Bug randomly changing nightly rates

Brian686
Level 4
Morayfield, Australia

Bug randomly changing nightly rates

I had reason to check my nightly rates today and discovered that the rates in peak periods had changed on their own randomly. This came to light as a result of a booking in the peak period when the total didn’t look quite right . Some nights were correct and others were the base nightly rate for a night or two and then the correct rates. 

 

I dont use use smart pricing or the price tips so this is not the cause of the issue. Others might like to check their peak rates are as they expect them to be. I know the rates were consistently correct as I double checked them when I updated the pricing for the year.  

32 Replies 32
Ben551
Level 10
Wellington, New Zealand

@Brian686 I noticed the exact same issue tonight! I flew into a panic after I noticed almost my entire calendar had been reset to my minimum price. I certainly didn’t do this and it was fine one hour before then when I checked it. To correct it, I quickly pushed a manual price refresh from Wheelhouse to update all my prices.

 

From what I can tell, Airbnb did this. It has probably affected a lot of people!

 

The pricing reset happened at 19:30 my time today. This is the following international time:

https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?msg=Airbnb+Pricing+Reset&iso=20190228T1930&p1=...

Brian686
Level 4
Morayfield, Australia

@Ben551 @Thanks it is good to know it isn’t just me. The worst thing is the booking that flagged it to me is in our Christmas peak period and is almost half the nightly rate for the period on the affected days. It was an instant booking as well and I can’t see tgem agreeing to amend the booking or pay the shortfall. 

Ben551
Level 10
Wellington, New Zealand

@Brian686  It’s certainly not just you. I’m just waiting to see if other hosts wake up around the globe to see the same thing. It had reset my Easter dates to minimum pricing! So I almost had the same issue as you. Had I not been quick to catch it, those dates would certainly have sold for 50% the expected summer rate....

 

This is quite terrible. I suggest getting touch with Airbnb, but I expect they won’t know what bug did it or where it came from...

@Brian686 @Ben551 I've just checked my prices and they haven't changed at all. I don't use any third party software. so don't know what's going on but I'll keep my eye on my listing.

Deborah614
Level 10
Waikanae, New Zealand

I seem to recall something funny happening with my pricing too @Ben87    But my peak rates didn't differ very much so it wasn't a disaster.  

Brian686
Level 4
Morayfield, Australia

@Ben551 I just checked rates I corrected 2 hours ago and they are the base rate again. This is a massive issue they need to address. Calling CS now. 

Ben551
Level 10
Wellington, New Zealand

@Brian686 Good lord, what the fork are they doing over there... my prices still seem intact, but I have Wheelhouse pushing updates to keep it “fixed”. 

Ben551
Level 10
Wellington, New Zealand

@Brian686do you use Superhosttools? If you do, make sure you “pause” the pricing part of it. It resets Airbnb pricing and messes it all up. That’s not my issue right now though, so if you don’t use it either then it reinforces that this is Airbnb side.

Brian686
Level 4
Morayfield, Australia

@Ben551 @I don’t use Superhost tools. On hold with them now but they have no idea what the problem is. Not surprised. 

Ben551
Level 10
Wellington, New Zealand

@Brian686 what about YourPorter? Do you use that? I turned it off and disconnected after I saw the price reset, wondering if it was pushing prices somehow. Reading the features description it looks like it tries to do something clever with price syncing.

 

Sorry, just trying to eliminate options...

Brian686
Level 4
Morayfield, Australia

@Ben551 no to that as well. I don’t have any third party software so it is definitely an issue on their end. The CS I got raised it as a tech issue but has no idea. 

Ben551
Level 10
Wellington, New Zealand

@Brian686 darn... well that’s hopeless. I’m guessing others are going to have the same issue then. As usual, the Southern Hemisphere are the crash test dummies lol. I’m going to be checking my prices like a nervous twitch until then... I suggest you tinker with things like turning smart pricing on, then off, etc. See if you can shake out the issue. Take lots of screenshots of your pricing so you have proof, in case you lose revenue from this bug.

 

Meanwhile, it’s almost 11pm so I’m off.. will check back tomorrow.

Brian686
Level 4
Morayfield, Australia

@Ben551 @Thanks will fiddle with the settings and keep a close eye on it

Marit-Anne0
Level 10
Bergen, Norway

@Brian686   As this is a known bug, it would be worth a try to ask airbnb to cancel the reservation.  They did that for me when another calendar issue occurred; manually blocked dates opened up randomly and I suddenly had bookings overlapping each other.  

The issue were widely discussed on the forum, so I made a reference to here as well as it was hard to prove without before and after screenshots of my calendar.