I joined this conversation bc I made some strange experiences with "smart pricing", which made me questioning that. I started using smart pricing for my listings as it just launched, at the beginning it seemed to be just fine. I started questioning this tool as I mentioned after a year I was using it, that smart pricing algorithm would make incredible low price suggestions for my listings. I had price suggestions on my room, $19 per day (New York, hip area). The note next to the suggested price mentioned: "Similar listing in your area have a price, ...." I started questioning it, bc I live in a hip area, and the actual rental price is 4,5x higher as this smart pricing suggestion. My question was, why would I rent out my room below my actual rental price, why to use air bnb, if I can have a regular roommate, which would cover the costs and I don't need to run, jump, please, provide on top for my roommate. I just don't believe that people in my area would rent out here on air bnb for so low. What's the point of having a guest, who can give you a personal review and judge your life style even not bringing in the rental price? That is like a self torcher to me. The next significant change using the smart pricing I mentioned, I started receiving low quality guests, basically guests who I don't want to deal with, bc they are just out of my personal standard. Bc probably I couldn't align with those strange guests who entered my personal life style for even not covering my rent, I started hiding from my guests, they were just not a type of people I would want to host (I always blamed it on low season). The final joke was as I received booking requests for longer then a month, which were even not covering my actual rental price and people even asked me for a discount! As I started responding with: Sorry I cannot give you a discount on that low price, it's already below my actual rental price, those people never booked my place. Basically I slaved up myself and was even requested from a guest to go more down. The question is, why am I using a tool, which gives me guests, who actually wouldn't be able to afford that place for the actual rental price and also don't appreciate that? The guests don't review you better, bc they actually get a present. I mentioned, that my ratings got lower. I was starting to think, I getting worst as a host and was chasing the ratings, but nothing was rising, just declining. Finely, I switched off the smart pricing and have better guests, who are able to pay the rental price and value me and my personal life style. My personal review for the "smart pricing" algorithm is: I do NOT recommend it to anyone here. keep your personal value and your personal standards. I do not want to be reviewed by a guest who cannot afford my life style and basically doesn't values and even doesn't understands, that he gets the best deal in that particular moment on his choice, bc of the tool failure. I doubt that scientists who developed this tools have accurate informations about the actual rental prices in particular city areas. The algorithm must be very complicated and in order to function proper, someone who is making the tool, has to collect a lot knowledge/ infos and feed the tool, I doubt they do it so. Now I am sitting and writing as a guest from Mexico City, I rented here an air bnb for myself and I must say, my host charges me per day in Mexico City 3x more and doesn't provides to me even hand soap, her listing says with internet, there is no internet, no towels, no keys, my host eats my food, the room has only a bed. Mexico City per day cost me 3x more as "smart pricing" suggest for my personal room in New York, with amenities, I am missing here (in Mexico City). Why Mexico City cost 3x more as "smart pricing" suggestion for y listing, bc it a host's personal value price on her room. I highly suggest to everyone here, do not use smart pricing. I have been testing it for over a year and I started feeling as a host devalued and was working for a price, which even was not covering my actual rental price. "smart pricing" is a great idea, but not functional or is just set up wrong from people who invented that. I would love to have a serious conversation with the air bnb developer team and provide them with my personal testimonial about their failure tool. This tool must be reworked and if the air bnb developer team will decline that, so there is no reason to promote that here. I feel like I should be rewarded for being here a testimonial for air bnb for this failure. It's basically misused my trust in a hope of it's getting better, just maybe air bnb is not that hip anymore as it used to be or low season
(Sorry for any typos, english is not my first language).
