Smart Pricing - Weekends and Holidays

Chris37
Level 4
Bowral, Australia

Smart Pricing - Weekends and Holidays

I want to set a minimum (smart) price for weekends, and maybe holidays.

But this can't be done I don't think.

Any ideas?

 

I just got booked for three days between Christmas and NYE, at my 'regular' rates.

This was despite having set prices explicitly to be around double the normal rate.

Seems Smart Pricing has taken over my manual price edits for these dates.

 

Also, I am in a holiday area, and often get booked out on weekends. Smart Pricing seems too low for weekends.

I like Smart Pricing, but wish I could set a min WEEKEND rate, or set a weekend/holiday loading percentage.

So if a weekend, the Smart Price should be set 20% higher than usual - for example.

Technically Smart Pricing should figure it out - but I don't know how to 'train' it what I need, or to workaround the problem.

 

The only solution seems to be set Smart Pricing, then over-ride all the weekends with a higher manual price. Sigh.

Is there a better solution?

20 Replies 20
Melanie58
Level 10
Boise, ID

I have noticed that if i turn smart pricing off, then back on, it overrides prices I have manually entered - do you know if you set your holiday rates before or after you turned on smart pricing?  

Yes, I've noticed this as well.

It's a shame. The site really should ask for permission - or clearly advise you that turning on Smart Pricing will change all the manually specified rates. I would much prefer an option to LEAVE THEM AS SET!

 

Sadly, this doesn't happen. Now I've rented my home over Christmas for half what I think I could have easily got - as my double price setting was cleared and replaced with 'standard rates' without my knowing.

 

Developers / Designers - please improve this area if possible 🙂

Hi

did you find if there is any way to change christmas prices if on Smart Pricing?

Thanks in anticipation

Anne

Dede0
Level 10
Austin, TX

@Chris37 Some Smart Advice: Don't use Smart Pricing. It's a sham. They fake it. Trust me. It's BS. AirBnB is being scammed themselves by whoever (in-house or contract) is supplying the pricing recommendations. I've conducted multiple experiments that lead to that conclusion. Don't use Smart Pricing and don't blindly accept their pricing tips even when not using Smart Pricing.

@Dede0

 

Are the prices too high, too low, what is the issue that you see?

 

Mike
AirBnB Treehouse for Rent
https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/7292887
Mike says: "Need to contact AirBnB, Google It."

 

 

 

@Dede0

 

I just check the prices in my area and set my own to the middle of those prices.  It does not take very long to just look at the area around your own AirBnB and see what the middle price would be.

 

Don't need no stinking logarithm to do that.

 

Mike
AirBnB Treehouse for Rent
https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/7292887
Mike says: "Need to contact AirBnB, Google It."

 

 

@Mike77 If the pricing tips actually worked like they should (they don't), they'd do an even better job than just glancing around at nearby listings. (Which I do as well.) Besides factoring in the rates of nearby joints, the price tips could weight each listing's rate according to how similar the place is to yours (# bdrms, etc), how it's rated, how far in advance books, how much it stays booked, etc. Personally, I would never simply accept the price tips or turn on Smart Pricing. But I wish that when I took a look at the price tips, they actually had *any* relation to reality. They don't. And it's not even that they undervalue or anything like that. They're simply broken.

@Dede0

 

Well if you want AirBnB to change how the "Dumb Pricing" is working so that it becomes "Smart", you are going to have to take your complaints OUT OF THIS FORUM.

 

AirBnB does NOT READ THIS FORUM.

 

Mike
AirBnB Treehouse for Rent
https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/7292887
Mike says: "Need to contact AirBnB, Google It."

 

 

 

@Mike77 I know that AirBnB doesn't monitor this forum. Which is why I posted my original examples of the problem (screenshots and all) to the only forum here that AirBnB *does* read, the new "Host Voice" or whatever. I've also contacted AirBnB more directly. Believe it or not, when presented with clear examples of broken code (not just rants or user-confusion), AirBnB can actually be fairly responsive. But only if they view the issue as a priority. Having multiple hosts chime in about the same issue tends to raise the priority of things.

 

My comments in *this* forum were originally about the pricing issues raised by other hosts. And I added another comment in response to a *question* from you. ("Are the prices too high, too low, what is the issue that you see?") And then a further comment following up to yours about looking at other rates around your own listing and using that to factor your own rates. Like I said, I do that, too, but if the price tips worked reliably, they would add even more information that hosts could use.

 

@Dede0

 

Well if things are working out and AirBnB is fixing some of it's problems, good.

 

I have no issue with them fixing problems.

 

 

Mike
AirBnB Treehouse for Rent
https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/7292887

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I want to see higher prices on weekends.

I am sure I can rent higher than the suggested rates, even when set to 'Part time' hosting - not 'As much as possible'.

If there was some way to push the Smart pricing up - that would be good.

 

I am ALL FOR Smart pricing. I just wish the prices were higher, and especially on the weekends, and holidays.

 

So I'd like:

A) A control to set minimum Smart pricing rates on weekends only

B) A control to set prices 'x%' above the recommendation, or allow the 'Hosting frequency control' to push prices higher. I understand they are clever with hosting frequency, but I want to affect pricing - not hosting frequency... there is a difference, even if linked.

C) Are you sure check, or warning, if Smart Pricing is ever - ever... going to take over what I have manually set. My Christmas pricing got lost by Smart Pricing, and now I've rented at almost half the rate I should have.

I think it's crazy that there's no option to set a separate smart pricing for weekends. I'm finding that weekends are now getting booked up as the smart pricing rate is too low which leaves me more unlikely to rent for longer periods. Smart pricing works well I think but this has to be changed, otherwise we'll have to go through every weekend and manually enter different rates which is time consuming. Would someone from Airbnb please respond to this.

I'm suspecting that smart pricing is only smart for AirBnb and not for hosts.

Logic: it drives prices down, so that our listings can be competitive with motels even after adding on the AirBnb service fee. 

No idea how they figure their fee but I don't think they have the same incentive hosts do, which is to maximize our revenue.

AirBnb want to maximize traffic, market share and their own revenue, of course.

I've found no matter what I set as my minimum, "smart pricing" almost always sets my price to that minimum, or maybe a buck or two more, and practically the same on weekends.