Smart Pricing works if you get it right. And it isn't rocket science.

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Smart Pricing works if you get it right. And it isn't rocket science.

This year,  we turned on smart pricing.

On some bookings we are getting 15c to 20 percent more per stay.

Admittedly there is high demand.

We kept our base price the same as our normal price, only allowing smart pricing charge more, never less.

It was that simple. We followed sage advice from experienced hosts on this,  make your bottom price your usual price, and what have you got to lose.

It remains to be seen how guests perceive "value" as star ratings in their reviews, but for money in the bank we have already seen a boost.

So I'd give this a cautious thumbs up.

How are other fairly new hosts finding smart pricing?

2 Best Answers
Stephanie
Community Manager
Community Manager
London, United Kingdom

Hey @Kevin1322 !

 

Great topic. You've reminded me of a fantastic topic that @Ann72 made for the Festival of Hospitality back in 2019 on how she's mastered Smart Pricing: https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Hosting/Festival-A-Smart-Pricing-Journey/m-p/1123517

 

Hope that helps,

 

Stephanie

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Ann72
Level 10
New York, NY

And thank you for the article shoutout @Stephanie!  I would definitely recommend anyone new to Smart Pricing read it @Mike-And-Jane0 @Kevin1322 as it's a deep dive into the hows and whys.

 

However, like @Emilia42, I've been overriding my Smart Pricing prices all year for the same reason - demand is through the roof.  I simply average what VRBO is charging for the same dates and put those in.  

 

I like @Elaine701's brilliant idea of having two listings to accommodate high and low season.

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47 Replies 47

That is my problem right now! I have a set price but when someone sets a reservation, it changes the price (tip price) and I MIGHT make 96% LESS than i am asking!!!

HELP PLEASE!  Customer service cant seem to help!  Am i the only one this has happened too?

Ann72
Level 10
New York, NY

And thank you for the article shoutout @Stephanie!  I would definitely recommend anyone new to Smart Pricing read it @Mike-And-Jane0 @Kevin1322 as it's a deep dive into the hows and whys.

 

However, like @Emilia42, I've been overriding my Smart Pricing prices all year for the same reason - demand is through the roof.  I simply average what VRBO is charging for the same dates and put those in.  

 

I like @Elaine701's brilliant idea of having two listings to accommodate high and low season.

@Ann72  Hiya, I'm exploring this at the moment. Thanks for the article !    Does Smart Pricing take additional guest fees into account i.e. just base price, or is it flat rate for the listing ?

@Michelle53  It's not a listing-wide flat rate - your extra guest fee will still work!  It just changes the nightly rate. 

Mike-And-Jane0
Level 10
England, United Kingdom

@Michelle53 and @Ann72 It is a really good question though as to how (or if) smart pricing takes into account extra guest fees and cleaning fees. Some people have both, some have neither. I struggle to believe that the algorithm can cope with such variation - I just wish Airbnb were more up front with the principle of how the system works as it would give me more confidence in it.

@Mike-And-Jane0  That's where I am right now. I'd hate to have it price at the lowest price for my max of 4 guests !    I'm pretty sure they are smart enough to include the cleaning fee. 

@Michelle53 Including the cleaning fee is actually quite difficult. If the min stay is 3 nights do they amortise it over 3 nights or over 1 night or over the average stay length for that listing. I suppose they have all the data to do any of these. 

 

Ann72
Level 10
New York, NY

@Mike-And-Jane0 @Michelle53  The algorithm just sets the nightly price.  Your other fees remain in place and are calculated appropriately.  A guest chooses your place and enters their dates and number in the party, whereupon the extra guest fee and cleaning fee if any are added in.

@Ann72    That's great. I'm going to switch it on and see what happens !

Jennifer1773
Level 10
Brevard, NC

@Kevin1322 When I first signed up to host two years ago, Airbnb was pushing Smart Pricing (SP) pretty hard, so I signed up and have used it to date. At first I had a 2 night minimum and like @Mike-And-Jane0 wanted to price my weekends higher than my weekdays, so I set the SP minimum for the lowest weekday price I would accept (well above the suggested minimum) and over-rode SP on my calendar for the weekends to allow me to price those at a higher rate. I also included a cleaning fee and a weekly discount--love those longer, but not too long stays. Since Covid, I have a 4 night minimum and 2 nights prep time between bookings with an increased cleaning fee and a 14% weekly discount. For me, this has meant that weekend days do not really need to be priced differently than week days, so I raised my SP minimum and quit adjusting the weekend rates. Life is good, I am booked up for the summer and SP has worked for me :). Thanks @Ann72 for your amazing article (love your data and tips) and @Stephanie for including it in this thread.

Thanks, @Jennifer1773, really appreciate it!

J-Renato0
Level 10
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

@Kevin1322 

Thanks for sharing your experience with smart pricing. Great tip.

Hii @Kevin1322 instead of Airbnb's automatic smart pricing, which usually ends up undervaluing my listing, i have recently started to use Airbtics, they provide real-time dynamic pricing, not sure how they do it accurately and if they are affiliated with Airbnb in any way. But it has been working for me great, hope it helps.

Good to hear smart pricing is working for you, i was consistently getting lower revenue each month so i switched to 3rd party dynamic pricing tools like Airbtics, Beyondpricing etc. Airbnb Smart Pricing Too Low? | Airbtics | Airbnb Analytics you can read more about how to use smart pricing properly here. hope it helps

Maria14462
Level 2
Narragansett, RI

I have smart pricing on and it works for the most part.  The pricing point would default very close to my minimal price... so I recommend setting the minimum price at what you actually want to get per room. 

I'm hoping the website makes changes to allow more options in pricing... like busy season and off-season...and weekday vs weekend pricing.  right now they don't differentiate.