How To Setup Smart Pricing On Airbnb

Airbnb has an algorithm that for strategically setting the price for your nightly rate called “Smart Pricing.” In a nutshell, hosts pick upper bound and lower bound prices they are willing to accept from guests. Once Airbnb has both the max and minimum prices they can begin to dynamically change your nightly rate based on the type and location of your listing, the season, demand, and other factors.

Airbnb will give you a range based on what other hosts in your area are charging. For a real-life example this is the pricing we have for our first listing in Tampa, Florida.

It’s important to know that you are fully responsible for choosing the listing price and many hosts will adjust their minimum prices depending on the local events.

The tactic we’ve been testing with our first listing has been a lower nightly rate with a $17 cleaning fee. This allows us to make sure the listing is extremely clean for all guests ensuring great reviews.

As you can see from our above dashboard screenshots we charge a $17 cleaning fee with a minimum of $36 and a maximum of $161. The Airbnb algorithm sets our nightly rate normally at between $38-42 per night and the cleaning fee is fixed at $17. This evens makes our nightly rate even out to around $52-$55 per night.

We’ve found that the lower our nightly rate is the higher the listings views. Having a high cleaning fee can be negative and result in a large drop off so you will have to test with different rates. We tested with 3 different fixed cleaning fees and minimum nightly rates over the listings first 2 months.

Enjoy testing with your pricing and leverage Airbnb’s smart pricing.

Love,
Scooch and Steve