Air Bnb Pricing Tips Vs Beyond Pricing Tips - Questions on how to maximize $$:

[Em0]

Hi Folks!

I just had my first year annaversary as an air bnb host. I've worked hard to make sure my guests have a great stay and that's reflected in my 27 reviews ...all 5 stars!

Now that I have experience and reviews, I want to raise my prices. I've kept them consistent for the entire year (around 100.00 a night).

I live in NYC and rent out my entire apartment. I want to raise my prices to something still competative...but more lucrative for me/my efforts. 

Here are my questions:

1. Air bnb Pricing tips: Air bnb is telling me to raise my prices anywhere from 5-20$ per night over what I have now. I complied but I'm worried that now I'll get less inquiries and am relying on the bookings. Does anyone else use the tips and find them helpful? Has anyone raised their prices a la Air bnb price tips and found that their requests dropped? Conversely, did you raise them and see that people continued to book anyway?

2. I signed up for Beyond Pricing which claims it's customers make as much as 40% more with them then they set pricing on their own....I synced my listing with Beyone Pricing this evening and their system suggested that I set my price 5-10 LESS than what Air bnb is suggesting...Who should I listen to? Air bnbs pricing tips or Beyond Pricing? Obviously I want as much money as I can get for my apartment...but whose suggestion to go with? 

3. Beyond Pricing suggests that all the best bookings happen less than 30 days from date of arrival. I get that...but if I am to wait until last minuet, when I can charge more, what do I do about all the people who want to book well in advance? (people can book up to 3 months in advance for my apartment). If I keep denying renters it's going to negatively effect me (I'm trying to become a super host). Has anyone cracked that nut? How to do you hold out for last min. bookers with out getting penalized by air bnb for saying no to too many people in advance?

Thanks all!

Em

[Helen3]

Ignore BNB smart pricing. Have no idea about the other software. In my experience

1. Look at what other people are charging for similar properties, similar locations.

2. Know your market - when are your high seasons, when are big events - set your pricing accordingly

3. Why aren't you charging more at weekends?

I would never advise relying on BNB to cover your mortgage

[Rory18]

@Helen0

 if the relying on BNB money to cover your mortgage was directed at me, thanks for trying to give advice politley but I do not rely on BNB income to pay my mortgage(s) whatsoever. I own the house purley as a rental property, supplemental passive income., main source of income comes from my actual career. I don't mean to sound conceited or anything but I'd be perfectly fine (able to cover my mortgage(s)if I didn't have a reservation the rest of the year. 🙂

[Perfect0]

Been using it for awhile, and based in my honest opinion, I think Beyond pricing only works better during peak season or at locations where there are more demand than supply of airbnb. 

From where I am based in Malaysia, I felt that Beyond Pricing decreased my SEO in Airbnb and actually decreased my sales for almost 40%. 

Just my honest opinion

[Janine3]

I love the principle of dynamic pricing (though it makes it impossible for me to build the sales tax into my price and I have to collect that separately).  I used to spend so much time adjusting my prices - crazy!  

But -- Beyond Pricing???? I 've just gone through the 2nd experience of my listing somehow disconnecting from Beyond Pricing and I was unaware for weeks (and the first time, for months).   Their lack of professionalism in watching for changes, notifying me and then screwing up their billing is extremely frustrating. 

I'm really keen to hear how others are experiencing Beyond Pricing or what other systems/services are recommended?

Janine 

[Pete28]

You'd like to think it wouldn't be that hard but Airbnb price tips are an utter utter disaster. Just looked at some unbooked dates in July - $65 price tip. Just booked them at $150. Who wrote the tip feature - how can a tech company go live with such broken features - surely pricing is a P0 feature for a booking platform ?!

[Catherine577]

Hi, all, I have tried both Wheelhouse & Beyond Pricing, but found that some of their price suggestions seemed way too high while Airbnb pricing seems way too low. Been on Airbnb for 8 months and am still trying to price my home correctly. My house is in the suburbs of Atlanta, not far from the city, and it seems that none of these tools take in to account our amenities. I offer far more than the competition. Do amenities matter when trying to price? Thank you, I am going to follow all of the pricing tips that you all have given so far. Final note: my home is the only truly accessible home around bec. I use a whchair. I don't know if that truly makes a difference yet to demand. Cheers! cp

[Lisa723]

I am having good luck with Wheelhouse. @Janine3 @Catherine577

[Judy313]

Thank you Rory for your fantastic break down of Beyond Pricing.  I had been doing the pricing myself and did not want to give away my high season bookings to those shopping early winter for summer.  One guest I had suggested Beyond Pricing so it is in place, but I have not used the chart.  We are near Yellowstone so have seasonal traffic but I was open and active all year at reduced prices.  I just have to learn the charts. 

I cant sleep tonight worried about other people!  After years of struggle this has finally given me peace of mind.  My 3rd unit opens next week.  It has been fun and wonderful people to meet.  

[Hasee0]

I searched reviews for beyondpricing and ran across this thread.

My listing is a larger home (sleeps 42) and summertime is our main season.  We have tried airbnb smart pricing and their suggested amounts are much lower than what we can actually get. Maybe it has something to do with occupancy search will only let you enter a maximum of 16 vs. our 42.

Still looking for more reviews of beyondpricing.

https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/33777616?source_impression_id=p3_1613278776_%2FeqNW33aAtOIbu6t&guests=1...

[Melodie-And-John0]

Old thread, comes alive!!!   I have personally found that the suggested pricing model Airbnb uses underprices the listing to get more bookings than you might if you employed a comparative model.   If The widget is telling you to charge more, you probably need to charge even more than they are telling you!  During peak seasons Ive found that I book excellent 30 to 40% above their suggested, when they are slow, closer to +20%.