What do the latest Airbnb release have in common with pumpkin spice lattes and avocado toast? They’re all a little basic.

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Airbnb launched a host of new features this week, more than 50. While we won’t go over every single update (you can see all of them on Airbnb’s website), we’ve looked through and found the most important ones that could impact your bottom line. From pricing features to guest communication tools and mobile app updates to the latest earnings call, here’s what you need to know. Spoiler alert: even with these numerous updates, you’re still going to need to utilize advanced solutions in order to stay ahead.

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New Changes to Custom Monthly & Weekly Prices

Recently, Airbnb announced a new change that takes effect on August 28, 2023. The update is regarding Custom Monthly and Weekly prices, aimed at making the calendar easier to use. However, many hosts are concerned that the new feature will limit their ability to set prices and rules. Here are three key impacts of these changes:
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• After the change, hosts in highly seasonal markets will be limited to using Airbnb’s Swipe-to-select feature to maintain rates during high and low seasons. While this new functionality is very effective in selecting multiple nights at once and applying a rate, it still does not allow hosts to customize pricing based on particular weeks.
  
  With Beyond’s Seasonal Minimum and Maximum Prices, a host can ensure prices remain consistent with market trends and apply the changes necessary to optimize occupancy and boost revenue. Manual Overrides could be used for hosts who need to maintain specific pricing for specific months or weeks in their calendars.
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• Before this change, hosts with certain monthly or weekly booking values could set a specific amount they were willing to accept for a monthly booking in a particular month. For example, for the month of August, a host could set their monthly base price to $4,000 and set different amounts for subsequent months. However, Custom Monthly or Weekly pricing will no longer be available and hosts will have to set an annual discount applicable to any booking that qualifies as a monthly or weekly booking. 
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• After the change, hosts who implemented custom weekend pricing will need to apply a price for all Fridays and Saturdays in the calendar year. This means a host will have less control in the selection of what days defines a weekend and creates a hurdle in setting seasonal weekend rates for other days like Sunday, for example, using the Swipe-to-select functionality.
  
  At Beyond, a host could use the Day of Week setting to apply settings to any day of the week they choose and we will automatically sync these price adjustments to your Airbnb calendar. 

Airbnb's Custom Monthly and Weekly Prices update will take effect soon, and hosts need to be aware of the impact of the changes it brings. While this is a more simplistic way of applying changes to the calendar some aspects pose challenges for hosts, such as custom pricing for monthly and weekly rates. With our help at Beyond, you can make informed and data-driven pricing decisions that will help you earn more revenue. Utilize our revenue management automation tools and our seasonal and day-of-week pricing settings, to remain in control of your listing's pricing and still get the most out of managing your short-term rentals.

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New Airbnb Pricing Tools & Features

Airbnb made a few updates to its available pricing tools to provide hosts with more information. These tools include updated price breakdowns and guest totals (before taxes), allowing hosts to better compare the total price a guest pays to their fees and nightly rates. With these new features, we recommend that hosts "shop" their own listings like a potential guest, seeing exactly how prices, fees, and taxes are presented and calculated during the booking process. Additional costs such as taxes and fees can have a significant impact on booking pace, so it's important to have a clear understanding of how these figures are calculated.

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One new feature of the updated pricing tools is the ability for hosts to compare their prices with those of their competitors. However, while this feature can certainly be useful, it doesn't tell the whole story. Hosts still need access to more comprehensive market data in order to fully optimize their pricing strategies. For example, not every guest will book through Airbnb, so it's crucial to have access to all available data for your market.

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Airbnb Mobile App Improvements

Hosts can make easier adjustments & perform simple tasks quicker, like updating calendars. This new update allows hosts to select a range of dates by swiping across and selecting multiple dates to view or edit the availability and prices. Airbnb also announced that sometime in June, hosts will be able to see availability for the entire year, including each month’s price on one screen.

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While it’s good to see Airbnb making these types of improvements to the accessibility of the app, this is just the tip of the iceberg. Hosts should also incorporate more advanced solutions to automate manual tasks and increase efficiency. There are more factors involved in setting one’s nightly rate or settings and while this functionality makes your bulk updating strategy easier the options available is not enough to keep ahead of the curve with your revenue strategy.

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Tools for Improved Guest Communication

Airbnb will send checkout instructions straight to guests as a push notification the day before the guest’s check out time. A good guest experience is paramount, and this new enhancement goes beyond this. Ensuring that your guest experience is stellar at all points will keep your reviews high & keep guests coming back. Sometimes guests overlook the checkout requirements before booking their stay and this results in them leaving without completing some or all of the instructions provided in the descriptions. For great sentiments across the board, it is crucial that communications with guests are maintained to avoid negative reviews.

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Airbnb Shares Falls with Mixed Outlook

Airbnb released their first-quarter earnings and while Q1 revenue exceeded expectations, they attributed it to pent-up demand coming out of the Covid pandemic and advised that these trends may not be sustainable in Q2.

Airbnb’s revenue increased by 20% year-over-year which means Airbnb is continuing to grow and expand, however the huge acceleration we saw post-COVID is no longer a reality, and new hosts will face more competition with the increased supply and stabilized demand. Looking ahead, they will be focusing on enhancing the overall experience for the host side of the business, re-introducing Airbnb Rooms to resolve concerns around affordability, and focus investments on less mature international markets.

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With continued growth of supply of vacation rentals in markets worldwide it is imperative that these new additions are coupled with a Revenue Management solution that provides advanced solutions to continue to drive bookings and optimize nightly pricing strategies.
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Bottom Line for Airbnb Hosts: Upgrade from the Basic Tools

Looking for that secret sauce to spice up your vacation rental business? Well, the Airbnb Summer 2023 updates might just be what you need but in a world of basic pumpkin spice lattes and avocado toast, the Airbnb Summer 2023 updates may seem like just another addition to the list. 

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To truly stand out from the crowd and level up your vacation rental business, you'll need to leverage advanced vacation rental solutions like Beyond's revenue management tools like Comp Sets, Insights, Health Scores, and more. With the right tools, you can make your listings stand out, optimize your pricing strategy, and provide an unforgettable experience for your guests. So, let's raise a toast to the Airbnb Summer 2023 updates and remember, with a little extra effort, your vacation rental business can be anything but basic. See what you could be missing out on.