More evidence that hosts shouldn't take the Price Tips too seriously

[Matthew285]

Hosts sometimes worry about all the Price Tips they see on their calendar. Is it a bad idea to ignore them?

Here is a price tip I just saw on my calendar. It says:

"Your listing appeared in search for this night but people booked other listings that are about $299 less per night".

My nightly price: $299

[Sarah977]

@Matthew285   Made my day. Couldn't be a more glaring testament to the incompetent programming of the algorithms. 

[Matthew285]

@Sarah977 I posted that notification untouched because it is funniest that way.

But to provide a little background, I did recently reduce the price, so I imagine that's why it seems like Airbnb is claiming that people are getting free rooms. Clearly Airbnb should update the Price Tips software so that it displays the price difference from your *current price* instead of displaying the difference from the price the room was when the Price Tip was generated.

[Letti0]

@Matthew285 I got one I should have screen shot a few weeks ago. If I used their Price Tip I would have been paying the guests $42 to stay at my place lol... I just figured it was a bug or glitch in the system. This was one of those "someone looked and booked elsewhere" for things.

[Sarah977]

@Letti0  Want to stay in a bunk bed in a hostel room shared with 3 strangers, a shared bathroom and tiny grotty shared hostel kitchen, or would you prefer a private room with ensuite bathroom, private entrance, a balcony with a chair and table and jungle view, and full clean kitchen facilities shared only with the owner? Because price tips suggest I offer the latter at a lower price than the former.

[Matthew285]

@Letti0 that is even better!

You totally should have saved a screenshot of that.

BTW, I try to never pay my guests more than $39/night to stay with me. We are on a budget, after all.

[Robin4]

@Matthew285 @Sarah977

Unfortunately there is no way to disable pricing tips and the best that we can do is frequently check the calendar to make sure we have not accidentally done something stupid, and accessed them.

Your 4 guest listing looks to be fairly much fully booked until September Matt so you certainly have no need to be taking any notice of Smart Pricing or Pricing Tips there.

Matthew that piano in the other listing sure looks like it has been around the block a time or two!! Not sure I would want to sit down at that one!!

Once on a skiing trip to Mt Hotham we stayed in 'The Arlberg' and after an evening meal, my mate John and I went for a bit of a look around the hotel. We ended up in the Piano Bar and in the corner was a big black ugly 'grand' ....looked like it had done a couple of unsuccesful runs down 'Mother Johnsons Trail'!

It actually looked a bit like that grand of yours Matthew!

There was maybe, 5 people in the bar and I walked over, lifted the lid and it was in surprisingly good tune and had a good sound so I started to play 'Cavatina'...John Williams theme from that violent film 'Deer Hunter'.

Now normally when you do something like that the staff will come over and pull the lid down and say "Don't p*ss around with the instrument sir"...but they didn't , they just let me go, and after Cavatina I launched into Billy Joel's 'Just the Way You Are' and then John played a couple of numbers. After a quarter of an hour or so people started to come into the bar and within an hour there would have been 60-70 people in there....and we never bought a drink all night. 

Definitely one of my better evenings!

Cheers.....Rob

[Matthew285]

@Robin4

I love that piano playing story!

BTW, to give you an idea of how old that instrument in the photo is... it is not a piano. It is a *harpsichord*.

I was told it is a Zuckermann harpsichord built from a kit by the previous owner. We ended up with it the same way we acquired most of our other furniture: no one else wanted it.

[J-Renato0]

@Matthew285

I have just received an email that suggests  lowering the prices for some dates that are booked for higher daily rates !

And I also have received suggestions that can be considered indecent, suggesting absurd low prices.

What is interesting, is that, this system to warn and suggest prices are design only to lower the prices.

Have you notice that, they do not send an email to say - "Hey, your prices are too low! Another property in the same area has been booked for a much higher price than yours!"  Very stange.

Airbnb should be more positive and push the prices to the top instead of promoting a competition between hosts to hit the rock bottom. It will make this activity unsustainable in a long run.

Probably there will be naive newcomer hosts that will lower prices beliving that soon they will get to "promissed land" after having some reviews. But soon they will see that those suggestions will continue! It is not good for Airbnb, not good for the hosts, not good for the guests. In a long run, it may damage the image of Airbnb.

Another problem is that, it is not infrequently that Airbnb compares prices of youth-hostels with listings of hosts that offer rooms and also with hosts that offer an entire apartments. I think that, it is not reasonable to compare an accommodation where lots of guests stays in the same room (youth hostels) with accommodation where guests has a much higher degree of comfort and privacy.

It does not make sense anyway. But some naive hosts lowers their prices based on wrong comparisons.

It would be nice if Airbnb abandoned the smart pricing and price suggestions. Free market should rules the prices. It is the market and the perception of the hosts that sould form the prices. The guests are free to choose what is the best for them.

[Matthew285]

@J-Renato0 I agree with you! They certainly do compare our listings with places that are nowhere near the same kind of property.

Smart Pricing is okay, I feel, because you don't have to use it.

The Smart Tips, apparently, you can't turn off. I wish you could turn them off.

[Fiona-and-Keith-and-Fami0]

I've NEVER had my calendars populate with HIGHER rates. Before smart pricing there was another system. I tested my theory and found if I clicked on days that weren't at the suggested rate, higher prices showed up. There is a way to turn off smart pricing although you'd get an annoying generic reminder when you've got the calendar open. Without firing up my laptop and going to the full site, I couldn't tell you the exact steps, but it IS possible. 

[Lizzie]

hmmm! No sure what to say about this @Matthew285, it does seem to be a little odd. Out of interest how long was it that you received this price tip from when you reduced your price?

[@Robin4, nice to hear you played Cavatina. You are not tempted to learn the guitar? :)]

[Matthew285]

@Lizzie I don't remember when the Price Tip appeared.

I did check it not long after the price change. (The reason I was looking at the calendar was to make sure my price change had taken effect.)

So regardless of when the Price Tip appeared, I made the screen shot within an hour or two of changing the price.

[Fiona-and-Keith-and-Fami0]

Hi Lizzy. I've experienced dumb smart pricing suggestions for as long as the algorithm's been in place. 

[Regina38]

I recieved the suggestion to unblock my calendar so I could get bookings when my listing is booked through airbnb and has been booked since feb and will remain booked at least through August by the same gentleman! lol should I kick him out so I can try and get booking. ridiculous.