Tag Archives: airbnb changed rate

“Smart Pricing” is a Zombie Algorithm from Hell

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As new Airbnb hosts, we set our base price at $50 a night – low for our area – and chose “smart pricing” and “instant booking” so that the algorithm would make our listing more visible in searches. We got lots of bookings right away and quickly became “superhosts.”

However, Airbnb’s “smart pricing” tool never respected our minimum, listing the guest suite for as low as $35. We called Airbnb for help. The Airbnb representative suggested switching off “smart pricing” and manually resetting our prices at $50 on weekdays, $65 on weekends. That was on September 30th.

That night at midnight, every open date on our calendar reverted to a sub-minimum price. Every time we’ve tried to fix it since then, the algorithm overrides our prices while we’re asleep. We have worked with five customer service representatives and counting by chat and by phone so far, and no one can fix it. Each has insisted on manually resetting our prices for us, or having us do so, with the same result.

For 30 days now, the correct prices have disappeared again each morning and our listing has been advertised at far below what it’s worth – an exhausting, stressful waste of time. None of these customer service representatives has been able to explain why “smart pricing” keeps posting our place at sub-minimum rates, rather than our desired $50 or more. They all promised to try to find answers, but no one seems to have access to anyone with the authority to resolve it.

We now have a guest coming at a rate of $35. We are asking Airbnb to either cancel this reservation with a full refund to the guest, or pay us the difference. One said she would try to get Airbnb to pay us the $15. We appreciate that. It’s not much, but it’s the principle at stake. When we’re cleaning the toilet between each guest, we do want that money.

I’ve told them by phone and text messages (all saved, along with images of the bad prices on our calendar) that we’ll be demanding the difference from Airbnb for any future reservations made at below-minimum prices. One representative also asked if we would switch off “instant booking” to avoid getting more reservations at sub-minimum rates, but I pointed out that our listing is already harder to find with the “smart pricing” button switched off, so removing both that and “instant booking” could send our listing in some sort of oblivion, and Airbnb could then simply forget about resolving our problem.

She did relay that a software developer insisted this isn’t a bug. The developer apparently wrote that once ‘smart pricing’ is applied, those prices will remain after “smart pricing” is switched off, for every date initially affected by the pricing tool, until those dates are history. Apparently, each time we try to make a pricing change, this outcome is extended in time, into the future.

They also acknowledged, finally, that this should be bumped up to a “senior” developer. For more than a month now, customer reps have asked for our patience while Airbnb’s software denies us the right to either set our own prices, or use a dynamic pricing tool that doesn’t go below our minimum price. This is a major bug that contradicts what Airbnb promises its hosts. We are running out of patience. “Smart pricing” truly is the zombie algorithm from hell.

Only Case Managers Can Help with Problems

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We booked this apartment in Harlem for $780 total. Flash forward to more than a week later (booking was instantly confirmed and the host and I chatted) when I receive a request of alteration, i.e. “your host wants to modify the reservation – pay an additional $710.”

Naturally, I rejected the request and asked the host what was going on. The host answered that “due to high demand for the weekend” (we were staying four nights) she made the business decision to double the price. I told her that although it’s fair game to adjust price to demand, we already booked and already agreed on a price, and that it is not normal business to ask for double the amount. Can you imagine a world like this? “I’m buying this phone… wait, too many people want it. Give me back your credit card – it’s now double or I might take the phone back.

I reached out to Airbnb who talked to her. Her answer was that she needed more money for this booking, and that, if we weren’t willing to negotiate, then “she might need to cancel the booking”. Might. I asked the host to either uphold or cancel the reservation; there was no answer. I had to get in touch with an Airbnb case manager (who, by the way, did a wonderful job – they cancelled for us with no fee and gave us a coupon to make up for the difference in price to rebook somewhere else due to being close to the departure date). However, the classy host is still operating on Airbnb and continues to force her way through her bookings.

Another person lived a similar situation before me and yet the apartment has not received a single soul yet. Airbnb has let her schedule open for our dates so she’s basically getting out of this without any penalty. I’m sure one way or another this will bite back, but just wanted to keep everyone informed and aware.

Beware of these disgusting practices; it doesn’t stand by Airbnb but you have to get a manager on the phone. Standard employees don’t have any power besides trying to mediate the conflict. I reached out through email, phone, and Twitter. The answer was fairly fast and I could get in touch with someone immediately every time. but had to wait the whole day to get the case manager.

Airbnb Host Raised Rental Price After Booking

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As my French friends advised me to book an Airbnb place instead of my already booked hotel, I decided to book a place on Airbnb in Paris. As this was my first time booking with Airbnb, I was giving special attention to reviews. After trying to contact a few hosts before actually booking, just as it is advised, and getting no answers, I found a host who was verified by Airbnb with pretty good reviews. I booked the place, sent a message, and waited.

There was no message from the host, no confirmation of my booking, and as it was already close to my departure date and possibility of cancelling my hotel booking, I decided to stick to my hotel and cancelled the request for the Airbnb booking before it was confirmed. Not more than a minute later came a message that she was about to confirm my request and another message came from Airbnb with a special price offer.

I accepted the special price offer, paid Airbnb, got confirmation, and cancelled my hotel booking. This was already three days before my departure for Paris. The next day I got a message from Airbnb saying that the hosts wanted to change my booking, raising the rate by more than 400€. I immediately tried to contact the host on the number given after confirmation, but no one answered my calls or SMS.

I was thinking ‘What the hell!?’, refused the change, and Airbnb again messaged me saying that my booking was confirmed. Half an hour later I got a message from the host saying she made a mistake and offered a price that was too low and that Airbnb was putting too many provisions on her request for a change in the booking.

I am not answering any more messages as I found this site with similar situations. She then cancelled my booking and sent me another offer for booking her place with a new price. Did she think I would book it again after all? I gave up booking on Airbnb, booked another hotel, paying more than my first booking and not in a part of Paris I wanted. I guess never again I will try to book Airbnb following all the ‘proper advice’ from them.