Pricing Hacks: How to Maximize Revenue Without Scaring Away Guests

Ah, Airbnb pricing—a magical, confusing, and sometimes rage-inducing puzzle that can make or break your rental success. Price too high? Crickets. Price too low? Congrats, you’ve just become the budget motel of Airbnb. Finding that sweet spot where you’re making bank and keeping your calendar full? That’s where the magic happens.

But fear not, dear host. I’m about to walk you through how to price your Airbnb like an absolute pro, because trust me, slapping a random number on your listing and hoping for the best isn’t a strategy—it’s a gamble. And unless you enjoy making less money than you should, it’s time to level up your pricing game.

Step 1: Stop Playing the Guessing Game (Use Data, Not Vibes)

If your current pricing strategy is “Well, that feels about right,” I have bad news: You’re doing it wrong.

Airbnb is basically a stock market for short-term rentals. Prices fluctuate based on demand, seasonality, and local events. If you’re still charging the same rate in the middle of summer as you do in the dead of January, you’re leaving money on the table—or worse, you are the table, and guests are eating up your underpriced stays.

How to Stop the Madness:

? Use Airbnb’s Smart Pricing—but tweak it because Airbnb’s idea of “smart” is sometimes “ridiculous.”

? Compare similar listings in your area—look at their rates and occupancy levels.

? Use pricing tools like Wheelhouse or PriceLabs to track trends and auto-adjust prices based on demand.

Bottom line: Your price needs to change as often as your guests change towels—frequently and strategically.

Step 2: Weekends Are Premium—Act Like It

If you’re charging the same on a Tuesday as you are on a Saturday night, you might as well be handing guests free money.

Weekends are prime time for bookings. People want to escape, party, or just pretend their responsibilities don’t exist for 48 hours. And guess what? They’re willing to pay extra for that.

Your move:

?? Raise weekend prices—anywhere from 10-30% higher than weekdays.

?? Check local event calendars—if there’s a concert, festival, or major event, price accordingly.

?? Holidays? Jack that price up. Travelers will pay a premium if it means they don’t have to stay in their in-laws’ guest room.

The goal here isn’t to gouge people—it’s to charge what your place is worth when demand is high.

Step 3: Length of Stay Discounts—Because Turnovers Are a Pain

Fact: Every time a guest checks out, you’re spending money and time cleaning, restocking, and pretending not to cry over the mysteriously missing forks.

So why not encourage longer stays? Offering discounts for extended stays (think: 3+ nights or weeklong bookings) helps you:

?? Spend less time dealing with turnovers

?? Attract remote workers and slow travelers

?? Secure income without constantly chasing new bookings

How to do it right:

? Offer a 5-10% discount for stays of 3+ nights—it makes your place look like a better deal.

? Set a weekly discount (10-20%) to attract digital nomads and business travelers.

? If you’re cool with month-long guests, a 30% monthly discount keeps your calendar full with way less effort.

This isn’t just a guest-friendly move—it’s a sanity-saving move.

Step 4: Cleaning Fees—Yes, They Matter (So Don’t Be That Host)

Ah, the cleaning fee debate. Charge too much, and guests will rage-tweet about how they paid $150 to “wash the dishes themselves.” Charge too little, and you’re basically volunteering your time to scrub toilets.

So what’s the right approach?

?? Don’t use your cleaning fee as a sneaky way to make extra money. If your listing is $99 a night but your cleaning fee is $200, we have a problem.

?? Be competitive with local listings. If everyone in your area charges $75 and you’re at $125, expect guests to bail.

?? Consider rolling the cleaning fee into your nightly rate for shorter stays to avoid sticker shock at checkout.

And please, for the love of bookings, don’t make guests do a full deep clean. Asking them to strip the beds? Fine. Making them mop floors and take out the trash and reset the router? No.

Step 5: Last-Minute Deals vs. Early Bird Discounts—When to Use Each

Some guests book months in advance. Others wait until the last minute because they “forgot” to plan (or just thrive on chaos). You can capitalize on both types by offering strategic discounts at the right time.

Early Bird Discounts (For Planners)

?? Offer 5-10% off for bookings made 60+ days in advance—this locks in revenue early.

?? Market it as a reward for planners, not a desperate attempt to fill your calendar.

Last-Minute Discounts (For Procrastinators)

?? If your place is still empty within 7 days of a date, lower the price slightly (10-20%) to attract last-minute bookers.

?? But don’t panic-slash your rates the second you see an open night. Some guests will book last minute at full price.

This strategy keeps your listing competitive without undercutting yourself too early.

Step 6: The Psychological Pricing Trick (Yes, It Works on Airbnb Too)

You know how stores price things at $9.99 instead of $10? There’s a reason for that—it tricks our brains into thinking it’s a better deal.

You can use this trick in your Airbnb pricing:

?? Instead of $200, try $199 (Yeah, it’s literally one dollar, but it works.)

?? Instead of $150, try $149 or $148 (Suddenly seems cheaper, doesn’t it?)

?? Test whole-number pricing too—sometimes a clean $180 looks more premium than $179.

People make decisions based on feelings, not math. So make your pricing feel like a steal.

Step 7: Raise Prices as Your Calendar Fills Up (Because Scarcity Sells)

One of the biggest mistakes hosts make? Keeping prices the same even when their calendar is nearly full.

Think about airlines. The last few seats on a flight aren’t the cheapest—they’re the most expensive because demand is high. Your Airbnb should work the same way.

?? If your place is 80% booked for next month, raise your prices for the remaining dates.

?? If you’re almost fully booked for a holiday weekend, stop discounting—charge premium rates.

?? Use Airbnb’s “Custom Pricing” tool to manually adjust high-demand nights.

People pay more when availability is limited. Use that to your advantage.

Final Thoughts (aka, Why You Should Actually Implement This Stuff)

Listen, pricing isn’t just about picking a random number and hoping for the best. It’s a science and an art. When you price strategically, you:

?? Make more money per booking

?? Get booked faster by the right guests

?? Stop stressing over empty calendar dates

And most importantly, you stop working harder and start working smarter.

Now go tweak those prices, set some discounts, and make that Airbnb cash register sing. Or don’t. But then don’t be surprised when your neighbor’s listing is booked solid while yours is just collecting dust.