Question on minimum pricing

Question on minimum pricing

Hello.... my wife and I host a property in the UK and quickly obtained Superhost status. We use instant booking. We also use smart pricing and we have a minimum price in place. Yesterday we received an instant  booking for 2 nights at a price that is less than 50% of our minimum rate. AirBnB customer services says it is a smart pricing issue (we disagree) and subsequently tells us that the mimimum price for our listing was lowered last week (in the middle of the night mind you; when all in the house were asleep).   We cannot honor the booking as the rate is just to low and now look to cancel (and thus potentially lose superhost status). A bigger concern is what to do if this happens again? Neither my wife nor myself lowered the minimum price for our listing so it is obvious that someone has access to the account or there has been a ‘glitsch’ on the AirBnB side.

14 Replies 14
Mike-And-Jane0
Level 10
England, United Kingdom

@Jeff1786 I would turn smart pricing off as there have been many claims of strange pricing (always low) happening to people.

I would be more worried of the fines you may clock up if you are taking holiday bookings in lockdown. Your November review is a little damming!

Thanks Mike-And-Jane0.   We have in the meantime switched of the smart pricing; but I do appreciate the comment. The booking is/was for May 2021, hopefully we are out of lockdown by then.  I am truly sorry but I do not get your comment about the November booking.

Helen350
Level 10
Whitehaven, United Kingdom

@Mike-And-Jane0  The November lockdown began on 5 Nov 2020, between the night of the 4th & the 5th.... So if @Jeff1786 's November holiday guest was gone by then, or commenced their stay before then, which the Nov lockdown rule allowed, then no illegal booking took place!

@Mike-And-Jane0 “....strange pricing (always low) happening to people.“

 

Yes, strange pricing glitches never favor the host do they? 🤔

Emiel1
Level 10
Leeuwarden, The Netherlands

@Jeff1786 

If the price is lowered, then Airbnb can also see which device /  IP adress  performed the action.

If it is not belonging to you, there is something to be concerned of!

You can also see in your account a list of logins on recent devices (section security).

Thanks Emiel1, this is helpful. I will study the list of devices that have had access to our account. Thanks for your reply

I just checked..... the last time the account has been accessed was Nov 1, 2020.  AirBnB claims that the minimum price was lowered at around midnight on Jan 15, 2020. There is no record of any device accessing the account on that day. As such I go back to my initial point assuming it is a glitsch in the system.  I will continue to push AirBnB for a penalty free cancellation 

Colleen253
Level 10
Alberta, Canada

@Jeff1786 Could also be tied to IB. Instant Book glitches are very well known. Search this forum. I no longer use IB because of the them. Get in the habit of checking all your settings regularly, regardless,   as the platform is generally buggy overall. I’ve had settings change spontaneously and it’s subsequently been proven to be a bug.

Since this was an IBooking, you have some leeway to cancel penalty free. 

https://www.airbnb.ca/help/article/2022/can-a-host-cancel-a-reservation-without-adverse-consequences

Thanks  Colleen253

 

if we cancel the booking will

it impact our Superhost status?

 

thanks again, very much appreciated 

@Jeff1786 Read the article I linked. 

 

"You’ll be able to cancel Instant Book reservations online penalty-free 3 times in one year for these reasons."

 

Just cite that you are uncomfortable with the booking, which is technically true.

Thanks again Colleen... I read the article thanks for forwarding. I understand that there will not be a financial 'penalty' but the article does not go into detail about Superhost status. We only just started AirBnB-ing 6 months ago and we just made Superhost.... would hate to lose our status  because of this...

Helen3
Level 10
Bristol, United Kingdom

I can't see your listing on your profile for some reason, so not sure what you're staying on it regarding restrictions around which guest can stay. What was the reason for your guest wanting to stay during our lockdown @Jeff1786 . If they don't meet the restrictions you could ask Airbnb to cancel the booking on that basis.

Michael2476
Level 2
Brookline, MA

I am having a similar situation as a host.  Yesterday, I got a message that my studio is booked automatically for 9 days in April.  I went to check booking details and was surprised by a very low price $395.00 for 9 nights. That's about $44 per night. I am a host of a place in nice convenient location Boston, MA for about 7 years. Most of those years as a Super host. My lowest nightly rate was about $70.00 and that was 7 years ago. My current base price was $119/night. I had Smart Pricing option - ON.  Because of that rates  some time fluctuate,  but they never go lower than my Base Price of $119. April is very desirable month because of Boston Marathon and hear I am getting such a ridiculously low price for the hottest week in April. I checked everything trying to figure out where  $44.00/night rate is coming from, but with no success. So I called Airbnb support. The lady I talked to had me on hold 5 times trying to solve that puzzle. Finally she announced to me that because of Smart Pricing ON, prices can go up or down based on the rental market condition and that rate ($44) was dictated by market in my Area.  She sent me an link to an Airbnb  article "Adjusting your settings to meet local demand"  to read and funny enough that article stated: "If you use Smart Pricing, make sure to set a minimum price so your rate never falls below a number you’re comfortable with."

Anyway she kept repeating her "Market condition and Smart Pricing " line. I turned Smart Pricing off and changed the price to $129 for every day in April. I also  made it clear that she need to cancel that reservation because the booking for $44 is not acceptable. Finally she said that she will cancel that reservation as a One Time Courtesy. So, she cancelled it and I asked her to escalate this issue as I need to understand why it happened and how to prevent it from happening in the future. She promised me to do it. That was on 1/18/22. Next morning on 1/19/22 I got a message  from that $44/night guest asking me why it was cancelled. Few minutes later she sent me another message saying "never mind, I was able to book again" And what do you think? It was booked again for that low price $44. I called Airbnb Support again and talked to a different person she promised to get to the core of it, called me back 3 time, but still didn't know why it happened. Told me will call back tomorrow. Half a day passed she still did not call me. This is a bad situation.

Elaine701
Level 10
Balearic Islands, Spain

I don't trust any thing that's "automating" the price. Especially on Airbnb, because you're more likely to get a runaround in lieu of relief, should anything go wrong.