Optimize your revenue with basic and seasonal discounts
Airbnb pricing strategies can vary depending on the type of listing that you are managing. A pricing strategy that’s effective for one host, will be less effective for another. Here are some basic strategies and reasons why they suit particular Airbnb properties:
Maximum nightly rate strategy
This strategy is ideal for a host who owns an Airbnb that is in a prime location and is of a very high standard in terms of interior design and furnishings. If you have a supreme apartment in an ideal location, you can charge the maximum rate per night as well as high fees. This will allow you to make a better profit from each individual booking.
Dynamic nightly rate strategy
You have to be prepared to be completely engaged with the Airbnb rental market for this strategy to work. This option involves you constantly changing your nightly rate so that it’s always more competitive than similar rentals in your area in order to get as many bookings as possible. It requires you to constantly monitor your competition and adjust your pricing accordingly. This is probably the hardest work of all the strategies but it can reap the biggest rewards when it comes to your bank balance.
Long-term strategy
If you’re a host who is planning on being away from your apartment for a considerable block of time, say 3-6 months, you could price it so that it attracts a more long-term renter. Obviously, you will earn less per night but you’ll have a regular, guaranteed income from the one continuous tenant.
What types of discounts can I synchronize with Airbnb?
Longer stays discounts: If you haven’t made your space available for longer stays, now is a great time to consider changing your settings.
New Listing Promotion: A 20% promotion for your first 3 guests for your new and unbooked listings.
Non-refundable option: Boost bookings with new tiered pricing. More choices for guests, more revenue for you.
How rules are used to calculate your nightly price?
Once you apply a rule-set to a listing, it will override existing pricing and availability settings you’ve set for those dates. However, these rules will not affect listing prices when Smart Pricing is turned on—so you must turn Smart Pricing off in order to use this feature.
If your rule-set includes multiple pricing rules, they’ll be applied in this order:
Seasonal Pricing: Create different types of rule-sets to apply to your dates and listings.
- Nightly and weekend pricing
- Length-of-stay (weekly, monthly) discounts
- Early-bird and last-minute discounts
- Nightly rate of $100 plus a nightly rate increase of 10% = $110
- $110 minus a 20% early-bird discount = $88
In another example, this is how the price would be calculated using a rule-set with a nightly rate rule, an early-bird discount, and a weekly discount:
- Nightly rate of $100 plus a 10% nightly rate increase = $110
- Early-bird discount of 20% combined with a monthly discount of 30%
- Total takes the $110 nightly rate and applies only the 30% monthly discount for a total of $77.00
After the price is calculated using your rule-sets, the cleaning and Airbnb service fee are added to the total reservation price.
For more information on how the discounts work on the Airbnb platform, how to combine them, and how to apply them, we recommend that you always consult the Airbnb website.
For example, this is how the price would be calculated using a rule-set with both a nightly rate rule and an early-bird discount rule:
- Nightly price increase/decrease
- Length-of Stay discounts
- Last-minute discounts
- Early bird discounts
- Availability setting (min/max stay)
How do rule sets work?
It’s as simple as creating one, naming it and adding the rules that will adjust your price per night when you apply them.
You can add the following rules:
- Price per night: modify the rate per night depending on the time of the year. For example, you can create a rule that increases the price by 10% during the holidays.
- Discounts for length of stay: offer a discount to guests who book long stays. You can set them per week, per month or according to any other period of time you choose.
- Last minute discounts: reduce the price per night as the arrival date approaches.
- Early booking discounts: add a discount for guests who book in advance.
- Length of stay requirements: establishes the minimum and maximum number of nights that travelers may book.
- Arrival and departure requirements: select the days on which guests may check in and check out.
