
Surge Price Predictor for Airbnb Hosts - drm237
http://beyondstays.com/pricing
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truantbuick
I can't fault Airbnb hosts if they use this -- if I was a host, I probably
would. Nevertheless, it takes some of the charm and advantage out of it for us
hostees. Airbnb seemed like a marketplace where sellers for the most part
aren't trying to optimize their profits to squeeze out every last buck.

Edit: Actually, to be more accurate, it didn't feel like much of a
"marketplace" at all, and that's where the charm was. You weren't terribly
aware of supply and demand and the rest of econ 101 when using it.

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andrewkitchell
Great point -- as we designed this, we thought a lot about how this might
impact a marketplace/community (Airbnb) that we love.

In talking to a lot of hosts, as well as hosting ourselves, we've learned that
(a) pricing your home is really hard, and (b) there is a LOT of work that goes
into being a great host. From cleaning your home to welcoming guests and
answering inquiries, (not to mention the cost of food, furniture, linens,
etc.), most hosts spend hours every week making sure their guests are safe &
happy.

If we can help hosts by making it easier to accurately price their home, we
think we can create a bigger incentive for great hosts to continue hosting.

* Edit :: I run operations at Beyond, have hosted for years on Airbnb, and helped design this - appreciate the question

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rajacombinator
This is awesome. I'm very impressed by the concept and design. Do you guys
have any kind of development blog, etc? Would love to read more about the
development process, timeline, etc, and my initial googling comes up totally
blank.

Would definitely use the pricing tool, and maybe the management service too if
I were Airbnb'ing my place.

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andrewkitchell
Thank you -- we appreciate that!

We're going to be sharing a lot more in the coming weeks.

There is a lot of interesting data out there, and making sense of that
data/making it available is one of our teams goals.

If you have any ideas, send them my way: andrew@beyondstays.com

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nostromo
I'd personally love a travel site that aggregates Airbnb & VRBO & Hotels.
Listing everything a city has to offer on a single site could be a real
differentiator to sites like Kayak.

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jenoneal
We do this! Check out [http://www.tripping.com/](http://www.tripping.com/)

Tripping is the top metasearch site for vacation rentals with over 1 million
homes worldwide. We also have the richest data set in the industry, so it'll
be fun to see how our data compares with BeyondStays.

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NickSharp
Tripping is great! Two thumbs up.

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jenoneal
Thanks Nick!

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ar7hur
Somewhat scary to see that at around $190 for one bedroom, there are nights
when AirBnb is more expensive than 4-star hotels like Westin.

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sbisker
The hotels have been downgrading the quality around their brand names for
years now, cramming people into tinier and more cookie-cutter spaces. Plus the
average Airbnb has _always_ had more livable space (not to mention a kitchen!)
than a hotel. For 190 a night, you're probably getting the whole Airbnb unit
to yourself.

Take that, and SF's 14% hotel tax, and I think they're reaping what they've
sowed.

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thelogos
Am I the only one who has noticed that hotel is cheaper than Airbnb?
Especially in SE asian countries, you can actually haggle hotel prices if
staying for extended amount of time.

Even without that, it's still cheaper in some cases to stay at a hotel and
with the added bonus of room service.

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timjahn
A little scary to me that their entire business is dependent on another
business. Yeah, yeah, Airbnb is successful, but I imagine there are a bunch of
ways Airbnb could mess with them if they ever felt the need.

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alaskamiller
This happens all the time.

Build tools and managers to till the kingdom then pray the king shows mercy
and buys you out.

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timjahn
A solid strategy I suppose, just not a risk I'd personally take.

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seucroch
When is someone going to build the exact opposite for guests ;-)

