Airbnb Answers: Pricing tools that drive host success

[Airbnb]

You asked: Can Airbnb offer hosts more flexibility and options to set our pricing?

Leading up to the last Host Q&A, you asked for more flexibility with your pricing options. We went straight to the team that plans and builds these tools to see what’s on the horizon. What we learned was surprising. It turns out we’ve built solutions for much of what you’re asking for, but lots of hosts don’t know about or use the pricing settings available. We also found out that sometimes offering certain types of discounts harms rather than helps your business. Intrigued? We were too.

To make sure you have the latest insights on pricing, let’s take a look at what your options are and how your feedback influences what we build.

Current pricing options

You specifically asked for the ability to set different prices according to a guest’s length of stay, or based on the days of the week (for example, charging a different price for middle of the week vs. weekend stays). We actually have tools that help you do both! You can offer a discount for stays longer than a week or a month, and you can set up custom weekend pricing.

You also asked about charging guests based on the number of beds they use, rather than the number of guests staying in the listing. While we understand that more beds used means more linens to clean, it’s sometimes difficult for guests to anticipate how many beds they’ll use at the time of booking. For example, not every listing describes if beds are queen sized or double, how many sleeper sofas there are, or how the beds are arranged in a room. Some guests may want to see the place before deciding if they’ll share a double bed with a friend or sleep on the pull-out couch. However, guests can accurately and confidently say how many people will be staying, and you can charge an extra guest fee to account for that. If the cost of cleaning and check-in for shorter stays is a concern, you can add cleaning fees to offset those costs.

How host feedback is shaping our work

Your feedback shows us where things aren’t working for you, and where we can do better. Based on what you’ve told us, we’re focusing our efforts on making every tool more accessible and intuitive. And we’re helping hosts understand how pricing tools work together, which rules take priority when multiple rules overlap, and how to use the tools you have for maximum benefit to you.

When it comes to building new pricing tools, we try to account for a multitude of host preferences while keeping things simple enough for guests to still want to book your space with Airbnb. To do this, we solicit host feedback, test new ideas, and notice what happens to bookings when we add new options.

Here’s a little insight into how we test and pass along our learnings to you: Sometimes we can anticipate reliable opportunities to boost your earnings. For example, you may have seen insight messages on your calendar and emails highlighting discount opportunities for specific dates that would otherwise go unbooked. When you apply these discounts, we highlight to travelers the value you’re offering and that attracts bookings.

Alternatively, sometimes we find that less is more—like in a recent test in which hosts added discounts for 3-6 night stays in areas we noticed travelers were searching for accommodation, and it turned out the guests who booked those discounted spaces would likely have booked the listing at the regular price for the same duration. It’s these types of insights that we pass along to you in how we build and what we recommend.

You always have control over the price you set for your space. And we’re committed to sharing what we learn about pricing best practices. We’re excited that Airbnb offers competitive pricing flexibility for you, a simple booking experience for your guests, and the promise that we’ll continue to listen to your ideas about how to make pricing even better.

In the latest Host Q&A, CEO and Head of Community Brian Chesky answered top-voted questions during a livestream event. For questions he didn’t have time to address, we’ve introduced Airbnb Answers. Want to ask more? We’ll let you know in Airbnb Updates when the question platform will open for the upcoming June 27th Host Q&A.

[Anne907]

I would like to be able to charge a linen cost per person. Ie $15 per person for all linens per stay. If there are 6 people then an additional $90 added to fee. 16 people would equate to an additional $240 on accom fee.  Cheers Anne 

[Kelly-And-Philip0]

I have to collect TOT and state tax and would like those listed seperately rather than lumped into my base price.  Air BNB suggests I reduce my price to get more bookings.  I would be more successful if my booking split out the taxes!

[Chris1084]

In addition to the minimum number of nights setting it would be great to be able to set a specific start date and be able to specify full week bookings only ie Friday to Friday bookings only during peak season. Other websites do this so why not airbnb?

[Tania218]

Hi,

I have a mid week price, weekend price and a discount for 7 or 28 day stays. What I would like to be able to offer is a discount for a 3 to 6 night stay as the price I set is based on a single night with all the costs that entails. Guests have grumbled at a cleaning cost when I added it to compensate for a single night when what I was trying to do was offer multiple nights at a cheaper rate. 

Please give us more flexibility for shorter stays. 

[Peter960]

I'd like to be able to set prices on an annual basis for dates where major events that create a compression on rates.  As an example, every year spring training happens in Arizona, it would be great to have the rates automatically increase over those dates without having to manually set them.

[Julie-and-Zach0]

@Coppelia0 for some reason it won't let me reply directly to your post, but this is how you can set your minimum stay requirements to 3 days in winter and 4 days the rest of the year.

1. Go to your Listings on airbnb.com
2. Click Edit under the listing.
3. Click Availability at the top of the page.
4. Click Edit next to Trip Length section.
5. Click Add a custom rule for seasons or specific dates link at bottom.

Note: If you have multiple minimum night requirements that apply to the same day, the more specific requirement will be used. For example, let’s say you have a minimum 1 night requirement for all reservations, but you have a minimum 3 night requirement for reservations on the weekend. If a guest requests a Friday reservation, they’ll be required to stay 3 nights, not just 1 night.

SO - Leave your default requirement at 3 nights and set a custom rule requirement for your non-winter dates that requires 4 nights.

[Ava10]

 I like the way it is that people can have the freedom to choose two nights or three nights and the pricing I would like it to have a control off of it!!!

I do not like the way it’s changed happening or how many bats in the house that’s why we chose Airbnb we have the freedom to make a decision ,

about which we need and want the best for our location , every city every state every location makes a big difference .

 For the pats I love pets ❤️

I have my daughter is allergic to pets in fortunately my pets stay outside not inside of the house .

so there’s nothing to do being a discriminated against pets 

 I absolutely agree that should be extra charges for the pets inside of the house because whether we like it or not sometime happen that can create some mass and has to be cleaned professionally !!!!

 Thank you 

[Joyce26]

Re extra bed.  My listing explicitly states that the one bed is a double bed.  I do have a Castr Convertible hassock that makes up into a single bed.  So if it's a couple they are content with one double bed.  If they are three people they need the extra single bed made up.  BUT if they are two people who do not want to share a double bed, they sometimes ask whether I could make up the extra bed -- two people three beds.  Extra linens, but not additional breakfast and hot water.

I did try asking people to book for 3 people if they wanted the extra bed, but that added another $35 a night.  Two people balked.  I asked if they would pay an extra $10 a night and they agreed that was fair.  But since there is no way to enable this in the booking itself, I have to remember to charge that extra $10 either in case or to Ask for it through the AirBnB system.  AND I have to remember to set up the extra bed since the only record of their need is in the chat interchange with them.

This has happened three times lately and I have chosen not to follow up and ask the extra $10 because it is such an awkward situation.  50+ mother and 20+ daughter; father and teenage daughter; mother and 11 year old son.

The use of the washing machine and dryer is easier -- if they use it, it's $5 per load washed and dried with all soaps.  That is easier to deal with in cash on site.

Please do consider adding some paid-for "EXTRAS" to our listings.

Thank you,

Joyce

[Joyce26]

A charge for an extra pet would also ensure that you know in advance that there will be a pet!  I would allow pets again as long as I knew in advance when what animal was coming to my home.

[Joyce26]

Patriots Day in Boston is a good example.  The Boston Marathon happens on a Massachusetts-only holiday.  Boston is booked solid.  I live two blocks from the route. 

I would like to charge a premium price.  Each year someone instant-books my place a year ahead for one night before the Marathon at a discounted Smart price, thus blocking someone who might have stayed longer.  The next nearest hotel wants $250 a night, and AirBnB keeps bugging me to lower my prices.  Arghh.

This is one example of a time when I would like to set a fixed higher price, exempt from Smart Pricing, even a year ahead.  I am already booked solid for April 2019!

[Lawrence61]

Neither my SPA or Housekeeper give me a discount if a client books via Airbnb 3 x in 12 mths so neither can I give a discount for the client.

[Lori201]

I would like some customization options for preparation time down to the specific day of the week, not just a general setting. I work during the standard M-F work week and I am unable to accomodate a thorough cleaning if there is a check-out and check-in on the same day.  However, I am able to accomodate it on Saturday and Sunday, and holidays.  Because I am forced to set my preparation time for 1 day on each end of a booking all the time, I miss out on potential bookings due to my minimum nightly stay setting.  Seems airbnb could easily add this customization per day of the week, just like pricing.  I think other hosts would love this too.

[Cree0]

If the guest can see that we have a queen bed in bedroom one, a king in a second bedroom and a twin in a third bedroom, I think it is up to the guest to do the math or make the decision on how their group is going to set up sleeping arrangements. As much as we try to cater to every need of our guests, I think at a certain point they have the responsibility to read our ad and make their plans accordingly. 

[Katrina89]

I don’t see anything new being offered here cleaning fees & weekly discounts. The article infers there is some enhancements. Being able to charge a variable rate by no. of nights for stays less than a week ie. a premium for first night.

Being able to apply cleaning fees only to certain periods of time eg. If you are going away and need to outsource cleaning or management only for certain weeks or months.

That is the kind of flexiblitity desired.

[Neal33]

So we have a guest room with it's own bathroom. We live in a summer resort area and we're always filled for most of the high season.  We offer a continental breakfast and a reasonably priced space. Hotel and motel prices in peak season run $400 to $500 per night. We're charging, at the peak, holiday weekends about $100 per night. We have mostly 5 star reviews and we're listed as superhosts. We lower our price by about $30 per night in the low season. We get the computer generated suggestions from Airbnb telling us that 20% of the people got places 15% or 20% cheaper during the shoulder seasons, but the other consideration is that if your price gets too low, you run the danger of guests who are less respectful of your home or worse, who actually do damage or try to steal from you. We figure that we'd rather have the room empty during the low months than take a chance on less-than-ideal guests. Yes, we could probably bring in more income annually if we had dirt-cheap rates in the low season, but then we're taking more of a risk on our clientele. Lots of factors to consider. We need to be careful with our homes (which are our investments), earn the money that we can, but consider the overall balance. We do the cost-per-night calendar by hand, night by night during our high season. We pay attention to what our history has been and we set the rates. I know it's not the most efficient method, but a couple of hours of hands-on work yeilds us great revenue and so far (6 1/2 years), touch wood, we've never had a guest who as stolen from us or has caused any damage to our home.