Are you too getting ridiculous price tips?

[Stephanie27]

I am finding that the price tips given by Airbnb are just crazy low, they wouldn;t cover the cleaning and laundry...anyone else feel the same

[Sarah977]

@Niku0I think you need to work on your math skills 🙂  6 x $300 is $1800, 18 x $50 is $900. Airbnb would get more in taxes and fees from $1800, no? Am I missing something?

[Niku0]

Sorry for the calcutation error.

The point is that Airbnb get a percent of the total income, not of the profits, so they don't care about the host's costs. They just want a larger share of the marked, regardless of if sustainability.

This is good business as long as there are enough stupid new hosts, who will do anything to get into the market even if it costs them money to rent out rooms.

The danger is, that if Airbnb controls a local market, all accomodation business in the area will collapse after a while, but who cares - not Airbnb.

[Sarah977]

@Niku0   I agree that airbnb don't really care about the hosts, but they also get far more than a percentage of the total income- they earn interest on all the guests' payments which they are holding until they pay out the host when the booking date finally arrives. So it would seem in their best interests for hosts to charge more, rather than less.

But I guess they have somehow figured that signing up more hosts at less profit (if places are cheap they will be fully booked) works out the same or better for company?

[David2021]

Hear hear! Any fool can give stuff away. The reality to obtain a fair price that's realistic for its location, what's on offer etc. Thus making it worthwhile for all the risks, responsibilities & investment involved. Otherwise invest the money elsewhere, of course easier said then done when you've invested in property &  all the associated costs....

[Marsha17]

I can't agree with your comment more! When will Airbnb listen to it's Hosts?  We know the market.  I tried their crazy Smart Tips once, and got burned with a group of 6 men paying roughly $17 per night per person. If I want to slave at cleaning & laundry for a week afterward, for FREE, i can choose to work for these price tips. I have turned them off and get much better bookings at market rate of $68 per night + $20 per person plus $95 Cleaning Fee.  Good people know what a deal that is for a nice 1792 foot condo in Kansas City. 

[Emily214]

Their price tips don't take any account of our costs.  If they were operating a restaurant, would they price their menu without taking into account their oeprating costs?  I don't think so!! 

Furthermore, lowering our prices would seem counter intuitive.  Any bookings would result in lower payouts not only for us, but for them too.  Screwy logic!

[Niku0]

Airbnb don't care about rooms, which are sold cheap, as long as there are sold enough rooms. This is about conquering market shares

[Christopher363]

Seems that rather than building community it's only creating business where the host which is 50% as important as the guest is been forced or recommended to switch to a price that is not even close to a break even point. 

[Olga6]

Minimum price is very easy to calculate, especially for entire flat.

1. if you are part time and use Airbnb only as a pocket money when you are away from your home I suppose if the gain covers the time invested and costs of running + some profit: all is good

2. But if you have a property that you solely use for shor term rental purposes: the earned amount has to cover all expences, time invested and give yearly profit that is larger then long term rent. 

I believe that Airbnb at present relies more on hosts with "spare" properties but the price is being driven so far down that it does not make economic sense for the host. This is a lot of work but it is very hard to brake even.

Add on that that certain cities, like London, have 90 days a year limitation....it makes less and less sense.

It is surprising how in London prices keep coming down even after interduction of 90 days a year limit. The limit should ride the prices sky high, not other way around. 

The problem is not in "suggested price": it is not compulsory, it is just a suggestion. The problem is that hosts are driving prices down to beat the competition. Also, Airbnb does not help as forums / groups on this site are broken now into subjects rather than groups. This prevents some sort of syndication between hhosts.

And much that it is always interesting to interact with hosts globaly, it is the exchange between local groups that can influence final policies as every country, even every city has different problems, different costs, different prices. 

[Radoslava2]

Hello i'm new to this  and i could use some help.

My property is currently listed at 50 Euro per night which is the price i require for the whole flat. Instead i get a sugestion that the price is way too high and it sugests a price of 16 euro per evening which is absurd and wouldnt cover cleaning and washing let alone electricity bill. The website only provides an option to set minimum and maximum price but it does not give you information if thats the price required per visitor or the price in total you recieve per evening ( in which case the 16 Euro price won't do )

[Alex670]

Hi Radoslava. In "Price Settings" turn off Smart Pricing, and set your base price to exactly what you want. Ignore their Price Tips.

Then look at Calendar and you can select whatever date ranges you want and adjust your price there if you want. If I have no bookings in the immediate future I select the next two weeks and drop the price bit to entice a guest. Tourist season has just ended where I am, so I am doing that a lot now! Good luck.

[Kimberly18]

Since you are new, join those of us who are  giving a big thumbs down to the STUPID pricing suggestions of AirBnB which are only meant to drive revenue for them and not even REMOTELY related to anything else, much less what is reasonable to those renting rooms.  Despite what they say is market trending logic, it is all BS.  A case in point is that my home is located 2 miles from where the 2018 Superbowl was located and despite super high local pricing and sold out conditions of rooms at 300-900$, Airbnb continued to send me suggestions for sub $60 rental.  (I rented mine thru another booking venue at $550/night)  It is COMPLETELY AND EXCLUSIVELY designed to jam revenue in their corporate pockets and no long has anything to do with what is beneficial to the AirBnb "community". 

[Karen122]

While not really suitable for those here renting apartments or houses there is an alterative or two for real BnB operators allowing you to control your rates and bookings without booking fees or commission.  Check out properbnb for an example.  New early adopter listings are being offered for free.  

[Jeff158]

@Karen122 and if you have a house/apartment this one is free to advertise on eurodirectrentals.com/

[Jan384]

Jup I agree, for living in one of the most expensive cities in the world (Zurich, Switzerland) the price tips we get from the smart pricing are rarely above our minimum nightly price. The price tips we get via email (you know the ones that say x guests looked at your listing and then booked something cheaper) are RIDICULOUS.

Our prices are already quite low and very decent (usually 55CHF the same as a private room in the youth hostel) for a private room. Guests additionally get a private bathroom plus access to our living room and modern kitchen. So to get the same quality from a hotel they'd have to pay at least 120 CHF at a hotel.