"Turn Lookers Into Bookers"

[Carole155]

Is anyone else getting these ridiculous emails from Airbnb  that  a number of people looked at my listing "for December and January ended up at listings that are an average of $31 less per night." -- and then go on to suggest I lower my price by that much.  My listing is for 3 bedrooms and 3 baths.  The people booking the cheaper reservations are two people. They obviously don't need my house and can get a smaller/cheaper house.  I wrote back to Airbnb twice and explained my frustration with these emails.  Obviously they are not going to cease sending them.  Our house rents for $89 in the off season for 3 br/3ba.  Any less than that and it simply would not pencil out with what we pay our cleaning person, utilities, etc.   What are they thinking?  

[Jeff158]

@Carole155 we all get them, ignore and delete them, set your price and stick to it.

Not one single real person has anything to do with the notifications you're getting, its just a badly written computor program.

[Carole155]

I figured as much but I just wish they would stop sending them.  😉

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Carole155

I get them as well....comparing my single occupancy room with private bath to dormitory type guesthouse bunk beds. Ignore~ ignore~ ignore~

[Sarah977]

Every time I get those, I fill out the "was this helpful" part. No, not helpful and I go on to tell them how absurd their price tips are, that I and my guests are happy with the price and that the places they compare mine to are not comparable. If we all do this, maybe they'll wake up.

[Emiliano69]

Agree.

[Helen56]

I get these too, just ignore them.  The algorithm has no idea what your place looks like.  If we all followed this 'advice' and kept lowering our prices we would all be doing it for free, and eventually even airbnb would stop making money.

I put my rate up recently - I had been on $50 for 2 years, tried $49 because of all these emails.  So now I've put it up to $55 and am still getting enough bookings to cover my property tax.  I don't want 100% occupancy.

[Robin4]

@Carole155

Carole these things are on an automated schedule we all get them! Even though we may have a full booking calendar for the month they tell us we are missing out on bookings and we need to drop our price to entice guests who cannot book!.

The worst thing you can do is to respond to any of these Carole! It's like getting onto a company mailing list and the system that drives that mailing list responds to 'Activity'...the more you bait its tentacles, the more of these little enticers will come slithering your way onto your listing page.

They are like speed-humps on a suburban street, you can't get rid of them, just drive around them and go on doing what works best for you!

Cheers......Rob

[Susan598]

What I simply cannot understand is why Airbnb thinks hosts are less able to do appropriate pricing than an automated system. It would be insulting....if it wasn't so silly!

[John1080]

@Carole155, I get them all the time. Currently, for the months of November and December, the suggestions for my place are almost 1/2 of what I charge, yet my bookings are still coming in and in fact, November has been right up there almost as lucrative as the summer months. 

I would in fact rather have fewer booking paying more than a bunch of low-paying bookings. If the price is too low, the quality of the guests suffers and of course, you have to do more (or pay for) cleaning. 

I would follow my gut based on experience and also take a look at surrounding properties to get your price right. 

[Lilly28]

@John1080

I do not agree that the quality of guests automatically goes down when we lower the price - but for sure - cleaning becomes such a burden! I have strange tip-suggestions - they send me information of comparable residencies - all of them have a higher price than my flat, still I have tips to lower my price at 50% to have bookings...

[John1080]

@Lilly28, I agree that a lower price does not automatically guarantee a lower quality guest, but it certainly can. Of course, sometimes someone willing to pay an outrageous price can also be a poor quality guest if they feel entitled. I think there is a happy medium somewhere in there. 

How odd about the contradictory tips. I usually just ignore them all and do my own thing based on what I have gleaned from my short experience. I do try to keep mine within a range of other local properties and also keep an eye on how many properties are available at any one time to adjust my price as well. 

[Sarah977]

@Lilly0   Same here- the "similar listings" they compare me to are mostly twice or 3 times more expensive than mine (or a few the same price, but I know those places and they're dumpy) - the computer algorithm is just plain stupid. 

[Kenneth-And-Lilia0]

When I get those, I email back to ABB that they should lower their fees to the guests to entice them to book more and that I'm leaving my price (lower than Motel 6) right where they are.  Funny, I've never got a response

[Kanani2]

I'm guessing that's written by some computer that just crunches numbers, and has no clue as to monthly operating expenses! Ignore and delete!