In this post I would like to put an accent on the way Airbnb manages suggested prices in relation to size of the house, its features and hosting effort and costs in general.
First of all, I think prices that Airbnb suggest are, in two words, too low. Especially compared to the Airbnb's hosting guidelines which asks for, among others things, juice fruit, fresh fruit, flowers for welcome, give a lot of towels, be sure thay have an extra towel and bed linen set, pickin' up your guests up from their arrival point, etc.
Now, don't get me wrong, these are all nice and welcoming things which would be reasonable every host (who really care for hosting) should do, for sure my wife and I do and not just on Airbnb. It has always been my hosting phylosophy to try to make my guests feels as much as possible at home and in a city with a good friend ready to help them. Even before Airbnb existed I mean.
The problem is all this has a cost for the host, in term of money and time and the efforts to host increase exponentially as we add things to the hosting pack for the guests. The same goes with the features a space got, this should add value in term of price too, and further, I've have a 75 square meters home with plenty of space and it takes time and money to clean, update and mantain. Its "suggested price" can't be the same of a private room (as in reality happens).
You may say, "so far so good man! Just fix the price you think you hosting deserves, what's the problem?". Well, I agree, but only if the gap between "my price" and Airbnb's "Suggested price" would not impact on my listing visibility. And I'm afraid it's not like that, try to fix a bigger price and tell me if you listing is still there in the results doing a search in the next days (am I wrong? Please tell me if things are different, I don't know about Airbnb rules for listings visibility).
Airbnb should understand that we are not its employers, launched on the battlefield to bring money at home armed with smiles and (sometimes offensive pushes to) low prices. We love our work and don't want to devaluate it. Airbnb should take in count that low prices (for hosts, of course) can't be the bulwark to start conquer the market. I'm not saying that as an attack to Airbnb of course, but going things like that it will end people start to value it would be better to rent home in the more traditional way. At the moment I'm thinking right that as I got (with the "suggested prices") the same I would got renting my home to people to live in, but in this case with no effort, no pick up, no drop off, no time spent or risks.
This situation is a wordwide status for what I hear/read from othe hosts around the globe but in the south of Italy is barely mortifyng, houses of 70-100 squared meters with 5 stars reviews suggested at the price of 31€!
I would like to get some reply from you to check if I'm wrong of if there's something I'm missing.
