Transparent Pricing

[Claire475]

With everyone’s wealth of knowledge and experience I wondered if you could give me your opinions, solutions, thoughts on this topic.

Firstly upfront I want to say this is not a complaint, I am happy with the bookings I get and with the ABB platform in general.

I raise this issue as it was highlighted to me by a guest who thought some hosts were not entirely upfront (although technically I don’t think that’s quite true) 

I list my room with private en-suite for 55€, that’s for two people in the room. No extra cleaning charges, or charges for extra people.(although a few days ago I added a small price for extra guest after 1, but I am not sure I shall keep this) As my guest pointed out to me hosts in our area have listed for considerably less, however when you check the availability dates the price is quite a bit higher, then there are considerable cleaning charges and cost for extra people after the first guest. All in all it amounts to quite a substantial difference to the price that guests will originally see when first looking for accommodation on the site. 

In some cases double or even close to triple the pricing listed. Of course smart pricing has some baring on the price difference. 

I have no problem at all that hosts market or price their homes diffently to mine, what I do wonder though,  is this responsible marketing from a guests point of view? 

Should we as hosts or should ABB encourage hosts to list their homes/ rooms within a 10% range of the price shown on the listing guest first see in their search, for example. So that guests can go to the listing and know with some certainty the price is as listed, and then just look at the different rating, reviews and descriptions in making up their minds.

From my point of view my listing at first looks more expensive but finally, in most cases, will be cheaper. 

Recently I had contemplated raising my price slightly, but what put me off is that I would then at first glance seem quite expensive in comparison to other listings, hence my 5€ fee for an extra person, which doesn’t really feel comfortable for me at the moment because I have always felt being more transparent with my pricing was the best way.

I look forward to reading your views on the matter. 

Ps. I love reading all your views on the CC, often makes me smile. In a way it’s like having friends you don’t t know! 

[Susan17]

@Claire475 @Lisa723 @Helen427 @Sarah977 @Paul154 

While Airbnb has now complied with the EU directives insofar as including cleaning fees, extra person charges and Airbnb service charges in the price initially displayed to searching guests, once dates and number of guests have been entered, the following stipulation appears to have been ignored.

From the Common Position of National Authorities within the CPC Network document....

"It is important to note that Article 7(4)(c) of Directive 2005/29/EC2 on Unfair Commercial Practices, requires traders to provide the total (or final) price at the very moment consumers are presented with an invitation to purchase, or - where the nature of the service means that the price cannot be reasonably calculated in advance - the manner in which the price is calculated. In this connection, when the price displayed is an "entry-level" one, then it should be characterised as such (e.g. "as from")

So in other words, guests who are browsing without having entered dates/number of guests, should be seeing the prices as "FROM €XXX", making it crystal clear from the outset that the price they're seeing is only a base/guideline price, and is subject to extra fees and charges, as opposed to being an absolute price. 

A very simple, very reasonable fix really, which would eliminate a lot of misunderstandings and confusion, but for whatever reason, it hasn't been done yet. Perhaps it's in the pipeline... 

[Susan17]

@Sandra @Marcia&Jim

Sorry, couldn't tag you in my previous post above 😞

[Claire475]

@Susan17 

yes I guess relatively easy to fix if Airbnb actually wanted to. 

Thanks for the information 

[Mavis-N-Ken0]

I totally agree with your concerns, Claire. We used to list at a higher price but there were no extra charges. Then we kept getting messages from Airbnb that places similar to ours were priced lower and, indeed, at first glance they were. But when you put in specific dates &  number of guests, the price for particular dates, extra guests, cleaning fees, etc the actual cost to guests came out much more.  We finally relented & allowed smart pricing, extra guest charge & cleaning fee but I feel like guests are being deceived when the only see the real cost when putting all booking details in. I don’t know the answer & I love being an Airbnb host but I feel our pricing is disingenuous. 

[Claire475]

@Mavis-N-Ken0 

You understand the situation perfectly. And I understand, you changed how you priced your loft in order to have a more realistic chance. 

Thats exactly the decisions I am toying with at the moment. 

Your loft looks lovely. 

Thanks for your input. 

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Claire475 

I don't have a cleaning fee since I host in my home, I have a single occupancy room so no extra person charge, and I prefer longer-staying guests so my nightly rate fluctuations are minimal according to seasons, average temps, and the school calendar 🙂 to cover for heating/AC costs. 

But I understand in some cases it's not that easy.

If ABB would show 

> rates from $xx (low) ~ XX(high)

> cleaning fee $00

> extra person fee $xx per person after the 2nd guest 

In the place of the useless, x guests said this place was sparkling clean comments........ maybe it would help.

But the ABB we all know would never do anything so "transparent" 

🙂