The "From XXXX" Pricing Is Deceptive

The "From XXXX" Pricing Is Deceptive

I've had a noticeable number of guests in the last few months not confirm reservations because when they actually put in their dates they said it was considerably more expensive than what they initially saw. This is because my rate for an open day that might be tomorrow would be $10 but that's for the few times it ever gets that close and is still open. But they're seeing my listing saying "From $10" on the platform before they book then after choosing their dates it's now closer to the normal $80 because they're reserving for some time in the future. This practice feels deceptive and I don't see the benefit of it since such a small fraction of guests will ever be able to take advantage of the "From" price and those prices are for so few days on our calendars. It feels manipulative in my opinion. 

5 Comments
Sandra126
Level 10

Personally I love the ''from''. Hasn't always been there, is a relatively new change. Means that guests hwo are flexible can trawl the calendar to find the cheaper days. HOWEVER: The calendars used to have a hover price, so you could see easily exactly what each day cost. This has been removed fairly recently which makes the process of finding the ''from'' days arduous.

 

My verdict: Keep the ''from''

                      Re-indroduce the hoverprices.

Martin280
Level 10

I don't know Sandra. That "From" price is what they could get for my room less than 1% of my available dates because it's the nearest unbooked ones. I looked at three other superhosts listings and theirs were similar, the "From" price was just for dates coming up in the next week and then all were nearer their normal rates than the "From" price. With that in mind showing every single person my "From" price next to my listing feels disenguous to being a way to help the consumer find the best deal, like naming your store The Dollar Store and next to nothing in it is close to $1, except one rack of odds-n-ends sitting off in the corner.

Sandra126
Level 10

But Martin, my price used to say $140, not ''from'' $140. Then, when guests go in and want a weekend, it is suddenly 195. Much better to have the ''from'', so they have an understanding that the price will vary until they put in search dates. Less deceptive.

 

and my specials never show in the ''from'', only my set prices. When I drop the odd day manually to 100, it still doesn't say ''from 100''.

Leslie7
Level 10

Hotels do the exact same thing. When you actually enter dates you almost never get the “from” price. Airbnb should have a calendar view like airlines that show prices for each day.

Christine615
Level 10

I agree. I get really ticked off when I’m traveling and try to book and the $48 advertised price is actually $195 .

 

A calendar showing price per day would be enormously helpful.

 

But my personal opinion is, that for a very low prices it doesn’t justify the amount of time it takes to clean a space between guests.