Smart Pricing Can Work – If You Do It Right

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Ann72
Level 10
New York, NY

Smart Pricing Can Work – If You Do It Right

Last winter I spent a lot of off-season time drilling down into my nightly prices, seeing what had worked best over four years of hosting.  I came up with a “sweet spot” for each of the three listings and set that number as the minimum with Smart Pricing.

 

My prices were already higher than most of my competitors.  But here’s the long story short:

 

*by May, my booked income for 2019 was 100% of my booked income for 2018

*overall income for the year so far has now increased 25%

*number of nights booked has gone up 13%

*average nightly price across three listings has gone up 10%

*at this point last year, I had 34 bookings; this year so far, I have 68 bookings.

 

Before using Smart Pricing, I looked into Beyond Pricing. (Wheelhouse is not available in my area.)  Their demo showed that, on average, they would be charging less than I was already charging.  So I decided to try Smart Pricing, which many hosts hate.  They hate it because it “tells them” to set a lower minimum price than they want to charge.  But if you SET YOUR MINIMUM AT WHAT YOU WOULD NORMALLY CHARGE, rates will go up dynamically.

 

And by adding the Smart Pricing tool to Instant Book, I found my listings rose dramatically in the rankings.  I signed on with Rank Breeze and found that they were almost always on the first page.

 

Other discoveries:

 

*after a few months, I found that even when I used Airbnb’s suggested minimum, Smart Pricing set most nights at my “sweet spot” rate – showing me that the algo drew the same conclusion I had drawn.  However, I never left it at the minimum rate for more than a few minutes!  🙂

*Smart Pricing’s suggested maximum changes often, and I always use their suggestion for the maximum, even though my prices have never hit the maximum.

*in an effort to keep the listings fresh and drive them up the rankings, many of us make changes regularly.  Changing or adding photos doesn’t update the listing, but changing ONE LETTER of the listing description does.

*when your prices are up, you might get a suggestion to send out a special discount offer for a period of days.  In the off season, I always did that, because Airbnb sends an email with the offer out to people searching those dates.  It mattered less to me that I got bookings than that I got more eyes and clicks.  And more eyes and clicks raises you in the rankings.

 

It seems like your listing will get more favorable treatment the more Airbnb tools you use.  I know there are a lot of Smart Pricing haters out there, but why not give it a try, making sure you always use your own minimum, and see what happens?

1 Best Answer

@Nikolai12  You're right, you can't set two different minimums.  And pricing rule sets won't work with Smart Pricing on.

 

I would change your availability to three to six months out, instead of a year or forever, and change the minimum in November or December, ahead of the summer bookings.

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75 Replies 75
Emilia42
Level 10
Orono, ME

I agree @Ann72! I stuck with smart pricing this summer and it paid off. I made a lot more than last year. I still have to go in and jack up my prices for busy events but for the random Wednesday or Sunday night, it gave me a nice little increase which I wouldn't normally have charged.

@Emilia42 That's great - I didn't know you were using it!  And good point about manually setting prices for busy events.  I figured out why Smart Pricing falls down on that:  more people are searching for those dates, so it likes to stick to your set minimum to encourage bookings.  That's a drawback but you can work around it, as you did.

Ricardo85
Level 10
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

@Emilia42 

 

When I turn off "Smart Pricing" for some specific dates on my calendar the "Rule Sets" doesn´t apply to these specific dates.

 

It seems that when "Smart Pricing"is turned ON, "Rule Sets" is turned OFF.

 

Can you confirm that?

 

Ricardo

 

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@Ricardo85 

My calendar still shows the rule sets whether smart pricing is on or off. I wonder what's going on with your settings?

 

Screen Shot 2019-08-04 at 4.39.47 PM.png

Ricardo85
Level 10
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

@Emilia42 

 

The "Rule Sets" is showing, but the rule (+50%) is not being applied.

 

Screenshot_2019-08-04 Edit calendar for 'Copacabana 04 · Sai de casa e vem pra praia ❤' - Airbnb.png

 

Ricardo

 

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Ricardo85
Level 10
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

@Emilia42 

 

If you add "+100% nightly price increase" on your "1 Night Open" rule, does the price increase?

 

Ricardo

 

 

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@Ricardo85  I've found that rule-sets DON'T work with Smart Pricing turned on.

J-Renato0
Level 10
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

@Ann72 @Ricardo85 

Yes, rule sets do not work with smart pricing on.

It is stated in the airbnb help documentation.

Ricardo85
Level 10
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

@J-Renato0 

 

Can you share the link?


Ricardo

 

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J-Renato0
Level 10
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

@Ricardo85 

 

It is stated that:
"... these rules will not affect listing prices when Smart Pricing is turned on—so you must turn Smart Pricing off in order to use this feature."
You can reach the page in the following link:
https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/2061/how-do-rulesets-work?_set_bev_on_new_domain=1564873459_0pS4...

 

PS: It is just a tip - When asking for something, politeness recommends saying "please" e.g. - Can you share the link, please? or.. Please, could you share the link? 

Ricardo85
Level 10
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

@J-Renato0 

 

Screenshot_2019-08-04-Edit-calendar-for-'Copacabana-04-·-Sai-de-casa-e-vem-pra-praia-❤'---Airbnb.png

 

 

Ricardo

 

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J-Renato0
Level 10
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

@Ricardo85 

 

I was not able to mention you in another post

 

Please, see this post where I mentioned you

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Hosting/Smart-Pricing-Can-Work-If-You-Do-It-Right/m-p/1099587/hi...

 

Anyway I am repeating the post below:

 

I have just set smatpricing ON using rules-set

I am somewhat confused now.  However I think it is a good surprise anyway.

What I have noticed is like that:

1- The rules-set does not affect the price (with smart pricing ON)
2- The rules-set still affect Trip length requirements: the minimum and maximum number of nights set that guests can book
2- The rules-set still affect Check-in and checkout requirements: the days set that guests can check in and out or can NOT have checkin or checkout and whatsoever.

@Ricardo85, no, the price does not increase with smart pricing on or off. I don't really understand that specific rule set. 

Ricardo85
Level 10
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

@Emilia42 

 

Screenshot_2019-08-04 Edit calendar for 'Uruguai 03 1 · ❤ Comfort, privacy and quietude ' - Airbnb.png

 

* Smart Pricing OFF

 

 

Ricardo

 

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