Boost bookings by lowering prices........

[Gemma123]

I am new to Airbnb and not quite sure how to deal with message to boost my bookings.  I have had 3 bookings so far and it would be great if I could boost my earnings but I am offering a lovely double room for £30 for 1 or 2 guests.  Airbnb suggesting £22.  I am a bit reluctant to reduce nightly price to this amount as I feel £30 for 2 people given lovely space/breakfast/extras is good value.  Maybe reduce to £22 for one guest?

Thank you

Gemma 

[Letti0]

@Gemma123   Do not pay any attention to AirBnB's pricing suggests they are always wrong. They are always pushing to lower prices. If you go down to £22 you will then be told you need to go down from that price. Just ignore all pricing suggests.  Also I think you should be at 1 person for your current price and charge an extra guest fee of £10 for the second person due to the breakfast deal. 

[Gemma123]

Hi Letitia Thank you for your words of wisdom.  I will ignore the prompts from Airbnb now.  A good idea also about charging £10 extra for second person.  I have 3 bookings for that room and one is for a couple.  Does it not matter about increasing price after accepting a booking? I realise the price will stay same for confirmed bookings - they will think they've got a bargain. It's been a slow start to be honest but as I get more reviews.........just out of interest, have you had a look at my listings? Always open to advice from a superhost!

Warm regards

Gemma

[Letti0 · Accepted solution]

@Gemma123  Yes I looked at both that's why I told to charge more for the second person. As the reviews come in bookings will too. I would actualy say that once you have 10+ reviews raise the extra guest fee to  £15 and base price to  £35. I would also add another listing that would include both bedrooms to attract a larger group of 3 or 4. I'd price at  £60 for two and extra guests 3 and 4 get charged  £10 each until that listing has 10+ reviews then increase it to  £70 and  £15. You can link the bedrooms so if Bedroom 1 or 2 gets book the listing with both rooms gets blocked automatically. If both rooms get booked bedroom 1 and 2 get blocked automatically. This would increase your booking possiblities. 

How do I link Airbnb calendars for multiple listings?

If you have multiple listings on Airbnb (for example, an entire home and a room inside that home), you can link their Airbnb calendars to prevent double-bookings.

To link Airbnb calendars for multiple listings:

1. Go to Listings on airbnb.com and click a listing whose calendar you'd like to link
2. Click Availability
3. Next to Linked Airbnb calendars, click Link
4. Click Create linked calendars, then select the listing for the entire home you’d like to link to other calendars
5. Click Next
6. Select the listings inside of the home, then click Save

Note: If you don’t indicate that the listings are connected, a reservation for one listing won’t automatically block those reservation dates on the other listing's calendar. For example, if the primary listing is booked for a certain date, then it will block that date on the calendars of any listings under it, and vice versa. However, if you block a date on a calendar of a listing under the primary listing, it won't block the calendars of other listings at that level, only the calendar of the primary listing it's linked to.

[Gemma123]

Letitia Thank you so much again for this information!  I never would have thought of putting the two rooms together as one listing.  You are a star for thinking of this.  

Your practical and fair advice to charge for an extra guest has not only potentially increased my earnings through Airbnb but has given me confidence to adjust my prices when my reviews start to increase.  Our conversation has reassured me that my listings are good value considering the comfort and service I am committed to providing. Thanks also for the information on how to link multiple listings; I don't think I ever would have figured that out!!

Thanks again

Yours,

Gemma

[Sarah977]

@Gemma123  No, it is not okay to change the price on an already confirmed booking. The guests book at the price shown to them and it would make most of them mad to have a host try to charge them more after the fact, nor is it fair. 

If you want to charge more for a 2nd guest, change it in your listing and then it will apply to all future bookings.

[Gemma123]

Hi Sarah

That's a fair point that you make. I'm relieved that new price will apply only to future bookings as to increase the price after someone has booked would not be at all appropriate and as you say unfair.  I am having a few teething issues with this side of my Airbnb experience but thanks to everyone at Airbnb Community I am now resolving them. 

Thanks

Gemma

[Jeremy129]

Airbnb constantly trying to get me to charge less and open my doors to anyone... it's a tension between what should be a mutally beneficial arrangement but instead breeds distrust.   Here's the email I just got asking me to lower the minum stay below 1 night...?@#^  Do they want me to rent to escorts hourly now?

Did you know that 32% of guests in your area are booking trips of 1 nights or less? Your current minimum night setting prevents these travelers from seeing and booking your listings.

[Sarah977]

@Jeremy129 Oh I get those all the time, I assume all hosts do. I just snort derisively and ignore it. No human is looking at our listings and doing some kind of comparison, it's just some algorithm-driven computer bot. It can talk to itself all it wants.

[Susan1690]

Susan from Des Moines, Iowa.

I find the constant preassure to lower my price really irritating.  My prices are consistent with other similar listings.  Why woyld air B&B work to force prices down.?  It’s counter intuitive.

where is the support to make more money instead of working more for less?

[Christine615]

I agree with Letitia.  The pricing suggestions never seem to fit reality. What you can do is look at other Airbnb's in your area (as if you are going to be a guest) and see what they are charging for one or two people. I recommend looking at several dates, months apart. Sometimes people use ridiculously low teaser rates to make their appear first, but then you click on the dates and the prices are all a lot higher.

So ignore the suggestions. You want quality guests not those looking for rock bottom rates.

[Gemma123]

Hi Christine Good advice thank you - quality not quantity!  I have been wondering about looking at other listings.  The same listings always appear in the first 3 when I search my area for Airbnb properties. Mine was in the first 4 or 5 but I am now way way down on the list.  Admittedly I have chopped and changed the wording of my listings - so I wonder if this is having a negative effect on where my listings appear on Airbnb website.  Is there anything I can do to help me appear in the first top ten listings?  I realise though that despite position in listings - an increase in bookings doesn't necessary follow!!!!

[Letti0]

@Gemma123  When first start out AirBnB gives you a boost in listing order to help you get your first reservations. 

[Gemma123]

Hi Letitia

Thank you That partly answers my question.  I did put another listing on Airbnb a few weeks ago but that never appeared in the first few listings.  Also another host nearby is for some reason always the first in the listings and was a host before I joined? Is this because the space is more superior or more expensive than mine?

[Letti0]

@Gemma123  No, it's just the ranking done by the AirBnB computers.