How much can you charge?
The Airbnb Ambassador & Super Host Coach (A-Coach) sat in his office when the phone rang. It was on the Airbnb business line, and he picked it up.
“Good morning, A-Coach here. How may I help you?”
“Hi, Coach. I am Megan from your Facebook group. I have a question about how much I can charge for my place. Is now a good time?”
“Good morning, Megan. Thank you for calling. Yes, it is always a good time for me to talk to my Airbnb hosts. What are your concerns?”
“I don’t want to charge too much, or people will not come. I don’t want to charge too little and miss revenue opportunity.”
“That is a good place to start. Are you just beginning and have your listing is ready to go?”
“Yes, I think I am ready.”
“The reason that I ask is that there are many variables to consider with setting the price.” Have you checked the competition?”
“No. How do I do that?”
What price to charge? Check the competition
“Let me describe a best practice method.
- Log into Airbnb as a guest. Not as a host.
- The query for listings in your same area for a date is far enough that more listings show vacancies. This query is relatively easy with the Airbnb map that shows all listings for your location.
- Open the link to each listing, starting with the closest and moving outward.
- Create an Excel spreadsheet as I show below and fill in the information. It is essential to ONLY compare your market research listings to what you have in your listing. In this example, we research a single room for two guests.
“Megan, are you with me so far?”
“Yes. The spreadsheet makes it easier to see who my competition is.”
“I thought you would like it.
“What you can learn from this exercise is what your competitors have on their listing page to attract potential guests that you don’t. Before you go live, you can add photos, text, and more amenities that are better than what they have, giving you a competitive advantage.
“Also, it is crucial that you choose a catchy listing name. Verify the effectiveness of the listing title with any one of the marketing tool websites, such as Advanced Marketing Institute Headline Analyzer.[1]
The price you charge the guest is the sum of the fees
“Next, you have many options for changing all the fees.
- Nightly fee
- Cleaning fee
- Service fee and
- Taxes
“Many guests searching will look and compare the nightly fee. The longer they stay, the cleaning fee per night decreases. Most towns collect hospitality fees. You can choose to show it or not.
When you are a Superhost, flaunt it
“Notice that there are six Superhost listings in this sample. Many Airbnb guests only want to stay with Superhosts because of their outstanding experiences and reviews. If you are not a Superhost yet, use a lower price to generate more stays and positive reviews.
“Save this market research file. Review it weekly to identify pricing changes so that you can quickly adjust your prices to gain a competitive advantage. Be sure to identify any new competitor listings. New Airbnb listings occur often.
“Megan, has this been helpful?”
“Yes, it has. What I now realize is that many things go into having a competitive advantage. When starting, my focus should be to do what my top competitors are doing but beat them on the price.
“I am going to do my market analysis right away, then optimize my listing page and then offer a better price.”
“I think you have it. Good luck.”
