[Poll] Do you use Smart Pricing?

[Quincy]

Hello everyone,

Setting the right price for your listing is very important, though it can be quite challenging to adapt it to the various factors that come into play such as the area, season, or listing type (you fill in the rest!).

The Airbnb platform offers various functions such as the Smart Pricing feature, and we’ve seen throughout the Community Centre that you all have different hosting styles, as well as ways of using the platform. With this in mind, we wanted to get some of your insights and experiences on a key tool: Smart Pricing. 

Do you use the Smart Pricing feature? What are the tips and tricks you would share with fellow Hosts?

We’d love to hear more about your choice in the comments section below!

Thank you,

Quincy

[Emiel1]

I use Smart Pricing (SP) for all listings, but with a limited bandwidth. To lower limit is what would have set as my base price when i would not be on SP. It is not allways clear to me why SP is increasing the prices, it seems to be randomly..... I agree with @Emilia42 : not clear how the algorithm works and it is frequently missing the "high demand" time periods, so still have to change pricing manually.

The system provides some help (suggestions)  when setting up the Smart Pricing (with a graph), but that one is rather useless and probably related to the nonsensical "price tips".

[Quincy]

Also, very interesting to hear this @Emiel1. This is great feedback. 

From my personal experience, I have used Smart Pricing before, but I think that I had a similar experience as to what you have just described. I still did use if for quite some time, though. 

How long have you been using Smart Pricing for? Will you continue using it?  

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Quincy our 2 smaller apartments use SP. Our 3 bed doesn't. Basically its down to laziness. For the 2 with SP we set a min price that is tooo high for weekdays but correct for weekends it is also too high for low season. Sadly this means we, and Airbnb, lose out on revenue for chunks of the year.

If smart pricing is to work it needs a seasonal element to the min/max prices and also a variation for weekends.

[Quincy]

Thanks for sharing this @Mike-And-Jane0. I'm sorry to hear about the loss of revenue. Certainly, a seasonal element should fix this. 

Would there be anything else you would change to the SP feature?

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Quincy Ideally I would like to set a min/max price by month (seasonal) and by day of the week (namely weekends vs weekdays). Possibly too hard to code but I guess it depends on how clever the coders are.

[Robert4444]

I’ve found the smart pricing in our area goes so high on the weekends our cottage doesn’t book. If I have an opening I’ll check and see how high it is about two weeks before. About a week before I’ll lower it manually to something between the SP and my regular rate. Seems to be working for me.

[Quincy]

That's one way to do it @Robert4444!

[Elaine701]

I have a pretty good nose for pricing and I use it. I do what works for me. 

Airbnb historically recommends far lower prices for our listing, yet I'm often priced as much as double what Airbnb recommends, and stay booked anyway.

I just wouldn't trust any Airbnb algorithm to price it. I'm certain I'd be disappointed. 

[Quincy]

Have you raised or lowered your prices often over the past year (s) @Elaine701? 

[Elaine701]

@Quincy 

Often? No.

We raised prices about 25% this year across the board. 15% of that is to recover the 15% commission that's no longer being charged to the guest, since we moved to the full commission model. 

In retrospect, bookings this year have been surprisingly strong, despite the price increase. I probably could have raised a bit further without much impact. 

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Quincy Another thought:

Nowhere does it say what the Smart Pricing algorithm is targeting.

Options are: Maximising revenue, Maximising occupancy, Maximising profit or taking a balanced approach say targeting 70% occupancy.

I can see why it is hard to create the 'perfect' algorithm as, if it gave the option to choose what the target is, you can't actually maximise say profit without knowing the relationship between fixed and variable costs for each particular listing.

[Quincy]

Valid points @Mike-And-Jane0! 

[Kaitlin67]

Charleston, SC located - we are regularly on Travel + Leisure's "Top" lists for southern destinations, so demand is typically high. I opened in October 2021, used Smart Pricing, and had guests tell me I was way too cheap.  My space is brand new construction, high end amenities (aiming for a boutique vibe) so I know that wasn't taken into account. I hit Superhost status in January, and decided to take over my pricing.

I used a blend of Smart Pricing and manually set prices in January & February (i.e. Valentine's Day I manually set higher, Charleston also has major events in February that I upped prices for). I am finding manually setting my prices is more lucrative than allowing the system to do it, just because it doesn't know about our local festivals, events, graduations, etc. I'm at 80% occupancy booked through end of May now and am really glad I upped my price by $30-$50 per night.

[Quincy]

That's an amazing title to hold @Kaitlin67! Quite a few hosts on this topic have reported that Smart Pricing doesn't take local festivities in consideration. I am hopeful though that Airbnb will improve this in the future. 

[Laurelle3]

@Quincy No I dont use smart pricing because when we listed our Airbnb  and manually price. As  I thought I had researched around my local area and what was being offered and what prices. So I went with my gut feeling and at the same time  learning the electric technique that Airbnb offered. 

I do look at the price that they recommend on few vacant days but in mid winter it offers $60 a night and I consider it is way below the price set. This tells me there is no one travelling or staying in our local area. So I would rather have no booking than do the cleaning and preparation for gnew guests. I consider no bookings as my time, maintence time or go and have a hoiday myself or catch up with friends and relatives. We are currently 80% booked. 

Thanks to the hosts who have answered to help me and others to read the outcomes of the positive and negative views.