Smart Price Question

John5746
Level 2
Austin, TX

Smart Price Question

Hi all - long time reader first time poster.

 

I had a cancellation for a booking that was done months ago.  It was cancelled and 4 minutes later I had a new booking at my normal rate.  Great, right?  

 

I later went to look at what things were renting for in my area just to make sure I’m on target.  I put in this weekends dates and everything is 4 to 6 times more than my price.  All the hotels are also through the roof.  Clearly there is an event happening. 

I called super host help and they are saying everything looks fine and smart pricing did it’s thing - but somehow didn’t move my price at all.  Waiting fir a supervisor to call me back.  

any thoughts?   Thanks. 

11 Replies 11
Brian2036
Level 10
Arkansas, United States

@John5746 

 

I don’t think “smart pricing” keeps up with local events.

 

 I hear it works for some people in extremely seasonal markets but I don’t see it doing anything for me.

 

 I hope you aren’t holding your breath waiting for that call…

Shante30
Level 2
Denver, CO

I’ve noticed it only works on holidays

Mike-And-Jane0
Level 10
England, United Kingdom

@John5746 unlike @Shante30 I don't think it even works on holidays. Christmas seems like just another day to the smart pricing algorithm.

Also it drops the rate as a stay approaches which is the opposite of airline pricing behaviour. The algorithm seems to put more emphasis on selling something even if it is at a low price.

J-Renato0
Level 10
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

@John5746 

I have been using smart pricing during low season, but I always set the minimum price above the suggested one.
Regarding holidays and event days, I manually adjust the price directly on the calendar. The suggested price, at least with me, is way below the fair price for special occasions.

Kia272
Level 10
Takoma Park, MD

@John5746 You got a booking- Just take it and be happy. You'll still make money, and your guests will be happy that they got a good deal. Pretend it's any other weekend, and don't worry about the event. 

John5746
Level 2
Austin, TX

Good advice.  Sincerely appreciate it.  

Lisa723
Level 10
Quilcene, WA

@John5746 smart pricing is dumb. And Airbnb has a conflict of interest here. If they can depress your price, they can increase their own guest service fee (which is variable, calculation not disclosed) without raising the guest's total cost.

 

Consider third-party pricing software, e.g. Wheelhouse or Pricelabs. Wheelhouse doubled my revenue.

I set a floor for my price and leave it at that. It's higher than what Airbnb suggests so it rarely moves up more than a few dollars. However, more experienced hosts suggested I monitor the calendar for events such as graduations, football games, major concerts and manually raise it on those weekends.

Smart pricing used to give me some idea of where area prices were but those seem to be days gone by. Might be worth it to bookmark your competition and search their listings periodically. And the hotels.

Basha0
Level 10
Penngrove, CA

The only smart pricing is what you figure out you need to make it a profitable business. Check out comparisons and set your own. Too many bookings? Maybe the price is too low. I prefer a higher price for a hopefully higher quality guest

Lorna170
Level 10
Swannanoa, NC

@John5746   Smart pricing isn't going to know what events are happening in your locality and make the appropriate changes to your bottom line.

 

I have placed a value on each night in my property, and do not change that value for local events or seasons.  My property and its contents/amenities are the same year round; I do not offer better amenities during different seasons.  Some would say I am losing money; I say that I am so booked that it is hard to get time off from cleaning (and I am priced higher than my local competition).  

 

If you spend time looking at your area and the type of events that are re-occurring, you can manually set your prices for an uptick in guests attending graduations, sports events, wedding season, beach season, ski season, etc.  If you happen to miss an event and did not get your price raised before a guest booked, do as @Kia272 suggested and enjoy the guest and the income.  

"Smart pricing" feature doesn't keep up with local events neither here or in other smart pricing tools, the most accurate and safe way to do your pricing is by yourself since you're the one who has knowledge of the upcoming events near your area.  I'm an Airbtics ambassador, and I know for sure that Airbtics is a safe tool that can help by showing accurate data about rates around your area and still you make the decision on the final number based on that + if you know there's an upcoming event, etc. Hope you find this helpful !