10% discount

[John498]

Do contributors here use this? It doesn't seem to generate much interest in my experience but might improve ranking on searches. Do guests have to book the whole period if the 10% is mentioned as between 18th Mar to 24th March for example? It says it is sent to select clients but I would love to know what criteria they use to choose these.

I also wonder if they target days when demand is low or is it just a gimmick without real value.

[Tim-and-Holly0]

I received the opportunity once and tried it. We did not get booked during the "sale" so not sure if it really works or not.

[J-Renato0]

Hello @John498

Yes, sometimes I set a discount. I do not know if it really improve ranking on Airbnb search.

I suggest reading this article

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/1233/how-do-i-set-custom-weekly-or-monthly-pricing

"Your weekly discount will apply to any reservation for 7-27 nights. Your monthly discounts will apply to any reservation for 28 nights or longer."

About prices and discount suggestions, Airbnb are always giving advices and tips.

If I was to follow all the Airbnb tips (price and discount suggestions) I would be all booked all the time and having my earning lowerd till an unacceptable point ! Moreover, sooner or later I would be competing with the cheapest hostels in the city where my properties are located. So, I usually follow my intuition instead of accepting all Airbnb tips, and It seems to work at least to me.

Some Airbnb tips are ok, others are not. 

[Helen427]

If the cheapest hostels in Auckland, NZ are anything to go by Airbnb hosts are been ripped off. The cheapest ones here are shared dormitories and cost at least $40NZ a night.

No wonder my guest JA who wrote he would not recommend to stay at my home was so "put out" that he couldn't stay longer as I had other guests booked and I won't tolerate theft of commonly stolen items from hostels like he did in my home - caught him red handed. Tough luck he had to go back to sharing with drunk, noisy roommates , no privacy or quality sleep & definitely no extravagant breakfasts that he was provided with in my home.

He also would not have had the "Free lunch provisions " he took from my home.

[D7]

I got an email from Airbnb to set 10% off for specific dates. I want to try it, but there doesn't seem to be a button for that. On the pricing page, I cna only set weekly/monthly discounts or the weekend rates. How will Airbnb/guests know there is a 10% off offer for my listing for those specific dates (Saturday and Sunday in my case, not the "weekend dates", which are Friday and Saturday)

[Johnson4]

I have the same question as D.

Airbnb says give 10% discount for 3 days I have open, but I don't see how to do it. Do I just change the pricing myself? and if I do, will guest still get emailed saying there is a 10% discount on my selected dates?

[Jayme0]

Did anyone figure this one out already? I don't see how manually editing the price will send an email to interested travelers.

[Jenny318]

I had the same trouble but finally found it. Go to Listing and then Calendar. The button to apply the 10% will show up on the right side of the calendar. Hope this helps.

[Melanie450]

I have done this a couple of times and got bookings within hours. I’m not seeing the options all the time though... does Airbnb have restrictions on how often/when you can advertise a ‘special offer’ to future guests??

[Kym44]

Thanks Jenny! Helpful indeed. x

[William327]

Not showing on my listing. Many of the other Online Booking Sites have a "special" option that you can set. Really need this, as manually dropping the price doesn't have the same effect as a "10% off" quick sale listing.

[Marina481]

There's 5 ways to discount price that I can think of...

1. Set your minimum nightly price lower in pricing settings. Somtimes Airbnb prompts you to do this in the calendar as a tip, typically with a suggested amount to lower to be competitive with other area listings. I do not know if this increases visibility on search results, but I would guess that following Airbnb's suggestions does put you in a favorable position in their algorithms.  

2. Set your weekend price higher than your week night price in pricing settings. However I believe you have to turn off Smart Pricing to do this. I do not think this shows in search and I think turning off Smart Pricing hurts your listing more than helps. 

3. Manually change a price for certain dates. In the calendar if you highlight dates you'll see an option to manual change the price for just those selected. You can do this with Smart Pricing on, you'll see the prices for those dates turn grey since they are no longer under Smart Pricing. I do this for when I know there is an event nearby and surge pricing or if I really want to fill those dates. This does not give your listing any extra visibility though or notify Airbnb that you've accepted a 'tip'. 

4. Send a Special Offer for a requested booking. This you can do within the message of a certain guest/booking request. This only applies for that reservation and is not visible to anyone else but you and that guest. It's a way to encourage that induvidual to confirm a booking or to make special allowances that you might have discussed with them. 

5. Set an Discount Offer for selected dates. This is the best option and the one I believe everyone is referencing here. I do not believe you can do this unless prompted by Airbnb. Or at least, I haven't found the way to do it on my own. It makes sense though because, if you apply a discount, they put your listing in an email marketing blast to users who have been looking in your area for those dates in the hopes that it gives you lots of extra visibility and book incentive. I've had a good amount of success with it when I accept the 'tip' exactly as prompted by Airbnb. You have the option to change the percentage (though not dates, if I remember correctly) before you submit if you like. Since it would be easy to 'game' this system by setting your price high and then always giving a discount to get the visibility, it makes sense that it is only available when prompted by Airbnb. If anyone knows how the Airbnb algorithm for this works, please let me know. 

[Alicia242]

@Marina481 I was wondering if say for ex: we set a weekly discount of say 10% for a week.( Note: I typically book 2-4nts stay at my place being a private room and private bath in Salem Ma home. But noticed this year I had about 6 guests book a full week. Tying in Boston and Salem together... October is super busy and I dont want to off a discount because its such a  desirable month its one we hosts can capitalize on being the Halloween Capital of the world and peak foliage season too. So can I set a weekly discount for many weeks of the yr and turn it off for Oct??? And do you know if we can change the week start date??? Airbnb has the weeks shown just as mon-sun  for the 7 nts so say someone wanted to due Sat-Fri? thanks in advance for your assistance -Alicia 

[Marina481]

@Alicia242 My opinion, I would turn on Smart Pricing if you haven't already. If there is high demand for the area during that time it should automatically see this and price your listing higher than the rest of the year (but never listing it lower than your stated minimum). If you believe Smart Pricing does not list it high enough per night for what you believe you can charge I would still highly recommend keeping on Smart Pricing and adjust the price on top of that. Smart Pricing greatly increases your visibiliy in Airbnb's algorithms. I would set your minimum per night price for what you would like to receive for the year, then I would highlight the month of October in your calendar and manually raise the per night rate in the sidebar for those dates. When you do this, Airbnb will usually ask why you are changing the price for those dates and one of them is "there is a high demand in this area for that time" - this will eventually teach Smart Pricing to do this automatically for you and other listings in your area. As far as changing it from a 2 night minimum to longer stays, I do not believe you can do that for a specific date range; you would have to change the booking requirements for your entire listing. Airbnb (I would guess) doesn't want you to do this because it blocks desirable listings for potential bookings. Personally, my average lead time on a booking is 1.5 weeks out so I can easily change things about my listings in preparation to peak booking times (with a few exceptions, obviously). I would suggest setting your minimum stay for the autumn season to 3 nights so that it at least ensures you get at least "long weekend" guests but doesn't have as much risk as requiring a full week. 

[Alicia242]

@Marina0Im going to message you privately. Im told smart pricing is known as “dumb pricing” by many