly rates, am not sure why they multiplied it by 6 guests per night. I will make those changes and be checking it frequently to make sure it's in sync. thank you