How We’re Handling Airbnb Host-Only Fees
As Airbnb mandates that certain markets shift from a split-fee model to a host-only fee model, we have received questions from several customers around how Wheelhouse’s pricing engine will handle this change.
In short- if you are automating with Wheelhouse, we are already helping adjust your strategy.
First, we want to reiterate that our model is constantly analyzing market data to optimize your prices based on your strategy. The longer you have been utilizing Wheelhouse, the more data points we have to observe and the better we are at predicting how your listing(s) will book up in the future. With our recommended base prices, we are aiming to optimize your listing’s revenue. This means we want to find the optimal balance between price and occupancy for your listing(s). However, you can always adjust your strategy to more aggressive (to optimize average daily rate), more conservative (to optimize occupancy), or custom.
As other listings in the market adjust to this Airbnb fee change, presumably by raising prices, our model will observe prices shifting and adjust your prices accordingly. As bookings in your market continue to emerge, our model will incorporate those into your price recommendations, as well.
To illustrate this, let’s examine two scenarios:
- In the extreme example where all of the listings in your market raise prices overnight, our model will react accordingly and raise your prices immediately.
- On the other extreme, if none of the listings in your market raise prices, you shouldn’t expect to see a meaningful change in our recommendations for your listing(s).
Realistically, you should expect to see a more gradual change in your price recommendations as other listings in your market adjust. Our model will aim to price your listings so that they are neither the first (in order to avoid being priced above-market and losing bookings) nor last (in order to avoid bookings at low prices) to adjust prices.
If you prefer to adjust your prices immediately, you can adjust your Base Price Settings to be more aggressive. Selecting a more aggressive base price will automatically adjust to market fluctuations and booking performance, but will always be more aggressive than the latest Wheelhouse Pricing Engine recommendation.
If you are not automating today, and want Wheelhouse to start helping, setting up your listings & getting started is easy! Sign up and start automating your listing from your settings page today!
If you have any additional questions, you can:
- Refer to this blog post which provides an in-depth overview of how our pricing engine works.
- Reach out to us any time via email at hello@usewheelhouse.com or via 24/7 chat support.
Onwards!
Team Wheelhouse
