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I've been thinking of putting my foot out on Air but here's my problem with them, they really do seem like a market looking for the bottom dollar and what I offer isn't the bottom dollar. So I have been wondering what to do...
First of all, I have to pay taxes and most of them are illegally not, so just there is almost a 20% difference. Do you think that I should collect it at the door and therefore my prices appear to be lower on Air (and they don't have to pay commission on it, too.)
Do you think I should just put up my normal prices and offer my full services or do you think that I should make it more of a discount product... no breakfast (or maybe just coffee and tea?), no housekeeping? light housekeeping? Full housekeeping? Should I charge a cleaning fee? Should I allow shorter stays, longer stays or should I use it only as a way of selling off last minute rooms?
Just to give you an idea, I put in some random dates about a week into the future and it's telling me that for a private room the "average is $49 a night". My standard is $130 a night (including taxes).
Or do I just list, with my standard amenities, standard offerings, normal price (with or without taxes) and then put a few cheap days available when I have empties and just let it be?
 
I reviewed the listings for my area before I listed on there. One day there were almost 600 rooms for my area. Next day there were 200.
They can't give me an average price because they say there aren't enough rooms.
Of the rooms listed, about 15 are actually anywhere near here. The other 150 - 550 are in the city south of here.
I checked what my local comp has for prices. All listed their standard rate.
Then I checked which properties had reviews and what they were charging.
Quite frankly it's all over the place.
So, save yourself some hassle and play up the fact that you're licensed and inspected and up to code and that you have to charge tax.
Then give them what everyone else gets, at your regular price, so you don't have to play games.
Mention other rooms available and list the lowest priced room you have. Shared bath shouldn't be a problem at all with their market.
You're in a primo location so play that up, too.
Air suggests you lower your rate until you get reviews. Then you can raise it. I don't think any of the inns in town had a single review.
If you do list-the photos show up in the order you list them. You can't move them around later. Use high def photos because they look awful otherwise. I have to go fix that.
 
I've only just started with air a couple of months ago, so I'm no expert at this. I don't include the taxes on my listing, but state in several places that 11% lodging tax will be collected on arrival. I've listed both my cheapest room and my most expensive. Just this morning I got an e-mail from someone that stated they didn't think their reservation request went through on the air site and she told me what she wanted. She wanted our most expensive room and if that booking had actually gone through, she would have paid more than if she went directly to my site and booked. I wrote her back and told her to book on our site and she would save. Yup, she booked it.
I've also got another reservation on the books, at regular rate that was done through air. Again, the guest is paying more in the long run. So, I'm not so sure that it's just price they're looking at. I've got the name of my b&b all over my listing. Also, licensed and inspected. Of the 4 bookings I've had so far, 2 contacted me separately and 2 have gone through the air site. You'll just have to play with it and see what works for you, but I don't think it's just about how cheap the room is.
Take a look at my listing, then play the game however you'd like. Oh, you can also make the room rate less by not only excluding the taxes, but make it cheaper, then add a housekeeping charge. In the end it'll be the same, but some people can get hooked in with the initial low rate.
 
Breakfast Diva said:
I've only just started with air a couple of months ago, so I'm no expert at this. I don't include the taxes on my listing, but state in several places that 11% lodging tax will be collected on arrival. I've listed both my cheapest room and my most expensive. Just this morning I got an e-mail from someone that stated they didn't think their reservation request went through on the air site and she told me what she wanted. She wanted our most expensive room and if that booking had actually gone through, she would have paid more than if she went directly to my site and booked. I wrote her back and told her to book on our site and she would save. Yup, she booked it.
I've also got another reservation on the books, at regular rate that was done through air. Again, the guest is paying more in the long run. So, I'm not so sure that it's just price they're looking at. I've got the name of my b&b all over my listing. Also, licensed and inspected. Of the 4 bookings I've had so far, 2 contacted me separately and 2 have gone through the air site. You'll just have to play with it and see what works for you, but I don't think it's just about how cheap the room is.
Take a look at my listing, then play the game however you'd like. Oh, you can also make the room rate less by not only excluding the taxes, but make it cheaper, then add a housekeeping charge. In the end it'll be the same, but some people can get hooked in with the initial low rate..
Click to expand...
I used your listing as a template. It was very thorough and I liked how you made everything positive.
It also helped me avoid the errors I saw most frequently with other inns - listing the total number of beds and bathrooms in the building and saying that was all in one room. Maybe guests reading that think it's a dorm?
 
Just listed my own. I listed my lowest priced room a few dollars lower than my reg. rate but will provide everything I do for any other guest. I state I will collect taxes on arrival. I used BD's listing as an example.... THANKS BD, you're the bomb!
Like Mort's search to compare, one day I came up with over 1000 listings in our area, the next was 81, next search down to 20. But never gave me an ave price since there were not enough rooms! In the 81, most were whole homes, in 20 they were all whole homes, in the 1000+ it was across the board. (most were in the big city south of me)
 
Been on Air for about 6 months and I've already gotten 3 reservations from them, 2 two nighters and 1 three nighter. I have my second lowest priced room on their and include the tax for a flat rate of $200 - typically would be $201.65 booked on my site including the tax. We aren't the lowest by a long shot, but our photos are awesome including the breakfast. I would definitely say do it, the commission is so low and you don't have to collect anything, they do it all if you include the tax.
 
MtnKeeper said:
Been on Air for about 6 months and I've already gotten 3 reservations from them, 2 two nighters and 1 three nighter. I have my second lowest priced room on their and include the tax for a flat rate of $200 - typically would be $201.65 booked on my site including the tax. We aren't the lowest by a long shot, but our photos are awesome including the breakfast. I would definitely say do it, the commission is so low and you don't have to collect anything, they do it all if you include the tax..
Click to expand...
Remember that I am in a major city, there are THOUSANDS of listings of which 99.5% are for illegal accommodations.
I do wonder if stressing that I am 100% legal and then when accepted my reservations are never cancelled because I'm legal (often when caught they cancel all the reservations, because $750 a day fine doesn't seem worth it to them.)
 
We have been on air for about four or five months or longer. We have three rooms on so far at their normal prices including taxes. We offer everything that we do to a regular guests. We have not had any problems selling them. Two rooms were on all winter as a test and did quite well. (Just upped them to the summer rates.) We are getting bookings, great reviews, and great guests!
 
I read through several posts and I would stick to my standard rates and include the tax. I might even consider adding in the small commision and potentially driving them to our engine on our site. That is always our goal. If they are going to pay our rates, a few bucks either won't matter to them or will implore their common sense to book at the lower of the two.
 
happykeeper said:
I read through several posts and I would stick to my standard rates and include the tax. I might even consider adding in the small commision and potentially driving them to our engine on our site. That is always our goal. If they are going to pay our rates, a few bucks either won't matter to them or will implore their common sense to book at the lower of the two..
Click to expand...
I don't know about trying to get Air users to book direct.... I mean I get that that is the goal... but I think many Air users are committed to the "Air community" and use Air exclusively for their travels. They are interested in the connections and authentic local experience, not just great rates. Many of them are Air hosts themselves. Besides that, Air has strict controls in place to prevent you from establishing direct communication with the guest (e.g. websites, e-mail addresses, and phone numbers get filtered out) until the reservation has been made and paid for through Air.
 
Breakfast Diva said:
I've only just started with air a couple of months ago, so I'm no expert at this. I don't include the taxes on my listing, but state in several places that 11% lodging tax will be collected on arrival. I've listed both my cheapest room and my most expensive. Just this morning I got an e-mail from someone that stated they didn't think their reservation request went through on the air site and she told me what she wanted. She wanted our most expensive room and if that booking had actually gone through, she would have paid more than if she went directly to my site and booked. I wrote her back and told her to book on our site and she would save. Yup, she booked it.
I've also got another reservation on the books, at regular rate that was done through air. Again, the guest is paying more in the long run. So, I'm not so sure that it's just price they're looking at. I've got the name of my b&b all over my listing. Also, licensed and inspected. Of the 4 bookings I've had so far, 2 contacted me separately and 2 have gone through the air site. You'll just have to play with it and see what works for you, but I don't think it's just about how cheap the room is.
Take a look at my listing, then play the game however you'd like. Oh, you can also make the room rate less by not only excluding the taxes, but make it cheaper, then add a housekeeping charge. In the end it'll be the same, but some people can get hooked in with the initial low rate..
Click to expand...
I looked at your listing and it is very well done BD. It would be nice to use to fill in the gaps.
 
Not sure the concern. Booking, TA and others often focus on, advertise and allow sorting by price. If someone is looking for low cost, I doubt Air is much different than them...
 
Harborfields said:
happykeeper said:
I read through several posts and I would stick to my standard rates and include the tax. I might even consider adding in the small commision and potentially driving them to our engine on our site. That is always our goal. If they are going to pay our rates, a few bucks either won't matter to them or will implore their common sense to book at the lower of the two..
Click to expand...
I don't know about trying to get Air users to book direct.... I mean I get that that is the goal... but I think many Air users are committed to the "Air community" and use Air exclusively for their travels. They are interested in the connections and authentic local experience, not just great rates. Many of them are Air hosts themselves. Besides that, Air has strict controls in place to prevent you from establishing direct communication with the guest (e.g. websites, e-mail addresses, and phone numbers get filtered out) until the reservation has been made and paid for through Air.
.
Click to expand...
You are most likely correct about that. I don't have experience with them. Just the same, I think I would stick to our long term commitment to charge our full price and only provide discounts on our website in return for something else. (longer stay, prepaid etc)
 
undersea said:
Not sure the concern. Booking, TA and others often focus on, advertise and allow sorting by price. If someone is looking for low cost, I doubt Air is much different than them....
Click to expand...
undersea said:
Not sure the concern. Booking, TA and others often focus on, advertise and allow sorting by price. If someone is looking for low cost, I doubt Air is much different than them...
Click to expand...
Look up the big cities and you will understand. Look up a city like Portland, OR or Toronto, ON and you will see what it is like in a city with thousands of listings. Air isn't set up to sell the best place, it's set up to sell the cheapest place. Most OTAs are set up to sell you the best choice because their income is more dependent on commissions. Go to Travelocity and look up a city.
Just because you can SORT of price doesn't mean it should be what appears at the top. In fact, Air doesn't even have something to indicate breakfast is included anymore. You need to click on the little "filter" to get that.
Imagine that you are in a supermarket. There are 1200 different brands of canned peas including 2 store brands (one higher end). So you click on a button to show you the peas on their website and they immediately show you the cheapest ones instead of the quality ones. Well, I'm the quality one, I've been doing this for years, I have my factory inspected, I pay my employees a living wage and my workmanship includes ensuring that I don't have listeria. But instead they show you a lovely picture of peas that is a lot cheaper... so you buy it... it doesn't come in a can, but a baggie (not even a ziplock, just a baggie) and has small little peas that your neighbour pulls from his garden a month ago and has put them in the freezer. Heck, you don't even realize that my peas are a larger size, are properly cleaned and there is a small can of diced carrot that comes with it.
The problem with price is... it's a race to the bottom. Who can sell for the cheapest price. Who's going to be Wally's. Have you bought a T-Shirt at Wally's? Sure they are half the price.... but they don't last through the wash!
 
Jon Sable said:
undersea said:
Not sure the concern. Booking, TA and others often focus on, advertise and allow sorting by price. If someone is looking for low cost, I doubt Air is much different than them....
Click to expand...
undersea said:
Not sure the concern. Booking, TA and others often focus on, advertise and allow sorting by price. If someone is looking for low cost, I doubt Air is much different than them...
Click to expand...
Look up the big cities and you will understand. Look up a city like Portland, OR or Toronto, ON and you will see what it is like in a city with thousands of listings. Air isn't set up to sell the best place, it's set up to sell the cheapest place. Most OTAs are set up to sell you the best choice because their income is more dependent on commissions. Go to Travelocity and look up a city.
Just because you can SORT of price doesn't mean it should be what appears at the top. In fact, Air doesn't even have something to indicate breakfast is included anymore. You need to click on the little "filter" to get that.
Imagine that you are in a supermarket. There are 1200 different brands of canned peas including 2 store brands (one higher end). So you click on a button to show you the peas on their website and they immediately show you the cheapest ones instead of the quality ones. Well, I'm the quality one, I've been doing this for years, I have my factory inspected, I pay my employees a living wage and my workmanship includes ensuring that I don't have listeria. But instead they show you a lovely picture of peas that is a lot cheaper... so you buy it... it doesn't come in a can, but a baggie (not even a ziplock, just a baggie) and has small little peas that your neighbour pulls from his garden a month ago and has put them in the freezer. Heck, you don't even realize that my peas are a larger size, are properly cleaned and there is a small can of diced carrot that comes with it.
The problem with price is... it's a race to the bottom. Who can sell for the cheapest price. Who's going to be Wally's. Have you bought a T-Shirt at Wally's? Sure they are half the price.... but they don't last through the wash!
.
Click to expand...
That seems to be the sharing economy in a nutshell. Or the new economy.
 
Morticia said:
Jon Sable said:
undersea said:
Not sure the concern. Booking, TA and others often focus on, advertise and allow sorting by price. If someone is looking for low cost, I doubt Air is much different than them....
Click to expand...
undersea said:
Not sure the concern. Booking, TA and others often focus on, advertise and allow sorting by price. If someone is looking for low cost, I doubt Air is much different than them...
Click to expand...
Look up the big cities and you will understand. Look up a city like Portland, OR or Toronto, ON and you will see what it is like in a city with thousands of listings. Air isn't set up to sell the best place, it's set up to sell the cheapest place. Most OTAs are set up to sell you the best choice because their income is more dependent on commissions. Go to Travelocity and look up a city.
Just because you can SORT of price doesn't mean it should be what appears at the top. In fact, Air doesn't even have something to indicate breakfast is included anymore. You need to click on the little "filter" to get that.
Imagine that you are in a supermarket. There are 1200 different brands of canned peas including 2 store brands (one higher end). So you click on a button to show you the peas on their website and they immediately show you the cheapest ones instead of the quality ones. Well, I'm the quality one, I've been doing this for years, I have my factory inspected, I pay my employees a living wage and my workmanship includes ensuring that I don't have listeria. But instead they show you a lovely picture of peas that is a lot cheaper... so you buy it... it doesn't come in a can, but a baggie (not even a ziplock, just a baggie) and has small little peas that your neighbour pulls from his garden a month ago and has put them in the freezer. Heck, you don't even realize that my peas are a larger size, are properly cleaned and there is a small can of diced carrot that comes with it.
The problem with price is... it's a race to the bottom. Who can sell for the cheapest price. Who's going to be Wally's. Have you bought a T-Shirt at Wally's? Sure they are half the price.... but they don't last through the wash!
.
Click to expand...
That seems to be the sharing economy in a nutshell. Or the new economy.
.
Click to expand...
Yeah, we went to a city south of us for the weekend, to enjoy the city, see some green mountains, etc. Our friend told us that she liked the "Country House" hotel, so we booked it... it was $16 cheaper than the place that had an extra 1/2 a star. Now, you know that the best hotel in town has 4 stars.
So we saved $16... and I hated it. It was awful. I shoulda spent the extra few bucks. Farmer brown did the hotel decor and the housekeepers were all too short to clean up high.
 
Jon Sable said:
I've been thinking of putting my foot out on Air but here's my problem with them, they really do seem like a market looking for the bottom dollar and what I offer isn't the bottom dollar. So I have been wondering what to do...
First of all, I have to pay taxes and most of them are illegally not, so just there is almost a 20% difference. Do you think that I should collect it at the door and therefore my prices appear to be lower on Air (and they don't have to pay commission on it, too.)
Do you think I should just put up my normal prices and offer my full services or do you think that I should make it more of a discount product... no breakfast (or maybe just coffee and tea?), no housekeeping? light housekeeping? Full housekeeping? Should I charge a cleaning fee? Should I allow shorter stays, longer stays or should I use it only as a way of selling off last minute rooms?
Just to give you an idea, I put in some random dates about a week into the future and it's telling me that for a private room the "average is $49 a night". My standard is $130 a night (including taxes).
Or do I just list, with my standard amenities, standard offerings, normal price (with or without taxes) and then put a few cheap days available when I have empties and just let it be?
Click to expand...
As this is a public forum I don't want to put too much of a detailed reply but take a look at our listing on the site and the photographs. It's driving traffic to our website along with direct bookings.
 
Jon Sable said:
Morticia said:
Jon Sable said:
undersea said:
Not sure the concern. Booking, TA and others often focus on, advertise and allow sorting by price. If someone is looking for low cost, I doubt Air is much different than them....
Click to expand...
undersea said:
Not sure the concern. Booking, TA and others often focus on, advertise and allow sorting by price. If someone is looking for low cost, I doubt Air is much different than them...
Click to expand...
Look up the big cities and you will understand. Look up a city like Portland, OR or Toronto, ON and you will see what it is like in a city with thousands of listings. Air isn't set up to sell the best place, it's set up to sell the cheapest place. Most OTAs are set up to sell you the best choice because their income is more dependent on commissions. Go to Travelocity and look up a city.
Just because you can SORT of price doesn't mean it should be what appears at the top. In fact, Air doesn't even have something to indicate breakfast is included anymore. You need to click on the little "filter" to get that.
Imagine that you are in a supermarket. There are 1200 different brands of canned peas including 2 store brands (one higher end). So you click on a button to show you the peas on their website and they immediately show you the cheapest ones instead of the quality ones. Well, I'm the quality one, I've been doing this for years, I have my factory inspected, I pay my employees a living wage and my workmanship includes ensuring that I don't have listeria. But instead they show you a lovely picture of peas that is a lot cheaper... so you buy it... it doesn't come in a can, but a baggie (not even a ziplock, just a baggie) and has small little peas that your neighbour pulls from his garden a month ago and has put them in the freezer. Heck, you don't even realize that my peas are a larger size, are properly cleaned and there is a small can of diced carrot that comes with it.
The problem with price is... it's a race to the bottom. Who can sell for the cheapest price. Who's going to be Wally's. Have you bought a T-Shirt at Wally's? Sure they are half the price.... but they don't last through the wash!
.
Click to expand...
That seems to be the sharing economy in a nutshell. Or the new economy.
.
Click to expand...
Yeah, we went to a city south of us for the weekend, to enjoy the city, see some green mountains, etc. Our friend told us that she liked the "Country House" hotel, so we booked it... it was $16 cheaper than the place that had an extra 1/2 a star. Now, you know that the best hotel in town has 4 stars.
So we saved $16... and I hated it. It was awful. I shoulda spent the extra few bucks. Farmer brown did the hotel decor and the housekeepers were all too short to clean up high.
.
Click to expand...
You don't want to know where Gomez wants to stay when he's there.
 
Morticia said:
Jon Sable said:
Morticia said:
Jon Sable said:
undersea said:
Not sure the concern. Booking, TA and others often focus on, advertise and allow sorting by price. If someone is looking for low cost, I doubt Air is much different than them....
Click to expand...
undersea said:
Not sure the concern. Booking, TA and others often focus on, advertise and allow sorting by price. If someone is looking for low cost, I doubt Air is much different than them...
Click to expand...
Look up the big cities and you will understand. Look up a city like Portland, OR or Toronto, ON and you will see what it is like in a city with thousands of listings. Air isn't set up to sell the best place, it's set up to sell the cheapest place. Most OTAs are set up to sell you the best choice because their income is more dependent on commissions. Go to Travelocity and look up a city.
Just because you can SORT of price doesn't mean it should be what appears at the top. In fact, Air doesn't even have something to indicate breakfast is included anymore. You need to click on the little "filter" to get that.
Imagine that you are in a supermarket. There are 1200 different brands of canned peas including 2 store brands (one higher end). So you click on a button to show you the peas on their website and they immediately show you the cheapest ones instead of the quality ones. Well, I'm the quality one, I've been doing this for years, I have my factory inspected, I pay my employees a living wage and my workmanship includes ensuring that I don't have listeria. But instead they show you a lovely picture of peas that is a lot cheaper... so you buy it... it doesn't come in a can, but a baggie (not even a ziplock, just a baggie) and has small little peas that your neighbour pulls from his garden a month ago and has put them in the freezer. Heck, you don't even realize that my peas are a larger size, are properly cleaned and there is a small can of diced carrot that comes with it.
The problem with price is... it's a race to the bottom. Who can sell for the cheapest price. Who's going to be Wally's. Have you bought a T-Shirt at Wally's? Sure they are half the price.... but they don't last through the wash!
.
Click to expand...
That seems to be the sharing economy in a nutshell. Or the new economy.
.
Click to expand...
Yeah, we went to a city south of us for the weekend, to enjoy the city, see some green mountains, etc. Our friend told us that she liked the "Country House" hotel, so we booked it... it was $16 cheaper than the place that had an extra 1/2 a star. Now, you know that the best hotel in town has 4 stars.
So we saved $16... and I hated it. It was awful. I shoulda spent the extra few bucks. Farmer brown did the hotel decor and the housekeepers were all too short to clean up high.
.
Click to expand...
You don't want to know where Gomez wants to stay when he's there.
.
Click to expand...
Ho Hum?
 
anniesguesthouse said:
Jon Sable said:
I've been thinking of putting my foot out on Air but here's my problem with them, they really do seem like a market looking for the bottom dollar and what I offer isn't the bottom dollar. So I have been wondering what to do...
First of all, I have to pay taxes and most of them are illegally not, so just there is almost a 20% difference. Do you think that I should collect it at the door and therefore my prices appear to be lower on Air (and they don't have to pay commission on it, too.)
Do you think I should just put up my normal prices and offer my full services or do you think that I should make it more of a discount product... no breakfast (or maybe just coffee and tea?), no housekeeping? light housekeeping? Full housekeeping? Should I charge a cleaning fee? Should I allow shorter stays, longer stays or should I use it only as a way of selling off last minute rooms?
Just to give you an idea, I put in some random dates about a week into the future and it's telling me that for a private room the "average is $49 a night". My standard is $130 a night (including taxes).
Or do I just list, with my standard amenities, standard offerings, normal price (with or without taxes) and then put a few cheap days available when I have empties and just let it be?
Click to expand...
As this is a public forum I don't want to put too much of a detailed reply but take a look at our listing on the site and the photographs. It's driving traffic to our website along with direct bookings..
Click to expand...
Interesting. Have you seen a lot of traffic from that?
 

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