Smart pricing is predatory

[Heather2172]

AirBnB's Smart Pricing is predatory and should be disclosed and described on all listings that use Smart Pricing. It should not be up to the Guest to go back and forth with AirBnB support about why a listing price might have unknowingly increased within a 5 minute span. I was heavily searching Homes on AirBnB in an area for about 10 minutes, I favorited a few, then went to actually book one of my selections only to find that the price increased due to increased demand in that area, I guess. Well, I was the one creating that demand by searching. Even now, hours later, the AirBnB map displays the lower price for this listing, but the Book Now displays a higher price. Meanwhile AirBnB has endless pop-ups now proclaiming that all fees are included in the price that's displayed now. This seems illegal TBH.

[Helen3]

Lots of businesses  use demand led pricing @Heather2172 . 

and lots of hosts use dynamic pricing through third party software so it's not just smart pricing where this happens 

in Europe all fees are included when you search with dates . If you just look on the map you will just see a base price . 

not sure what you feel is illegal ?

[Shelley159]

Hi @Heather2172 

Check the number of guests that you entered in search, as well as the dates. These have to be exactly the same as when you want to book.

Many listings use per-guest pricing, so the total can change. Also, if your dates aren't exactly the same, the nightly rate can change due to variables such as the cleaning fee.

[Graeme144]

Hi Heather,

Airbnb's smart pricing is anything but smart, and I've never seen it react in a matter of minutes to anything. It's nothing like Uber's surge pricing, for example.

Most hosts complain that Smart Pricing drives their prices down, not up. For example, my place, which I have happily been getting €150 a night for, when I tried Smart Pricing it suggested I should list it for €60 a night. At particularly busy times, it suggested the dizzy heights of €65. 

Because of this, I and many other hosts don't use Smart Pricing, though some use other dynamic pricing software. Those algorithms don't respond so rapidly either. Usually they update prices once a day. 

So, I'm pretty sure it's not Smart Pricing that's causing you to see prices changing over a matter of minutes. More likely, it's some kind of fees or taxes being added when you book that you didn't see when browsing.

Regards,

Graeme.