Help with Experiences pricing

[Carlos-Alberto36]

Hi! I have a problem with the pricing that's not enabling me to go live on the platform. 

I have a tours business. My tours start at $80 per person if 3 or more guests, if 2 or less it's $250 minimum.

Now, if I have 1 or 2 people already reserved for $250, every other seat in the car is available for $80, as I already covered the minimum price for me to be profitable. 

Is there a way to configure this into the AirBNB system? 

I was told about the Private Groups and the minimum, but that leads people to believe the van has been reserved for them. That would be $480 and that's only happened to me once. If I set that to $250, then I would have a minimum set, but would lose $230 potentially, as I would have to reserve the van completely for that price and that's not how my business works. 

[Anonymous]

@Carlos-Alberto36   Your pricing model does not seem to fit the general standards for Airbnb Experiences:

"Hosts cannot set a minimum group size 

Every traveler should feel welcome on Airbnb, whether they are traveling on their own or with a group."

If there's a price at which it's worthwhile for you to offer a Private Group booking, you can try just doing that. But if you want to offer individual spots in the van on Airbnb Experiences, you're required to charge the same per-person price regardless of how many attendees there are, and you can't combine it with a Private Group or with bookings from another platform. 

[Carlos-Alberto36]

Thank you Andrew! I don't have a minimum group size. I have a minimum fee ($250) to operate my machine and be profitable. Once again, after that fee has been met, anyone can join in for $80 per person. 

The way I see it, I either have to:

- Set the individual price at $80 and take even one person out for $80, which doesn't make business sense since the van takes $80 in gas alone

- Set the private group to always and minimum $250 in order to not price myself out of the market, but would limit me to trips of 3 guests only. 

Again, I don't know if I'm explaining myself correctly, but my pricing scheme is simple. $80 per person if 3 or more, $250 if 2 or less. If there's already a minimum met X day, anyone can join for $80. Can the AirB&B system do that? 

[Sarah977]

@Carlos-Alberto36  Andrew understood and explained it to you. What you are trying to do is not something you can do on Airbnb.

If you want to use Airbnb to list your experience, you can't run your business in the way you now do.

[Anonymous]

@Carlos-Alberto36 No, the Airbnb system can not do that, and this kind of pricing model does not meet their criteria for Experiences, which is exactly what I was trying to explain to you. The only option that makes any sense for you on Airbnb is to set your Experience to Private Group only with a $250 minimum. But you can offer this to any group size that fits your vehicle, as long as they reserve under a single account.

Of course, it may still turn out that other activity listing platforms work better for your business style and pricing model than Airbnb Experiences. Airbnb is generally rejecting most driving tours from its platform, as it wants the Experiences brand to exclusively feature interactive, connection-based activities instead of passive/conventional tourism. Check this article to make sure their brand actually resonates with what you're offering and who you're targeting: https://blog.atairbnb.com/the-3-pillars-of-a-quality-experience/