Hooray!! Listing "progress" is no more improved with listing "performance"

[Rubén16]

Yes, take a look at your listings " Performane" it is where progress was previously at, a lot of beneficial listing information for the host.

[Jennifer178]

Hi @Rubén16, @Robin4, @Ben551

I had most of this about 2 months ago.  It was there for a few weeks but I have no idea when it disappeared because I did not find it helpful so I ignored it.   It did not show up in progress.  It was at the bottem of my calendar and changed as I went from month to month.

[Huma0]

@Ben551  The first thing I thought when I saw this was, what is the market that they are basing this median on? In my case, I would assume it was London, but I don't know if that is the case. Also, as my listings are all private rooms, I am assuming that I'm only being compared to other private rooms, not whole apartments or houses, because otherwise any pricing info would be totally useless.

Also, surely the data contained here should be the same as the data informing the pricing suggestions, or would that just be too sensible?

My occupancy rate is more than double the market average, possibly because I'm underpricing, given that my average price is showing as £45 a night and the market median £69.

So, why would Airbnb keep telling me to push my price DOWN? Shouldn't it be telling me that I can afford to bump it up a little? 

Before you answer, I know that smartpricing and price tips are a nonsense, but this is just further evidence. How can we rely on the data being provided if it tells us one thing on one part of the site and something contradictory on another?

[Ben551]

Honestly @Huma0 also far I’ve looked at the pricing data and suggestions and found them utterly bizarre... they make no sense for the NZ market at all, and seem to assume we are in the low season when we are in fact in the summer high season! 

I’ve said it before, Airbnb pricing is not region specific, it’s global and idiotic.

[Ann72]

I don't know, @Huma0.  My average nightly rate is $291, and the market median is $80.  You'd think that would make my occupancy rate much lower than the median, wouldn't you?  But my occupancy rate is 6.8% vs. the market median of 3.1%.  (This is for Maine from 1/1/19 to today.  The very very low season.)

This only strengthens my resolve to keep my rates where they are, and to keep using Smart Pricing, which has raised them even more.  I put Smart Pricing in place late last year.  I've gotten more bookings in the first two months and 5 days of this year than of any year before.

But if you know anything about me, it's that I'm a crashing bore on the subject of "raise your rates."  🙂

[Huma0]

@Ann72 

I also use Smart Pricing but make sure my minimum price is something I can live with. I then keep an eye on the pricing and adjust it manually where I feel it is too low. I usually judge that by the number of bookings I'm getting because in theory, as a month starts to get booked up, the remaining nights should become more expensive. However, I find that Smart Pricing doesn't take that into consideration at all. Nor does it seem to consider holiday weekends or anything like that. Sure, it sometimes bumps my prices up during peak seasons, but usually not enough.

Whenever dates are unbooked two months in advance, I find it slashes every date to the minimum price. This doesn't make sense given how many people book two months or less in advance, especially during peak seasons and especially if most of the moth is booked up and only a few days left. Why woud I charge a minimum for those dates? I would rather have the rooms empty for a few days a month than run around like a headless chicken turning over rooms for pittance.

I'm glad it's bumping up your rates but I usually find it tries to push mine down, even though my listings are not overpriced. I know they are not because I have checked out the local competition, get plenty of bookings and normally get 5 stars for value. I ignore the price tips completely.

[Huma0]

@Ann72 

Also, according to these new stats, I can see that my rooms have less occupancy than the same time last year but I'm not worried about it because I have several dates blocked from check-ins because I have a few work trips. Intersetingly, I am actually getting a larger payout than the same time last year. Less nights for more money is progress in my eyes.

[Ann72]

@Huma0 If the payout is larger than the same time last year, nothing else really matters!

I have the feeling they haven't collected all of the data yet.  One of my listings just shows zeros right across the board.  It's had bookings and views and all the rest, so I can only conclude the data collection is still going on.

[Huma0]

@Ann72

Same here. I am only seeing stats for two of my listings and nothing for the third. That lisiting is fully booked (bar two nights) until late August. I am sure my overall stats can't be very accurate if they are not taking that listing into account.

That being said, I've had issues with that listing before, when I called CS to ask why the acceptance rate was going down when I had only accepted bookings recently and declined none, the rep said there was some sort of bug and he could see that none of my recent bookings for that room were showing up on the system. He said he would look into it and call back but closed the case when he couldn't get an answer from the tech team!

I think it will be a while before these new stats are up and running properly and efficiently, but it will still be hard to know what they mean if we don't have an explanation of the 'market' being referred to.

[Ann72]

@Huma0 @Sarah977 Yes, I have no idea what the market is.  We can assume it's "our market," but given the odd sense of geography in searches, I doubt it's as specific as it could be!

[Huma0]

@Ann72 

I noticed that you could narrow the results down by number of bedrooms/bathrooms.

That indicates to me that the comparisons are not taking into account the type of listing, so the prices especially are going to mean very little to me. There is no point comparing the price of a private bedroom in a shared house with a one bedroom flat rented as an entire unit, especially not in London.

And what do I put for number of bathrooms, when each of my private rooms has access to 3.5 shared bathrooms, but none have private bathrooms? I could select three, but then that's like saying the one bedroom has three bathrooms, or I could select none, as there is no private bathroom.

If you don't narrow it down to number of bedrooms, then your three bedroom unit might be compared to a load of private room listings as well as larger units, so the price comparisons mean even less.

Until you can compare like for like, e.g. for me only private rooms with no private bathroom, this tool can't possibly show me what prices I should be charging.

Sorry to be a downer about it because it looked good at first glance, but it's just too vague to be useful.

[Ann72]

@Huma0 Really good points!  I'll be as comfortable ignoring what doesn't line up as I am comfortable ignoring any suggestions that I lower my price.  🙂

[Ann72]

@Huma0 Absolutely.  My minimum is what I would normally charge.  So some of the advance bookings have come in at that rate, which is fine.  The price steadily rises as the season peaks, and I've gotten just as many bookings at the higher rate, so I feel so far so good.

I will keep an eye on them as the high season approaches because of what you say.  @Emilia also mentioned that they go down the closer you get to unbooked nights.

And the price tips are always to be ignored.  They suggest the opposite of Smart Pricing.

Thanks for your insights!

[Sarah977]

So for all us non-techie, non economists out there, what the **** does RevPAR mean?

It seems pretty useless to show graphs that don't explain anything about what the data is based on, such as others have pointed out, what is the market that the market median is based on? Worldwide? Our country? Our area? 

And why wouldn't they make sure they had tested it out with a simulated account, rather than using actual host accounts, having it appear, then disappear, then appear again?

I haven't seen this change in my Progress of yet. But then Jennifer says she found it at the bottom of her calendar.

[Huma0]

@Sarah977 

I looked it up and found this definition:

Revenue per available room (RevPAR) is a performance metric used in the hotel industry. It is calculated by multiplying a hotel's average daily room rate (ADR) by its occupancy rate. It may also be calculated by dividing a hotel's total room revenue by the total number of available rooms in the period being measured.

Airbnb is giving this definition:

The average of your listings' total booking value divided by the total number of listings available.

I assume by 'total booking value' they are referring to the nights booked and how much they are booked for, but do they take into account the total nights available including blocked dates or excluding them? 

If this is for the total number of listings avaible, why is it showing I have four listings available? I don't. I have three, but have a non-active listing for a three bed apartment I used to own. That listing never used to show up anywhere on my stats until now. I hope the figures aren't taking that listing into account because then they really would be skewed. I wonder what would happen to the numbers if I deleted that listing altogether (I should probably do that anyway).

[Ben551]

@Sarah977 @Huma0  I could tell you what Airbnb mean RevPAR to be, but the way they are calculating it is quite useless lol. Also, as usual, the market comparison is so far off reality, it is useless information. It appears to not be region specific either. For my region, in the height of summer, it tells me nothing at all lol... 

I’ll try to show what I mean...

Here is Airbnb’s useless RevPAR graph:

Now these are the (actually useful graphs) I get from wheelhouse:

PS: Since I get a series of private messages each time I post graphs like this... I’ll save some time by posting a referral link (free stuff) for people that want a Wheelhouse trial: https://www.usewheelhouse.com/u/account/register?referrer_id=aYqQy