Raise my price to a reasonable fee and I'm sentenced to no mans land

[Ephraim0]

I'm not sure how people can keep their prices within the airbnb suggestion or even close if they live in NYC. I am a homeowner and between my mortgage, cleaning supplies, utlities, and consumables I am really not coming out very far ahead. And forget the many many hours of cleaning and hospitalty I put in each week. Yet everytime I raise my price by even a few dollars airbnb places my listing in no mans land and there are no views. I don't know how other people do it (aside from some of the rentals that are obviously located in NYC public housing) but I feel like I'm working my tail off to scrape by. Perhaps the algorithem is comparing my listing to similar listins in size, but certainly not in quality. It just can't be. I wonder have others noticed that the algorithem is punitive if your trying to raise your price to help cover hossting costs? I'm starting to think I need to consider listing elsewhere. Sincerely disapointed.

[Deborah58]

Those prices are only a suggestion. When I check out what Airbnb suggest I should be charging at my properties, I take great offence! They are ridiculous! I have no ida how they can suggest the prices they do. Nightly rate reflects so many things... location, size, amenities, outdoor area, etc. You can't suggest a rate for everyone based on number of bedrooms.

[Ephraim0]

I agree, but when I raise my price by 5 or 10 dollars, airbnb immediatly places my listing on page # "adios" in their listings. I feel like I'm being price fixed.

[Linda0]

Hello Ephraim--

I had that same problem, so what you need to do is set your price that afford you to operate. Then every day, make sure you update your listing(s) as easy as changing one word in your description or pricing and save. You will start noticing your listing moving up in the search. I watch my neighboring host prices and I compete with them vigorously,  sometimes match or up them by a dollar. Try it and see in about a week you will be back up there in the search. 

Just keep on forward and don't lose faith,

Linda

[Ephraim0]

Thanks for the tip Linda, I will certainly try your suggestions. I appreciate you taking the time to try and help me. All the best, Ephraim 

[Kika1]

The smart pricing suggestions are indeed out of touch with reality. but luckily we can set our minimum price for it. 

It is funny though to think that airbnb would punish anyone for raising their prices.

Since their commision is a percentage, it is in their interest as well.

Do state a price that covers your running expenses and compensates you for your work!

I keep telling to myself that if I were going to give it all away, I might as well start taking guests from couchsurf! 

Some cities and countries are silly expensive and that's how it is.

If I can't afford NYC, Zurich, Singapore... well there is the rest of a whole planet to choose some place else for my vacation! 

[Ephraim0]

Kika actually its not that funny. There are a couple ways a company like bnb can go about pricing. They can either create low prices to grab up as many customers as possible and make their profit due to the sheer quantity of guests. Or they can suggest fair prices within a reasonable range, and while they will lose some customers, the raise in prices will produce the same amount of profit. That is simply a mathematical equation, However it is in airbnb's best interest to increase its customer base with very low pricing. Unfairly  in this scenario the hosts carry the full burden of building up airbnbs market growth.  

[Kika1]

I understand, but again, not on my back 🙂

[Robert173]

Hello Ephraim,

I was wondering about the same thing like you - will not accepting the price suggestions have any affect on the placement of my listing.

I am rarely in tune with the price suggestions and that goes both ways. Sometimes the price suggestions are going so high that I feel I would be taking liberties. Sometimes the price suggestions are so low that these wouldn't even cover the costs I meet for cleaning, the food I put in the fridge etc.

So I decided to ignore the suggestions. I found out that this has no effect on the placement of my listing whatsoever. So I am wondering what the famed algorithms otherwise might take into consideration when deciding on a specific placement.

Best, Robert

[Ephraim0]

Fair enough. Thanks for sharing your thoughts and experiences. I can't tell you. I can only testify on my behalf when I raise prices my listings disappear. Perhaps there  are far less listings in Denmark? I've not yet had the luxury of price suggestions so high I'd be taking any liberties. Certainly, there may be more to the algorithm that I am suggesting. But I can only speak truthfully about cause and effect... I suppose the rest is hypothesis. But I'm certainly not feeling good about the reliability of the effect.

[Andrew90]

Price is only one factor in the Airbnb search algorithm, and it changes drastically when search Criteria and filters are used. I find it does NOT sort in price order. I actually charge higher than average prices and book more than my others I know with almost identical units. You could try to increase some of the other factors : respond within minutes or hours, accept most/all inquiries, number and quality of pictures, provide some extra **bleep**e glove treatment to pump up reviews, get super host, etc.

This thread has a good discussion. See @Clair0's posting for video that gets into deep detail.

https://community.airbnb.com/t5/Hosts/AIRBNB-S-RANKING-ON-THE-SEARCH-PAGE/m-p/141036#M38022


Good luck. NYC is a hard place to stand out in since there are so many listings.

Andrew

[Ephraim0]

Thank you Andrew. I don't know what it is. As soon as I raise the inquiries stop immediatly. Please read my response to Melanie regarding the quality of stay i offer. I will watch the video. Thank you for your advice.

[Tony-And-Una0]

Hi

I have four units and change the prices regularly and it never affects the position of my listing.

I wonder if different areas have different rules?

It seems odd.

Tony

[Ephraim0]

It is odd, but everytime I adjust the cost, by even a few dollars the inquiries dissapear. Trust me it sucks.

[Melanie58]

You have stated that your main goal is to raise the price.  Here are suggestions I have that may allow you to raise the price and still be competitive:

-You don't have on instant booking.  That could be a factor. You can turn it on with the most stringent settings and no one is the wiser - it still shows up as instant booking, yet with requiring both ID and previous reviews, most of your transactions will still be like regular preapprove/decline transactions.  In my experience, turning on instant booking did get me more reservations.

-You require a three day minimum stay.  You could try two days?  Though I am not from New York, so I don't know if this would positively or negatively impact your bottom line, but the point is, the minimum stay is another thing you can play with and see if you can get more bookings.

-You could invite out the airbnb professional photographer for free to get verified photos that will help you compete with neighboring listings since it's a more competitive market.

-You could offer a discount for weekly stays

-You could raise the # of guests to 3, or even 4 - it looks like there is maybe a full bed and a futon?  Since you have to wash the same sheets no matter how many guests, hypothetically you could raise your price slightly to cover the extra towels/hot water but the savings would be huge for a larger group.  I realize the space is compact, but by raising my # in party I have a lot more reservations.

-You could play with your cleaning fee and security deposit - look what others around you are doing, and beat them there - You could even try your listing baking the cleaning fee into the overall cost and see if it fairs better.

The point of it is, there are more than one way to skin a cat, so all of these things you can play with and figure out what the magical combination is that gets you the income you need.  And it does seem like the more you play around with your listing, the more "active" you appear to airbnb and the higher you are placed in search results.