Pricing

Mark1747
Level 1
Cave Creek, AZ

Pricing

I know lots of people who rent on Airbnb and are getting frustrated with what seems to be bait and switch pricing. A price of $180 a night is listed then when you go to reserve the price miraculously increases to $300 a night. This comes off as very deceptive. I was told that is the minimum price charged but surely Airbnb has the capability to show the true pricing before you go to the trouble of researching that property only to find out the price listed is nowhere near the true price for the night..

 

 

Anyone else frustrated with this practice?

8 Replies 8
Pete69
Level 10
Los Angeles, CA

Once you book, you lock in the price. If the price jumps in a matter of moments as you're booking then I'd say it's just coincidence that the host was online adjusting their prices. Or they have it set so that Airbnb adjusts prices according to supply and demand.

It’s not coincidence, it happens every hour, every day of the week all week and month long.


@Pete69 wrote:

Once you book, you lock in the price. If the price jumps in a matter of moments as you're booking then I'd say it's just coincidence that the host was online adjusting their prices. Or they have it set so that Airbnb adjusts prices according to supply and demand.


 

Not at all coincidence, happens all the time.

Gordon0
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

This hasn’t happened to me (host and guest). Perhaps it’s down to bad timing/luck. If you like a deal, snap it up. Does it take that long to research a place?

Ana1136
Level 10
Ohrid, Macedonia (FYROM)

@Mark1747 in addition to the other comments here, search with the correct dates and the correct number of people in the first place. Because when you search only with the location it will give you every property with the lowest price, they might not be even available for your dates. But when you input all the criteria in the first place you will always get the correct price. 

Linnea-Or-David0
Level 5
Ochre Beach, Canada

I think he means as you search a place it shows the listings $$ per night, but then once you put your dates in it adds on the service charge and cleaning charge and then shows the ACTUAL nightly charge.  I am actually just experiencing this myself as I'm trying to book a place for a business trip. The place shows $90 a night but changes to $106/night with fees. I know not nearly the jump you're speaking of, but maybe with yours it's also weekend prices, higher cleaning fee, service charge etc.   I get the frustration @Mark1747 , but that's just how Airbnb works... guests kind of have to go into it knowing that the nightly price is like 'before taxes' prices.  

For what seemed a brief month or so, ABB was listing ACTUAL price next to bold lettered list price. What happened?

Scott1589
Level 1
Mountain View, CA

I am so frustrated with airbnb's deceptive pricing. The price they list isn't comparable to hotel aggregator sites that give honest prices. It's truly shameful, and should be illegal. The "price per night" is basically a fabrication. True price is often double or more.