How do I get my nightly rate down in the search results?

[Haley170]

Is there a trick for this? I notice that when I search for listings similar to mine, other listing's nightly rate average is MUCH lower than mine, but when I click on a random date selection for them, they're more expensive than my listing. How is that possible? I worry that some people aren't even looking at mine because the price looks so different but it really isn't, especially for peak season. Any thoughts? Is it because I use "smart pricing"?

[Huma0]

@Haley170 

I could be wrong, but I believe that the price advertised before you put in dates (+ number of guests) is the minimum price. So, it's probably just that you have set a lower minimum than the other hosts.

What you could do is lower your minimum price and then manually change the price in your calendar on the dates where you would expect to charge more.

Personally I wouldn't rely on Smartpricing as it usually pushes the prices down rather than up, and I find that it prices at my minimum for most dates, but if you think the way it is pricing your listing is fair, then by all means continue to use it. I use it, but as I host long term guests and that is not so seasonal, it doesn't make a difference to me. Before, I used to manually adjust the prices when I think they are too low. It never seemed to charge enough in high season or during holidays, for example.

[Haley170]

Hi @Huma0 ! I will give that a try. I had the same experience as well, and set a minimum thinking they would use it when it was getting close to a date that hadn't booked (maybe 1-2 weeks out) and would try to see if that would help for some last minute bookings. Instead, "smart" pricing booked a week at the minimum price during the Easter holiday a month before! I was so surprised, and raised the minimum immediately. I have started going in and adjusting things manually for odd days, etc. I'll be glad when I find the sweet spot and can get away from micro managing the calendar quite so much. Thank you for your advice! 🙂 

[Haley170]

@Huma0 - I figured it out I think. I had to turn off smart pricing and manually adjust all pricing through off season and peak season, and set the base price to a low price. Base price then comes up as the "avg" price in the search results.