AIRBNB requests to lower pricing

Sion2
Level 10
SF, CA

AIRBNB requests to lower pricing

I am new as of Sept in a high volume area San Francisco. I work really hard even ironing sheets, I do thier laundry,  all amemites, heated marble floor in bathroom, even snacks and beverages and I have a 100% 5 star rating and told to expect  super host status in Jan.  I am under vauled according to several guests. YET and I really need AIRBNB to hear this:

Stop sending me emails to lower my prices...the last one wanted me to go from 99 down to 70...all because  4  folks looked at my lisitng  and booked cheaper. Right now when fully booked I exceed the rental value of the rooms which is super high in SF. If I follow these endless requests to lower my prices I cannot continue to host. I will get a roomate whose laundry I do not have to do;)

 

Its so dishearting to be doing everything right but the only communciation  I get from AIRBNB is me  being told to make less money, like my efforts are not vauled and your algorithm  is not noticing my reviews or booking rate. There is balancing point in marketing and lowering my price is a race to the bottom. Not going to do it...I will raise it, but not lower it. Dec is slow and I am not getting what I could make if I rented the room ( and I offered discounts)  to a housemate. Jan is almost booked so I know it just seasonal. You want to send me helpful emails ...tell me how to self promote and what else I can sell to guests ( like meals etc) ...do not make me work for free. 

55 Replies 55
Fred13
Level 10
Placencia, Belize

I always considered them, as nothing but annoying spam coming from a computer program written by some nerds that never have even ran a popsicle stand. I never get them now (last 2 years) even after doubling my prices twice, so I guess the program now considers me a 'lost cause'.

Tracy161
Level 2
Liverpool, United Kingdom

Ho all, 

We are very new to airbnb, not even 2 weeks hosting. 

 

Within hours of going live, I received messages saying that at our prices we would be 'Least likely to get bookings'. 

 

That made me worry, because I thought all the effort we made would all be for nothing. 

 

We sent a special offer to the first 2 guests after a prompt from airbnb. 

 

Then the calendar began to fill up nicely without sending anymore. 

 

We are still new hosts, but we are doing it our way and not being 'guided'. 

 

I wish all you hosters a profitable 2018

Lynne

 

Helga0
Level 10
Quimper, France

The suggestions are absurd, but there is a method to the absurdity. I watch the suggestions regularly on the app or website, to check the level of the suggested prices. On my main listing, my price is 43 for the shared room and I do get that price with nice guests. If the suggestions say 35, I know the demand is high and may have less hesitation to scare off a strange request with a snappy answer. If the suggestions go down  under 30, demand is lower and at 21, demand is nearly dead. I may consider a discount on 3 days stays, to get down to 42. 

And sometimes I look at a comparison for a month saying I was booked very well (I take free days as they come and don’t block in advance, but there are months it gets too much), competition was 35 % booked at 26 average. And if I lowered my price accordingly, I could have booked the four remaing days too and made more money. More like more complicated guests and between 30 and 50 percent less, but hey, the programmer forgot to distinguish between + and -  

I do not get those mails. You can opt out of them in the account settings. I get just booking related mails and reminders 

Gerry-And-Rashid0
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

@Sion2

 

This is not aimed a you specifcially - but people seem to thiink that AirBnB is a charity,  or a benevolent instiutioin, an insurance company and  also an international police force

 

You own your property, you set the pricing - let them make  as many suggestions as they  wish but just ignore them. You know what you can achieve  in your market. What do you do when you  get junk mail? Don't even open it, just rip it up and chuck it in the recycling. These emails are about driving revenue  for AirBnB, not to help you make money

Javier266
Level 1
Daly City, CA

I agree that this is a terrible business practice and a race to the bottom. Before I started lowering my price I had 100% 5 star ratings. Once the price came down I received a lot more bookings but the attitude of the guests had changed. I suddenly had a bunch of cheap bargain hunters in my house who would complain about everything. They were getting a deal so they didn't read my ad. I had people shocked that they didn't have a private bathroom, that I didn't make breakfast for them, that I didn't tell them about the second bathroom in the basement, location etc. Bargain hunters suck. They don't read your ad, low-ball you and then they lower your rating.

Davida2
Level 1
Gaithersburg, MD

I get the same emails but my unit is brand new with everything really nice and cost me a lot to make it so and I too get the same emails and I will not lower my prices. 

Francisca16
Level 5
New York, NY

Wow! I thought I was the only one that is being badgered with the lowering of the price. I just ignore them.

David126
Level 10
Como, CO

Just got another one about people who were booking $15 less etc than my charge.

 

So I did a search, set the price at just below mine, kept on expanding it until I found something.

 

So over 50 miles away there is a Hostel that charges those rates, bunk beds shared rooms, all I could find other than camping sites, bring your own tent. At 10,000 ft up and in the winter not recommended.

 

So they are auto generated and made up.

 

Now why is an interesting subject of discussion.

 

 

David
Michael956
Level 10
Salvador, Brazil

Sion, I looked at your listing and WOW!, you offer a lot for a very reasonable rate.  Stocked mini-fridge, private bathroom and ironed sheets.  Your price is very reasonable for your area.  I rent 3 rooms in my Mission District flat and I don't have private bathrooms (two shared bathrooms) or mini-fridges or iron the sheets, yet I'm planning on raising my rates to where yours is now.  It simply is not possible to offer a quality listing at a low price in a city as expensive as San Francisco.  Ignore those requests to lower your rates.

Linghein0
Level 2
Waterloo, Canada

Hi Sion!

 

PLEASE DON'T FOLLOW AIRBNB FOR ANY PRICE SUGGESTIONS!

 

It's my real story. I live in Canada, used to be a host in Ontario. In the beginning, Airbnb asks me to start with CA$ 25 pre-night. I did it, but it's entirely a joke! I almost provide all the services as you have and it's a private room just merely without a private bathroom. After a couple of months, I started to raise my rate into CA$ 45. As a payback, I received a couple of emails as well, asks me to pull down my price.

It's so hard for me to trust Airbnb now. I figured out that they are only taking care of their own money, wants to cut down the night rate and to get more booking, just because reservations pay them back! 

I had a guest last year, a university student, with good reviews and referral by other guests, booked for almost three months. I accepted it, and then, my nightmare begins. That guest never cares about my house rules and waking me up at least ones every week in the midnight (around 3-4 am). After a couple of weeks, the guest started to get into my room without my permit... I called Airbnb to ask this guest to leave, and Airbnb asked me to cancel the appointment and to give that guest for a full refund. It's not acceptable for me. After I called them every single day and started to ask my boyfriend to contact them, they finally move the guest out.

It's so ridiculous... Because of this I ended my listing and don't want to be a host again...

 

Krissy1
Level 3
Adelaide, Australia

When Airbnb first started they were very polite and courteous and helpful to hosts.  Over the years they have taken a more punitive stance which personally I don't think works.

 

Sometimes guests who book elsewhere because it is a much lower price is a godsend.  You probably dodged a bullet 🙂

 

I think your home is worth the price - obviously other guest do too...

 

Don't worry about the superhost status.  I used to have it but I started getting guests who left my home in very poor condition and I didn't want to attract those kind of people.  I do miss the bookings but I don't miss the damage.  When you have a superhost status you have to accept what people dish out sometimes for fear of a bad review.  Guests know that.

Don-and-Sandy0
Level 3
Pennsylvania, United States

Being new to Airbnb, I have an urgent question, but 855-424-7263, who I have successfully used before, now leads with someone trying to tell me I won a cruise, but need to pay something to get it.  They referred me to a new number, 800-373-3411, but that sounds shady when I called.  So - can anyone out there help, as I must decline/accept a 7 day reservation today?  Or does anyone have a way to contact Airbnb?

 

I charge $360 a night in July, (on Cape Cod with an inground pool, up to 10 guests)  but someone is trying to reserve it for  $240 a night.  I see on the calendar the price is $360 - are guests able to counter the prices we set and how do I respond?  A flat decline, or do I adjust the price somewhat?   

@Don-and-Sandy0, that isn't the AirBnB phone number (close though)

United States +1-415-800-5959 +1-855-424-7262 (toll-free)

 

Don-and-Sandy0
Level 3
Pennsylvania, United States

Matthew - you are a lifesaver!  Thanks for the info!  All has been resolved by Airbnb - turns out I need to turn off Smart Pricing because the price was adjusted without my knowledge -  

Ted-and-Marg0
Level 1
Vernon, Canada

Hi Sion, Maybe this will help.  Go to Settings, Notifications, Promotions and Tips and turn off all 3.  No more emails.