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? 

[Christine615]

Ignore those suggestions. It's a poorly programmed algorithm.

Pricing suggestions was one of the highest host complaints in the first "online" live stream forum. Voted "up" as a comment a lot. First, I did notice I was higher than other homes on the map - until I investigated. For instance a four bedroom home was $68 - until I put in dates and the rate was really $332 per night. Another was even higher.

I also read another article on the Airbnb boards where a host recommended playing the "game" of lowering the price for some nights to get more views. Can I tell you as a traveler I really get ticked off when that happens to me and I won't book those spaces for my own travel.

I have a 1500 square foot apartment. It takes 4-5 hours to clean even if the guests were neat. I don't want to be compared to another apartment that has a one bedroom with a futon  on the floor and uses a couch and air mattress in the living room for the extra beds. I'm not going to rent it for $68 a night.

Airbnb needs to be more responsive to hosts and compare us to "similar" properties.

Maybe the algorithm should be required to consider:

1. square footage
2. actual number of bedrooms (not couches counted as beds)
3. amenities

4. reviews and past host performance.

I have found that setting the price low resulted in more troublesome guests than it was worth, they often didn't leave reviews and left damage in their wake. I pass. Quality over quantity.

[Stephanie365]

I don't have a flat rate for my unit. I have bookings almost every weekend, but during the week, I don't have nearly the demand. Coming into summer this will change as I already have some weekday bookings, but for now, weekdays are open.  So I do have my base rate of $55/night. I have this for Tuesday and Wednesday which are the 2 slowest days of the week. Monday and Thursday, I'm at $59/night. Fri, Sat, Sun, I am up to $65-69.  It's not a ridiculous difference like what you mentioned $68 vs $332; but it does reflect the difference in demand.  IMO $68 vs $332 is very misleading and I'm with you on that; I wouldn't book there.  But a $10-15 difference is not unreasonable, IMO.

[Christine615]

Agreed/ I'm thinking about lowering for the week when it's not busy and I'm not using the space. But there's only so low I can go considering how much work it is to clean the space after use. It's why I don't do one nighters anymore. Realized that out of all my bookings only 3 were for a single night.

But yes - the price differential here in KC is maddening. What I'm discovering is that some hosts have a teaser rate for a single week day (usually coming up quickly) to push themselves higher up when you look at the area without dates. But I know when I see gourmet kitchens and large homes that those $68 (one was as low as $48) are scams.

I think Kansas City's new registration rules which requires consent of 55 percent of adjacent neighbors is going to shake a lot of this out. One person converted their residence into a 28 bunk bed hostel (with only four showers) in a nearby neighborhood and was charging something like $35/night. I can't imagine the neighbors are going to be happy about that. City rules will no longer allow that to happen.

[Helen461]

Stephanie,

How did you set three different nightly rates in one week?  I only see the the special pricing option for weekly and monthly.  You mentioned your base rate, that takes care of one change but the other two?  

Do you just reply directly with with a special offer to your potential quest?

Thanks

[Anastasia92]

I agree with sticking to your price and not going after the Air Bnb suggestions, because in the early stage of hosting a already learned that lowering the price means lowering your expectations of your guests and I would love my quests to be on the same page with me.  I wouldn't leave the site because of these suggestions, just will make my own decisions on the price. 🙂

[Stephanie365]

It's just AIrBNB's annoying algorithm and automatically generated. The same goes for "smart pricing", which I've disabled. So instead, when I set the price for each day I get the little color codes on the calendars; green means in AirBNB's algorithm's opinion, my price is good, yellow not so good and red they don't like. I just laugh.

If I went with AirBNB's suggestions, my prices would be lower than the house up the street that only offers a guest bedroom with all other spaces shared vs my private 1 BR apartment with no shared interior spaces. As it is, my prices are 30% lower than the decent chain motels and 20% higher higher than the dive motels next to the interstate where there is more activity in the parking lot than in the actual hotel rooms if you know what I mean. 

I would love to charge what the hotels charge, but I am off the beaten path by about 10 minutes so my pricing reflects this.

[Dena24]

I HATE when they try to compare the price of a room in a house to a FULL apartment. GTFO!

[Melissa451]

I completely agree...we get those messages as well and you're right.  When you lower your price you get a different caliber of clientele and also there comes a point - is the wear and tear and the efforts on your end - worth it? So I have denied those requests every time.  

[Dave207]

I too WILL NOT lower my prices to conform to whatever AirB&B says is the norm in my area. I offer a sleep area for the budget minded... a furnished tent in the garage; and that is that. At $15 a night it is lower than any area rates. My two room prices will remain the same as they are despite other's prices. I am not interested in lowering the price to accomodate more bookings.

[Dena24]

SERIOUSLY! I feel all of this. I keep getting asked to lower my prices to "similar" spaces in my area, and it's like a total JOKE. Yes, there are other studio options in my area but they are just a crappy bed and **bleep**ty coach.  I have a great space with amazing design, its cozy, fun and central. STOP ASKING ME TO LOWER MY PRICES and stop comparing me to these other less acceptable spots!  I wish they would have humans from AirBNnB actually look at the space/add if you think it low baling you to other spaces around you. I have been using this service for years now and it just has become more and more heart wrenching to rent my spot that I find magical to see it on the same page as some "flop house."

[Roman-and-AV0]

So true! The cheap guests are often the most stingy and nitpicky with reviews. 

[Lydia94]

I believe every Host has set the price according to the services we provide. I also have taken a look at the cheep rooms in my neighborhood and every guest looking for a cheep room can go there. For me this guests are nothing but problems and I stay away from them. I am hosting with Airbnb for 6 years now and provide 8 rooms with differend prices because of the different size and if a guest is on a budged you take the smaller room and not the largest one with private bathroom. You still enjoy the luxery of the rest of the house. Airbnb need to stop fludding the market with cheep rooms and make the supply higher than the demand. I call it bad business. The best example is Cleveland with the RNC Convention in 2017.

[Brent23]

And how about stop telling me to "unblock dates?" They keep suggesting that I'll get more bookings in April if I unblock dates. DUH!  Do they think my dates are blocked because I don't have the sense to unlock the door if people want to enter?? My dates are blocked for a reason, I can't think of any scenario where this suggestion from Airbnb would be helpful to a host. It's because of these ridiculous suggestions that water down the integrity of Airbnb's algorithms, it adds an element of inconfidence to the minds of hosts. 

[Lynne57]

@Brent0 

I totally agree about the ridiculous suggestions

I'm getting messages suggesting I reduce my price (showing as 5 star for value on my reviews !) so as to get more bookings in April and May, both these months are blocked as not available. (hence no bookings !)

I recently froze my listing for four months and on day one of being active again it was suggested to me in a personal email that I reduce my price as hosts nearby were getting more bookings ......yes well I expect they were given my listing had been active for less than 24 hours. Within a few days I had two bookings. (at my full price) Drives me crazy all these un'helpful' messages. I don't want to lower my price or turn on instant book. The algorithms just seem flawed and using a scatter gun approach rather than anything properly targeted. Makes AirBnB look amateur. 

[Sandra126]

I think, from reading this, that we must ALL be getting these messages. If even @Fred0 gets them (booked solidly for the next two years at a very high rent) I assume this to be the case.

If you are getting bookings - ignore. If you are not, look at ways of changing what you do until you get them.