Opinions Wanted: Playing The Game....

[OnTheShore]

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?

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..

Tricky, tricky!

 

[anniesguesthouse]

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?

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..

Interesting. Have you seen a lot of traffic from that?
.

I can attribute (so far) 13 online bookings and 6 who mentioned that they "saw us on AirBnB". Some will want to book on the site though as there are referral codes available that give people credit to spend. The 3% commission doesn't bother me though, it would cost me 1.5% of the reservation cost to process the credit card payment myself so in real terms the commission is just 1.5%
If anyone here wants referring to the site let me know and I can send you a code that gives you $25 credit towards travel (not commission charges).

 

[Morticia]

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....

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...

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!
.

That seems to be the sharing economy in a nutshell. Or the new economy.
.

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.
.

You don't want to know where Gomez wants to stay when he's there.
.

Ho Hum?
.

Ho Hum?

Yup!

 

[Generic]

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....

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...

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!
.

That seems to be the sharing economy in a nutshell. Or the new economy.
.

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.
.

You don't want to know where Gomez wants to stay when he's there.
.

Ho Hum?
.

Ho Hum?

Yup!
.

NEMitW (Not Enough Money in the World) to get me to stay there.
Which one, the one near the building museum or the one near the mall/airport?

 

[Morticia]

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....

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...

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!
.

That seems to be the sharing economy in a nutshell. Or the new economy.
.

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.
.

You don't want to know where Gomez wants to stay when he's there.
.

Ho Hum?
.

Ho Hum?

Yup!
.

NEMitW (Not Enough Money in the World) to get me to stay there.
Which one, the one near the building museum or the one near the mall/airport?
.

Near the airport.
We've stayed at much worse places.

 

[Generic]

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....

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...

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!
.

That seems to be the sharing economy in a nutshell. Or the new economy.
.

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.
.

You don't want to know where Gomez wants to stay when he's there.
.

Ho Hum?
.

Ho Hum?

Yup!
.

NEMitW (Not Enough Money in the World) to get me to stay there.
Which one, the one near the building museum or the one near the mall/airport?
.

Near the airport.
We've stayed at much worse places.
.

Yeah... the other one, near the museum! The "Swiss" place got some new paint. Please tell me dinner isn't at Al's.

 

[Morticia]

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....

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...

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!
.

That seems to be the sharing economy in a nutshell. Or the new economy.
.

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.
.

You don't want to know where Gomez wants to stay when he's there.
.

Ho Hum?
.

Ho Hum?

Yup!
.

NEMitW (Not Enough Money in the World) to get me to stay there.
Which one, the one near the building museum or the one near the mall/airport?
.

Near the airport.
We've stayed at much worse places.
.

Yeah... the other one, near the museum! The "Swiss" place got some new paint. Please tell me dinner isn't at Al's.
.

Yeah... the other one, near the museum! The "Swiss" place got some new paint. Please tell me dinner isn't at Al's.

Yes!!! Or Beansie's bus. (We do know where the good places are, too.)

 

[Generic]

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....

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...

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!
.

That seems to be the sharing economy in a nutshell. Or the new economy.
.

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.
.

You don't want to know where Gomez wants to stay when he's there.
.

Ho Hum?
.

Ho Hum?

Yup!
.

NEMitW (Not Enough Money in the World) to get me to stay there.
Which one, the one near the building museum or the one near the mall/airport?
.

Near the airport.
We've stayed at much worse places.
.

Yeah... the other one, near the museum! The "Swiss" place got some new paint. Please tell me dinner isn't at Al's.
.

Yeah... the other one, near the museum! The "Swiss" place got some new paint. Please tell me dinner isn't at Al's.

Yes!!! Or Beansie's bus. (We do know where the good places are, too.)
.

Yes, the good places are maybe a single pebble's throw away from there.
Have you gone to the see the world's tallest filing cabinet?

 

[Morticia]

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....

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...

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!
.

That seems to be the sharing economy in a nutshell. Or the new economy.
.

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.
.

You don't want to know where Gomez wants to stay when he's there.
.

Ho Hum?
.

Ho Hum?

Yup!
.

NEMitW (Not Enough Money in the World) to get me to stay there.
Which one, the one near the building museum or the one near the mall/airport?
.

Near the airport.
We've stayed at much worse places.
.

Yeah... the other one, near the museum! The "Swiss" place got some new paint. Please tell me dinner isn't at Al's.
.

Yeah... the other one, near the museum! The "Swiss" place got some new paint. Please tell me dinner isn't at Al's.

Yes!!! Or Beansie's bus. (We do know where the good places are, too.)
.

Yes, the good places are maybe a single pebble's throw away from there.
Have you gone to the see the world's tallest filing cabinet?
.

Yes, the good places are maybe a single pebble's throw away from there.
Have you gone to the see the world's tallest filing cabinet?

Not sure what that is?

 

[Generic]

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....

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...

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!
.

That seems to be the sharing economy in a nutshell. Or the new economy.
.

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.
.

You don't want to know where Gomez wants to stay when he's there.
.

Ho Hum?
.

Ho Hum?

Yup!
.

NEMitW (Not Enough Money in the World) to get me to stay there.
Which one, the one near the building museum or the one near the mall/airport?
.

Near the airport.
We've stayed at much worse places.
.

Yeah... the other one, near the museum! The "Swiss" place got some new paint. Please tell me dinner isn't at Al's.
.

Yeah... the other one, near the museum! The "Swiss" place got some new paint. Please tell me dinner isn't at Al's.

Yes!!! Or Beansie's bus. (We do know where the good places are, too.)
.

Yes, the good places are maybe a single pebble's throw away from there.
Have you gone to the see the world's tallest filing cabinet?
.

Yes, the good places are maybe a single pebble's throw away from there.
Have you gone to the see the world's tallest filing cabinet?

Not sure what that is?
.

The first is a hint at the name of our favourite Chinese place downtown on bank (not far from Church). The other is an actual tourist attraction in the city that's a bit odd. Between downtown and the museum on Flynn between Foster and Briggs.

 

[Morticia]

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....

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...

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!
.

That seems to be the sharing economy in a nutshell. Or the new economy.
.

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.
.

You don't want to know where Gomez wants to stay when he's there.
.

Ho Hum?
.

Ho Hum?

Yup!
.

NEMitW (Not Enough Money in the World) to get me to stay there.
Which one, the one near the building museum or the one near the mall/airport?
.

Near the airport.
We've stayed at much worse places.
.

Yeah... the other one, near the museum! The "Swiss" place got some new paint. Please tell me dinner isn't at Al's.
.

Yeah... the other one, near the museum! The "Swiss" place got some new paint. Please tell me dinner isn't at Al's.

Yes!!! Or Beansie's bus. (We do know where the good places are, too.)
.

Yes, the good places are maybe a single pebble's throw away from there.
Have you gone to the see the world's tallest filing cabinet?
.

Yes, the good places are maybe a single pebble's throw away from there.
Have you gone to the see the world's tallest filing cabinet?

Not sure what that is?
.

The first is a hint at the name of our favourite Chinese place downtown on bank (not far from Church). The other is an actual tourist attraction in the city that's a bit odd. Between downtown and the museum on Flynn between Foster and Briggs.
.

Ok, got the restaurant.
Have never heard of the filling cabinet! Looked up pix. Will have to go look at that.
A lot of the places we used to like are gone.

 

[Generic]

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....

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...

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!
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That seems to be the sharing economy in a nutshell. Or the new economy.
.

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.
.

You don't want to know where Gomez wants to stay when he's there.
.

Ho Hum?
.

Ho Hum?

Yup!
.

NEMitW (Not Enough Money in the World) to get me to stay there.
Which one, the one near the building museum or the one near the mall/airport?
.

Near the airport.
We've stayed at much worse places.
.

Yeah... the other one, near the museum! The "Swiss" place got some new paint. Please tell me dinner isn't at Al's.
.

Yeah... the other one, near the museum! The "Swiss" place got some new paint. Please tell me dinner isn't at Al's.

Yes!!! Or Beansie's bus. (We do know where the good places are, too.)
.

Yes, the good places are maybe a single pebble's throw away from there.
Have you gone to the see the world's tallest filing cabinet?
.

Yes, the good places are maybe a single pebble's throw away from there.
Have you gone to the see the world's tallest filing cabinet?

Not sure what that is?
.

The first is a hint at the name of our favourite Chinese place downtown on bank (not far from Church). The other is an actual tourist attraction in the city that's a bit odd. Between downtown and the museum on Flynn between Foster and Briggs.
.

Ok, got the restaurant.
Have never heard of the filling cabinet! Looked up pix. Will have to go look at that.
A lot of the places we used to like are gone.
.

Yeah, Mister G's has a completely new name... but still tries to sell you a can of beans from before the last world war!

 

[Iris]

All this talk about air has made me curious. I would love to see Breakfast Diva's listing, but I cannot figure out what the 2 missing characters for the captcha thing could be, so I cannot send her an email. Ugh.
Question, what if one gets a reservation via air, and then it is cancelled for some reason, what happens to the commission that they already have? I realize it's a small percentage, but asking just for principal's sake

 

[Breakfast Diva]

All this talk about air has made me curious. I would love to see Breakfast Diva's listing, but I cannot figure out what the 2 missing characters for the captcha thing could be, so I cannot send her an email. Ugh.
Question, what if one gets a reservation via air, and then it is cancelled for some reason, what happens to the commission that they already have? I realize it's a small percentage, but asking just for principal's sake.

I'll send you a message.

 

[Lee2014]

A hint...When someone that you hit it off well with, stays with you from air, ask them to mention your B&B name in their review. We had our name on our listing but air delated it....too many people found our website! But someone left our name on their review! (We hadn't thought of it before so we are glad now!) There's more than one way to play the game!
Air also hides numbers and emails until after the booking is complete and they have their share, then they will let it go through.

 

[OnTheShore]

Just got a booking where the original inquiry came through Air, but they ended up booking one of our other cottages not listed on Air, through our own website.