Smart Pricing: A Community Help Guide

[Dave-and-Deb0]

Many people love the Smart Pricing feature whereas many other people hate it.  I am not one who turns it on as I like to have full control of my pricing and I always get more for my listing than it suggests. I have also proven that it truly is not very "Smart".  Here is a Help Guide to show you how to turn on Smart Pricing if this is a feature you wish to use.

IMPORTANT NOTE: If you turn on the Smart Pricing feature, please understand that this overrides your weekend pricing if you have one set.  There are many times people complain that the guest was undercharged and this most often the culprit.  If you choose to turn Smart Pricing on you will need to go throughout your calendar and manually change your weekends one by one.  Once you change the weekends manually, Smart Pricing will not override the weekend pricing.  This is covered in Airbnb's Help article (https://www.airbnb.ca/help/article/1168/how-do-i-turn-smart-pricing-on-or-off) where it states, "Once you turn on Smart Pricing, your prices will be automatically updated within the minimum and maximum prices you set. Smart Pricing works for all open nights on your calendar, and you can adjust specific nightly prices any time."

How to Turn On Smart Pricing

Step 1: Log into your Airbnb account, click on "Host" and then "Manage Listings" and then choose the listing you wish to setup Smart Pricing for.

Step 2: From the top menu, choose "Pricing" and then in the "Nightly Price" section to the right hand side, choose "Edit".

Step 3: On the Nightly Price screen section, toggle on Smart Pricing and then set your minimum nightly price and your maximum nightly price.  You also want to choose how often you want to host from the two choices.  This is how Airbnb explains the difference between the two choices:

"Let’s say demand in your area is low. Here’s how these settings might affect your price:

As often as possible

Your price may lower to your minimum to help you get a booking. More bookings can mean more money over time.

Part-time

Your price may lower to help you get a booking, but it’s less likely to lower all the way to your minimum. If you’ve already hosted a week or two this month, your price might not lower at all."

Once you are done with your selections, choose "Save".

Once you choose save, the new Smart Pricing prices will be changed on your listing calendar.

How Do I Override Some Smart Pricing for Weekends and Certain Dates?

Go to your listing calendar and choose the dates you wish to override.  Then in the right hand pricing box, choose the link that says "Adjust"

Next, you will have a regular pricing box where you can insert the price you want the dates you chose to be and the choose "Save Changes".