Pricing in Joshua Tree area

[Danny736]

Hello all.  I launch my first Airbnb in December so I'm still new to the game.  The house booked out around 20 days in December with the holidays but now rentals are slowing down for this spring.  Any tips on pricing tools or strategies for setting pricing in the JT area?  I currently use PriceLabs but feel the price might be too high.  Thank you for any input. 

[Paula]

Hello @Danny736, welcome to the Airbnb Community Center 😊

Since our community is a global forum, it can take some time to find advice from local Hosts in your area. For this purpose, it is always a great idea to join the 👉Local Host Clubs to share ideas and experiences with Hosts nearby your area.

I am reaching out to some of our experienced Hosts to see if they would like to share some tips on pricing tools: @Joan2709 @Alicia753 and @Lorina14.

All the best,

[Joan2709]

Hi @Danny736 

Welcome!

Luv your place! Took a look and just a few suggestions:

Pricing

Pricelabs is a good choice for dynamic pricing software, but it’s not set and forget. Sometimes it takes 4-8 months for the software to “learn” your market. Continue to monitor your pricing compared to the competition and local events in the area. I don’t think you are overpriced, but if this is off-season for Joshua Tree maybe reduce pricing during the week. Keep your weekend pricing competitive also, but weekends during off-season is where you can maximize profitability as weekends usually get booked first in off season.

Title

I would take out the name Satellite and just use that in the long description. Your title should highlight your top amenities. Maybe something like:

            Newly Built! Spa | Pool | Firepit | No Airbnb Fees

Cover Photo

You have a fantastic property, but your photos are not doing it justice. In a highly competitive market like Joshua Tree, your photos need to be top notch. For a high end property like yours, professional photos are a must. Your photos should evoke emotions like cozy, serene, peaceful, fun. etc. Market research is saying to have at least some photos showing people enjoying the space. Of course, use care not to use someone's image that you don't have permission to and no need to show faces. You can very creative, like shooting two people in the hot tub gazing at the stars from behind them looking towards the house. Photo from above with people around the fire pit at twilight. Someone relaxing in the chairs outside in the morning with a cup of coffee watching the sun rise. Shoot from behind their shoulder looking out towards the mountains. You get the idea.

Take a look at similar properties in the area and their photos; especially the cover photo. I would invest in a bunch of outdoor lighting (string lights, deck stairs lights leading to hot tub, lights around the pool, accent lighting around the house and front patio, etc.). Turn on all the lights inside/outside the house and reshoot this same photo with the hot tub & fire pit going looking towards the house. Take multiple angles. Then make the new photo your cover:

Drone Shot

I would re-shoot the drone shot at twilight with all the lights on again and firepit going. Getting closer and lower so all the great back yard features can be seen but still see mountains in distance. All lights on.

Patio Photo

I would re-shoot this photo at twilight also with the table set (dishes, glasses, etc.). Make sure all the lights are on inside/outside. Right now it looks sorta empty and barren:

Cleaning Fee Discrepancy

You have a cleaning fee discrepancy. Your description says $225 but booking area says $250?

Hope things pick up for you! Let us know how it goes 😊

[Lorina14]

Welcome @Danny736!

Thanks for the tag @Paula!

@Joan2709 had great suggestions and ideas for making your space inviting, appealing, cozy. Ambiance, beauty, pictures that evoke relaxation, pics that transport you to the place to enjoy the natural beauty or connect with others or natural surroundings are key.

Do you use the feature to look at similar properties to your space? If in the app, you will need to go to the calendar and click on dates to block/unblock but if you scroll down it will give you an option to see similar listings that are booked or unbooked at that time and compare the listings (pricing, pictures, amenities, title of the listing, descriptions, lighting and staging in the photos).

You can also go to the stats feature and scroll to the bottom of the page to see similar listings to yours. I heart them and put them in my favorites with the name of the town so to easily find them to look at competition and do market research. 

If you update your listing (amenities, description, location to local attractions, house manual instructions, new pics) I think it triggers the algorithm that you are working on improving your listing. 

I tend to run specials 2-3 weeks out if there are lower bookings and run at least 20% off to get the price strike offer, this is a deal, highlighted in emails/promoted. You can do this for specific days or over the course of a period of time. Make sure to understand that specials do stack (20% off dynamic pricing does have the additional weekly or monthly discount added on top of your discounted rate) so keep that in mind. 

Aim to make your guests visit special - when people book I ask if this is a special occasion or what brings them to the area. I then can cater if it is a birthday with a card and some treats, an anniversary with wine/chanpagne, chocolates and strawberries or something extra. It’s something I like to do, I’ve never had anyone do this for me as a guest; and it’s gone over really well. We do offer complimentary tea/coffee, chocolate, fruit (apple/banana), microwavable popcorn,  granola bars, nuts, drinks, small bags of chips. It doesn’t have to be a lot and you can adapt it if they have kids (teething wafers, apple sauce, baby food pouch), and the extra thought is helpful. Do not list this in your listing (other than filtered water, tea and coffee available) as then guests will expect and be disappointed if they didn’t get what was listed (sometimes you need to substitute). And it’s a nice to provide that puts that extra warmth to a listing. I also included a hand written thank you card for choosing our space and to reach out if you need anything to make your stay more comfortable.

Let us know how things go.

[Lorina14]

I forgot to say I loved your sign for parking… and your reviews are great so far! Congrats on making Superhost too! Sometimes people in the desert use pops of color with lounging chairs or art to break up the desert or gravel in their pics. Just an idea… having a glass of wine or an open colorful umbrella, or some great twilight pics would help highlight your space. And if the sky is amazing at night - include a pic or two of that as well!