How do you charge: Per night or per person? ROOM vs Entire Home?

[Ori6]

Hey all!
Another very common question which I found SOME answers to is relaterd to pricing - per person VS per night.
What do you do in these situations? How do you determin the pricing?

Situation 1:
You offer a room in your house that can acommodate 2 people. Should the price be fixed regardless if its 1 person or 2?
The way I see it, im I am around its more of a "hassle" for me to deal with 2 people rather than 1 (or course its not a hassle, im just making a point) - so perhaps it makes sense to charge extra/more per person. 

Situation 2:
You offer your antire home that can acomoodate 4 people (2 people in each room). Again - should the price be fixed for either 1 or 2 people? OR after the 1st guest you charge extra? Then - what happens with the 3rd or 4th person? 

I'd love to hear what "logic" you use when determing the pricing per person Vs per night in both situations. When you book an entire apartment AS A GUEST, I think it makes more sense to have the same price for 1 or 2 poeple. AS A HOST, of course i'd prefer charging a bit more (not double of course) for each guest.

Also - if you do charge extra per person, how much do you charge? (maybe a % from the base price?)

Thanks a lot in advance for your answers and help 🙂
Ori

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Ori6

most hosts have a price for 2 people and then arround 10-15 € for every extra person above 2. If it is bigger property than initial price can be for 4 or more people

For example :

Our studio can accomodate max 2 guests and our price is 35€ , the same for 1 or 2 guests.

Our 2 bdr apartment can accomodate max 6 guests. Our price is 50€ for 2 guests and then +10€ for any additional guest .

But, our 3 bdr apartment (if you book our studio and 2 bdr apartment as one) can accomodate max 8 guests so the price is 85€  for 4 people and then +10€ for any additional guest. 

The reason is that groups of 8 people are not very common, people usually travel in smaller groups so we don't want to lose smaller groups and we have to be competitive. But, in the same time our electricity, water and loundry cost for 2 guests is not the same as for 8 so we have to charge them more.

In the other hand if 2 guests book our 3 bdr apartment than we don't earn as much as we would earn if we host bigger group and that is why our price is set for 4 people regardless if there is 1 or 4 guests.

[Regina38]

This is a good question. I have 4 apartments listed. One is a studio which I have listed as accomodating 2 people. I had it priced for 2 people but found that it attracted single business travelers and interns from local hospitals. I lowered the price and made it for 1 person and added an extra charge for the additional person. This unit does not have a washer/dryer so I launder guests linens about once a week when they are on a long term stay.

2 of my apartments are 2 bedrooms but I have them set up as 1 bedroom as I do not want large groups or people trying to cram extra people in my units. I can add an additional bed if they request it and pay the extra person fee.

the last one is a large one bedroom and I can do the same for this one as well.

I charge $10 per person after the stated #included.

I would like to charge per bed instead because sometimes I have 2 people that require the extra bed. It is more work setting up and then laundering the linens I would like to charge extra for that. AIrbnb does not have a way to do that and had no suggestions for on a way to charge for that.

[Alexandra224]

This is a really good question! as myself have 1 house with 3 bedrooms, and i don't live in it, but i have 1 room rented out for a few months!, and 2 free, so i can't basically list it as Entire home.. even tho the girl who rents the room... it's travelling all the time and not actually using the space.. 

But then i came across with the question.. should i rent it as per person or per room?.. then i found myself.. saying should i list the bedrooms separately?, but then 3,4,5 people could not fit if i have bedrooms listed separately ..

So i'm with the same question.. should i price it per person? ( as i have it now), or should i do it per 2, and then add up fee extra per person 3, 4 ,5?.

.. kinda tricky!!!... because i also had some 1 guest.. so i'm not sure if price it per 2.. 

[Digna9]

Can't you list is as whole appartment for yourself and then just list the two available rooms if she's not around and then tick the box that says your personal belongings are in the appartment?

Me myself I will start hosting. And I will have two listings. 

One for the whole appartment for when I'm not home and then one where I rent out the extra room for when I'm home.

I am thinking of renting out the whole appartment for the same price. And then I don't mind if it's one person or four. 🙂 

[Bruce43]

@Ori6@Regina38@Branka-and-Silvia0@

Shalom, Ori the three hosts who answered you are right.

Keep it easy for you! Because the summer in Tel Aviv

is 100% booked  

happy hosting

[Paul154]

The easiest way to answer your question is to look at your competition in your area.

What are other hosts doing for pricing? Many of these hosts have experience in your area, so they are the experts.

I know an extra person will use $5/night more for utilities, so I charge an extra $10 after one person.

I probably could charge +$15, because the per person charge is much lower with a couple.

My experience is that short-term couples are low maintenence - they can entertain each other.

On the other hand, I want to be more fair to single travelers. Having a +$10 per guest fee allows me to be more fair to the single guest.

[Annette33]

@Ori6 , also gut, ich fange auf deutsch an: mir macht es immer Spass andere Unterkuenfte anzuschauen und dann sehen was ich  beitragen kann , oder wie ich die Fragen beantworten kann. Betreffs Deiner Unterkunft (ganz prima!) - nur meine persoenliche Meinung:
1.) regarding the room for max. 2 people, I would make it one price, not adding $17 for the second person. reason: the futon bed is rather small, you only have one set of linen to wash, not two. It just looks more generous if you do one price. How about you set your price to 55, instead of 47? half of the time you'd get more when a single person shows up, half of the time (with 2) a bit less, but it all evens out.
2.)  when you rent out the whole place: yes, start with base price for two (your own bedroom) then add per person (for the other room). I would not add 22 (as you have now),  maybe just 17 , as you have it now for the other room for the extra person? your minimum is for 4 nights, a nice chunk of $$.
Also consider that the base price of $107 is more than double of the single room at $47, so People who look at both of your listings might think that at 107, that already should absorb an extra charge for the other room , and would expect the charge of 107 to be for four. So perhaps you might want to just make one price, for up to 4, and increase the cleaning cost. It's all in what your local market/demand will support.
In any case, for the whole house, your cleaning fee could/should be higher than the cleaning fee just for the extra room. Right now it is the same.
So, nun bin ich fast am Ende... noch ein Tip: vielleicht stelle eine kleine Nachtlampe auf den Nachttisch neben den Betten, manche Leute lesen gern im Bett. Und dann natuerlich Southpark, hehehe!

[Ori6]

Thanks for your great detailed answer, definilty helpful! 
The prices for places around my apartment are sometimes lower and sometimes higher. But I think what you get when you book my place is much better, so I think the price should be accordingly - meaning, a base price for 1 person, and a small extra for another one (then its easily shared) - when staying at the guest room. For the entire place, I guess for 2 people should be the same as 1, and for every person after the 2nd there's an extra charge.

Thanks again!
Ori 

[Mike330]

I'm afraid I have to go one to the side.
Airbnb have advertised some rooms as entire flat per night, but the hosts have determined that It is a mistake, and it should be per person per night....
We have paid for the accommodation for 6 nights....  The owners say it is not their mistake and I say i booked in good faith
In my opinion, Airbnb should cough up the extra balance payme nt as it was a mistake, created by them??
Your answers would be interesting, as I cannot find a phone number for "A Help Desk"

[Zdenko3]

How to put a price for a person not for a night? Thank you