Stop asking me to lower my price

[Dallas1]

Every now and then I get these emails from Airbnb telling me to "Turn lookers into bookers" and they provide examples of places nearby that got guests for X amount less per night than I charge. That X amount is usually considerably lower than my very reasonable price, sometimes up to 40% lower. 

Honestly, I don't want to be compared to places that are so cheap, because the reality is that cheap guests come at a price that is not worth my efforts. Whemever I have lowered my price to suit the Airbnb search algorithm I end up getting less than stellar guests and I really don't want them. Almost every guest I have had with any Airbnb experience tells me that our place is the best value they have ever found. Why can't Airbnb see that? 

[Hostal16]

Yes, they expect a 5 stars service for a 2 stars price

[Joanne155]

We are located in Northern California - Notorious for its high costs of living and life in general. As we all get the "get 10% more booking" feed, I agree, there is a point that we will be selling out to the lowest bidder.  And, I have looked at other sites and hotels in the area.  We are at or lower than most. So, I dont believe any research is done to make any true claim of "10% more bookings". 

I do have the smart pricing on so I have allowed Airbnb to dictate - within my parameters - to set a price.  That is all I am willing to do.  Send all the messages you would like, I'm not buying in. 

[Josh-And-Jan0]

100% correct, it very frustrating to see these post. So far I feel that working with Airbnb is like hiring a bad employee to run my business when I could do a better job all by myself. 

[Stephanie365]

You mean like the ones that never ventures out of their cubicle to see what it's like in the real world? LOL

It's no different than "upper management" in retail. The desk jockeys have no idea what it's like in the trenches at a store dealing with real people who can be real a$s#o1es so they write policy and come up with "techniques"  and catchy 2 minute greeting for when you answer the phone when the customer only wants to know how late you're open. 

At least with AirBNB you can ignore upper management and not get fired. 😛

[Fred13]

They are annoying, and these messages do fall under silly. I get them also, encouraging me to lower my price and get more bookings, but I am booked solid with ~Airbnb~ customers; so just to get more bookings I should cancel some of their customers and replace them with new ones? LOL

[Grace232]

Yes and my question to ABB, has sending out that message resulted in any hosts in saying "What a great feature and suggestion!  This is why I choose to host with ABB!!"

Or has it generated more negative user experience?  Hmmm... what to do, what to do...  ABB?

[Grace232]

Very funny, lol.

[Guy129]

I agree with your sentiments.  Hosting is a time-consuming labor of love.  We deserve a fair compensation.  We're not hosting to provide dirt cheap travel- we're hosting to provide unique travel and earn side income. The problem is that there are hosts who do offer unreasonably low rates.  We must continue to point out that guests usually get what they pay for.

[David126]

This has been discussed many times and I was getting notifications that people had booked at prices I simply did not believe were out there, so I looked and there are no such listing within 50 miles, well except camp sites.

And as this was during winter and we get seriously cold I think they were unlikely.

[Michelle425]

I completely agree. I've also noticed that they'll suggest a higher price at times and then tell me i missed bookings because there were lower priced options availble.  One algorithm not talking to the other I guess.  Makes me wonder if the reason they want us to reduce rates to increase bookings is for their benefit as well... to collect more booking fees.

[Stephanie365]

Quantity vs quality.

They would rather you have 10 bookings at $35 per night than 5 bookings at $60 per night. Because they make more on the 10 bookings than the 5.

[Julie852]

Thank you for posting this! Indeed, I select smart pricing, and find that despite an already low price, its asking me to use a value that would make my home (1.4 Million pound house in London) cheaper than a £10 hostel. 

This is totally unacceptable. I'm seriously thinking of leaving Airbnb.

[Coral22]

G'day hosts, Coral here from Tasmania, Australia. I too get these emails from Airbnb wanting me to lower my prices. Then you get one saying, so many people looked at your accommodation but decided not to book with you as joe blow is 20% lower priced than you. They went to someone else in your area, there are only 2 others in my area...... big deal!!

These emails are all automatically computer generated. I ignore them and do my own thing, don't give up, my guests are very happy with what I offer them. Happy hosting.  Cheers  Coral - from the "Grand Ole Topiary" Cottage - Accommodation. Railton. (The town Of Topiary) Tasmania

[Maureen-and-Mark0]

I believe I lost out on quite a bit of income as a new host because I bought in to this.  Plus Airbnb encouraged me to offer a 25% discount to my first 7 customers, boy did they get a deal!!  Thanks for the conversation!

[Ben205]

Here in the UK (probably elsewhere, too), you can change your dashboard settings to stop these notifications being sent to you. I'm managed to click a few buttons on the right order, and haven't had these types of messages for some time now.

They still show in my calendar, but that's easy to ignore!