Pricing Misinformation and Misleading

[Ian-And-Anne-Marie0]

I often get emails from Airbnb advising to lower my prices - "because other properties similar to yours are booking these lower rates".

REALLY?

Why then, when Airbnb want you to sign up to their service of YOU sharing your booking information they send out emails like this:

So OK, interesting stuff - particularly as the booked properties are roughly the SAME price as ours near enough. Click the link, sign up to share info. and.... no details. No photos, No properties, no information.

After feeling duped, I checked what Airbnb price suggestions were for these same dates, you know... just interested in finding out. 

Lo and behold! Rather than the £242 / £249 straddling our price of £235 almost perfectly as their email told me properties like ours had booked, Airbnb price suggestions for ALL those dates is £131.

Evidentially not evidential.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

I think Airbnb do themselves a disservice with these rather stupid e-mails. I would like to use smart pricing BUT, if it uses the same algorithms as their price suggestions (eg drop my 3 bed price to the same price as a room in a house) I don't see the point.

[Helen427]

@Ian-And-Anne-Marie0 

@Emilia42 @Trevor243 @Helen350 @Susan17 

Have any of you ever had a message from ABB to increase your prices because a Guest booked a property to stay at more expensive than your one?

I've had a couple of emails suggesting I drop my price to $21 a night, they went into archives.

There's absolutely no listings or accommodation anywhere in Auckland for that price in any online Marketplace.

The question we should all be asking is, "Would our local Hotels and Councils accept such a low nightly rate if they were in our circumstances?"

[Ian-And-Anne-Marie0]

@Helen427 

This email copied in the original post does this.

Our rates are £235 for those periods. Some guest booked £342. I wanted to find out who, why, what..

This was a 'sharing' email phishing for sign ups, and not the regular "Other listings are booking for far less" type email. None of those have ever been near the actual price level we've booked at.

Throughout the year, the only time any price suggestion equates something like we charge is High Season. At those times Airbnb suggest charging more, but not by email.

[Helen350]

@Ian-And-Anne-Marie0 @Trevor243 I get those messages even when  I KNOW there are no cheaper listings than mine that day. Sometimes I'm told to lower prices on my large room, cos people looked, then booked something cheaper.... YES! - They booked my small room, £1 cheaper!

[Trevor243]

It's all a bit like the "Ways to earn less" like the price tips .... they just want us to reduce prices to get a booking so that Airbnb gets a commission before any other OTA gets it ....

[Ian-And-Anne-Marie0]

@Trevor243 

The context of the message received shows prices being similar but on checking... Airbnb price suggestions say that other hosts are getting far less. Very contradictory.

[Trevor243]

@Ian-And-Anne-Marie0I use HomeAway too .... I got a booking, then got a message saying I'd lost a booking because the guest booked somewhere cheaper, with a link to the property the guest had booked .... it was one of my other proprties, same price ....

[Ian-And-Anne-Marie0]

@Trevor243 

Thats just dishonest and a scam too!

[Trevor243]

@Ian-And-Anne-Marie0I'm not worried - I set my prices, the bookings come in - I have a lot of properties to manage and I do price checks of my own, so I know the going rates .....

[Susan17]

@Ian-And-Anne-Marie0 

Sharing your information with the great big Airbnb Data Bank in the sky, more like. Data is the new oil, doncha know? ;))😉

[Ian-And-Anne-Marie0]

@Susan17 

I agree. Sharing between Hosts is one thing but restricting it to that extent is not mentioned.

Permitted data sharing will be much like opt-in email marketing where your permission is required for it to happen. Where there's no benefit found (and the rainbow doesn't have that promised pot of gold), there's no point.

[Ian-And-Anne-Marie0]

@Emilia42 

Those emails are frustrating!

This email is not like those - its the complete opposite. Airbnb are telling me that I'm competitively priced.

This is just the presentation of numbers to promote a response. They want to be able to share my information in exchange for information they allege to have available. Sure, I want to know what the competition are up to and specifically THOSE two competitors, but when accessing the site, signing up to share MY information, could I find information about those other two competitive accommodations anywhere? Like ANYWHERE ? Not at all.

After the conversation of this sharing facility cropping up last year I remembered that being able NOT to share information is as easy as selecting to opt out. So I did.

I wouldn't be averse to sharing information, but this underhand way in which it is promoted when no such other accommodations are identified as was proposed as in photos, reviews and locations is deceptive

The premise of the email:

"Update your sharing settings so you can get the photos, reviews, and locations of the places that guests book after clicking on your listing."

Is false.

[Lisa723]

@Ian-And-Anne-Marie0 @Emilia42 yep-- I signed up to share information many months ago and have never once received any.

[Ian-And-Anne-Marie0]

@Lisa723 

I expected to find somewhere on my Dashboard - probably in pricing, an information box containing the sharing information.

I searched every link, nothing.

[Emilia42]

@Ian-And-Anne-Marie0 There is no info on your dashboard or any valuable info. When you click the sharing box you only get an e-mail about once a month, that looks just like the one you got, only you can actually click on the other listing.

[Ian-And-Anne-Marie0]

@Emilia42 

Aah, OK. 

Are you sure? I do also get those emails telling me that XYZ booked for so much less.

If I sign up to obtain information, I expect to receive it, not next month or whatever. Now I just get nothing..

If as you say this sharing email is still irrelevant, maybe they don't have relevant listings sharing yet and the email I got contains only bogus unavailable listing data which I would never get, so making this email a phishing scam.

[Emilia42]

@Ian-And-Anne-Marie0 

That's the only piece of info I have received after clicking the sharing info box about 6 months ago. I wish I still had the e-mail to show you but I just deleted my trash. It could be that no one in my area has clicked the sharing info so it is pulling listings from over an hour away from me. I am not sure, but it has never given me any valuable information. 

[Ian-And-Anne-Marie0]

@Emilia42 

If I can recall correctly, when the sharing facility was introduced it was set to 'on' by default for new listings but existing listings needed to make the change manually.

If the data used in the marketing email sent was unobtainable under normal circumstances then sadly it was simply misleading and deceitful.

There are specific details and differences in our local competition, most which I wouldn't change anyway so perhaps having the information would be of no benefit to us and continuing in ignorance a bliss would be better than being misguided and exploited.

[Emilia42]

@Ian-And-Anne-Marie0 It's the same e-mail but I clicked the "Share your information" so I can actually see the listings that the guest apparently booked. 

[Emilia42]

I also find these e-mails useless and irreverent. I once received one that said the guest booked a place $50 less (when my price is only $80.) I clicked the listing and it was a very rustic cabin in the woods 1.5 hours away from me! Obviously, these guests had other plans and I'm not too worried about the 'competition.'

They also won't tell you when a guest chooses your place among the many cheaper options.