Pricing our listing

[Pas1864]

We’ve been open a year and are trying to get our price just right for June to August (considering the airbnb service charge)

your thoughts and guidance would be super appreciated and welcome thanks in advance.

airbnb.com/h/forestpalms 

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Pas1864 The only way to price sensibly is to look at other listings in your locality and adjust for amenities.  Perhaps not the best advice as I just don't know how people would value the pool in England!

One thought though. If you want to make money in the summer you could consider a min stay of 7 nights with an enforced changeover on say Friday or Saturday. This means less cleaning work and no lost days between bookings. If you want to do this then switch on pro tools in your account and then apply a ruleset to the listing's calendar

[Pas1864]

!Many thanks and yes those things have been looked at and considered.

I guess I was hoping someone here would look at our final price and give an opinion. 

All good thanks again 🙂

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Pas1864 Unless someone was local to you any opinions they may give would be worthless. I could say it looks quite expensive for 2 people but my comparator is the area around Derby so totally irrelevant.

As long as you are close to others prices you should be fine.

[Pas1864]

Yep, being within the New Forest National Park with a pool makes us fairly unique with virtually no comparable ‘competition’. I will delve deeper into who else is in the area. Thanks for your time 🙂

[Ann72]

@Pas1864  I don't look at nearby listings because they're not like mine.  I would look at hotels, especially with the amenities you offer.  I honestly think you could go higher.  When I was about as far along in hosting as you are now, I raised my prices by a lot and my bookings doubled.

[Huma0]

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@Ann72 wrote:

When I was about as far along in hosting as you are now, I raised my prices by a lot and my bookings doubled.

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That's food for thought! By how much did you raise them? Do you think that you started out very low?

[Pas1864]

Thanks Ann!

[Kia272]

@Pas1864  I'm likely the exception to the pricing rule, but I simply decided what my place was worth and priced accordingly. I don't really pay attention to what others in the area are priced at. You have to decide what it's worth to you in effort and return for your effort, i.e. cleaning, prep, etc. 

I'd rather have my place empty than take a lower price- and no- I'm not rich-  I do need the income, but time and effort are worth something too. 

Good luck, Kia

[Pas1864]

sure thing Kia, thanks! I guess we do not wish to be marked 'down' for value 🙂

[Ann72]

Actually @Pas1864 the guests most likely to mark down for value are those who got a discount.  However, the occasional 4 you'll get for value won't affect your overall score.  Only the overall number does that.  If you keep getting the overall 5s, don't sweat it if the other metrics aren't 5s as well.   You'll eventually get a guest who will give a 4 for location because the forest was either too close or too far away...

And like @Kia272, only I know what my place is worth.  In addition, if you show that you value your home, your guests will follow suit.

[Huma0]

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@Ann72 wrote:

Actually @Pas1864 the guests most likely to mark down for value are those who got a discount. 

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This can be true of guests who ask for a discount anyway whether they get one or not. The point is that the guest does not appreciate the value that you are offering from the outset. Of course, I have hosted guests who initially requested a discount (just trying their luck, maybe thinking that's a normal thing to do on Airbnb, especially when it's a longer stay) and still left me 5* across the board, but the discount hunters are likely to be trickier than the guest who immediately sees what great value the place is and wants to snap it up before someone else does.

[Pas1864]

so true (forest too far or to close) or other sillyness! 🙂 ahah. Yep don't sweat the metrics if everything else is 5 and value is 4.9 then all good. I guess our price feels right to attract people considering the added service charge but really I would like to charge a higher basic ... but then the service charge really knocks things up. Thanks though Ann!