TheSTRsite General Advice 1 2 3 4 5 Next » A Short Term Rental (STR) Forum Community

[javier1990]

When I started I used Smart Pricing and noticed I got a decent amount of bookings, and then a host friend of mine told me about Pricelabs which priced my place at $75 more a night. Since turning on Pricelabs, we have made more per stay but number of bookings have significantly dropped.

Any other hosts notice the differences between Pricelabs and Airbnb Smart Pricing? Is there a possibility that Airbnb "punishes" or hides the listings of those who use Pricelabs?

[alankane]

The airbnb algorithm will always push the more affordable options over the most expensive options so it makes sense you are getting less bookings. The question is, does your increase per stay make up for the less bookings? Less bookings and more $ per stay means less turnover costs too (if that is something you pay for) and less potential for bad guests.

[bruce3404]

I did a trial of PriceLabs but it was so annoying when it kept changing my settings and it was a hassle to change them back. I hate how airbnb makes it difficult to manually change pricing on certain dates - I have to click each day or week one by one.

[Sky_dog]

I also got lower nightly rates usually smart pricing. I’m not sure if Airbnb purposely pushes you up in the rankings for using Smart Pricing or if it’s just that the prices are lower so more people look, but I got more views with Smart Pricing on. I still prefer to use PriceLabs for a higher price and get "better quality" guests though.

[1SmartBlond]

It's a delicate dance. Keep prices low and you WILL have a nightmare guest eventually. It only takes 1 to learn your lesson and it will stick with you forever.

[Gemyjan]

I just use the smart pricing feature and I haven't had any issues yet. I'm not going to fix what isn't broken.

[keanejohn]

I noticed this when I started out. I was working harder for the same earnings when on SmartPricing. Pricelabs reduced the number of bookings while keeping my earnings about the same. I have less turnover and cleaning with PriceLabs, which is OK for me.

[Cield]

I had a similar experience using Smart Pricing in the beginning. It got me decent traffic, but once I switched to PriceLabs, the rates went higher and bookings slowed a bit. For me, though, it sort of balanced out since each guest was bringing in more income, and there was less hassle overall with fewer turnovers. I don’t know if Airbnb actually downranks listings using PriceLabs, but it definitely feels like lower prices attract more visibility.

One thing that helped me maintain profitability even with fewer bookings was learning how to optimize my property from a tax perspective, especially since it's a short-term rental. I’m working with these guys that focus on cost segregation for STRs – helped me improve cash flow without relying entirely on booking volume.

[ChrisFromTheOC]

I had a similar experience using Smart Pricing in the beginning. It got me decent traffic, but once I switched to PriceLabs, the rates went higher and bookings slowed a bit. For me, though, it sort of balanced out since each guest was bringing in more income, and there was less hassle overall with fewer turnovers. I don’t know if Airbnb actually downranks listings using PriceLabs, but it definitely feels like lower prices attract more visibility.

I definitely feel like the airbnb internal pricing model is skewed towards lower rates and higher volumes... it makes sense because one of the main metrics success metrics they report on for airbnb is the # of bookings. On the other hand, hosts generally would prefer higher prices and less bookings (less cleanings, turnover costs, dealing with new guests).

[strvestor]

To use Pricelabs effectively you need to be adjusting your minimum # of nights based on how far out the reservations is. Having the stays which are farther out require longer nights and then dropping the requirement as the dates get closer was a highly effective method for me to increase our monthly revenues by 30%.