About this video

• Video Title: Airbnb Pricing Strategy Rules You Should BREAK to Get More Bookings
• Channel: Sean Rakidzich
• Speakers: Sean Rakidzich
• Duration: 00:12:23

Overview

This video by Sean Rakidzich discusses five common Airbnb pricing strategy rules that hosts can break to increase bookings and revenue. It covers strategies related to minimum stay lengths, pricing during peak seasons and events, managing occupancy versus average daily rate (ADR) during slow seasons, and rethinking entire homes versus private rooms.

Key takeaways

• Shorter Lead Time in Peak Season: In peak season, when demand is high and competitors are booked far in advance, reducing your lead time can allow you to charge higher rates as supply becomes thinner.
• Break Minimum Stay Rules for Events: For major events, consider breaking the 3 or 4-day minimum stay rule. Instead, significantly increase your rate for a single night and then offer substantial multi-day discounts to capture bookings from high-paying guests who may only want to stay for a shorter period.
• Prioritize Occupancy Over ADR in Slow Season: During slow seasons, when demand for weekdays is very low, it's more beneficial to offer discounts for longer stays (4-5 days) to increase occupancy, even if it slightly lowers your average daily rate (ADR), as this can lead to more booked days overall.
• Consider Private Rooms for Entire Homes: If your entire home property has unbooked days, especially in slow seasons, consider converting it into private rooms. This can attract different types of travelers (e.g., couples or solo travelers) who might not search for or trust heavily discounted large properties, potentially increasing overall income.
• Identify and Break Market Conventions: Observe what pricing and booking rules (like minimum stay lengths or weekly discounts) are common in your market. By breaking these conventions, you can create opportunities to stand out and capture bookings from guests whose needs aren't being met by the prevailing strategies.

During the slow season, the recommended approach is to prioritize occupancy over Average Daily Rate (ADR). Hosts should consider offering significant discounts for longer stays (4-5 days) to attract bookings for weekdays, which typically have very low demand. While this might slightly lower the ADR for those specific days, the increase in booked days can lead to a similar or even better net ADR for the month and improve overall occupancy. This strategy aims to fill the calendar by offering competitive pricing for longer durations, rather than solely focusing on the nightly rate.

During peak season, to increase your Average Daily Rate (ADR), the strategy is to leverage shorter lead times. Identify times of the year with high demand but limited supply. If your competitors are booking up far in advance (e.g., 45 days out at a certain rate), you can strategically reduce your lead time. This means allowing bookings to be made closer to the date. By doing so, you can capitalize on the scarcity of available properties and potentially charge a higher rate (e.g., $1400 instead of $1000) because the next best competitor might be priced even higher. This approach takes advantage of shorter supply to command better pricing.