so I mentioned the dashboard earlier but
there's another really critical piece of
technology you depend on it is your
calendar last year we heard this I can't
tell which day is available which days
are blocked
we also heard this last year please
please fix calendar sync I'm afraid of
getting a double booking and then we
also heard I can't tell when one
reservation ends a one begins the
calendar wasn't incredibly intuitive so
over the course the year we made plenty
of updates to your calendar and this is
how it went
in January we officially launched our
new advance availability settings such
as seasonal minimum nights preparation
time same-day and distant requests then
in April we launched a new version of
calendar sync one that is way more
reliable and way faster in May we
launched a completely redesigned
calendar that should make it really
clear when someone's checking in when
something's checking out and also making
sure that it's clear when you're free
and when you're not but we also took the
data that we sit on in terms of how the
marketplace is going who's searching for
what who's booking for what and we put
price tips into your calendar and then
we launched mobile settings for prices
why shouldn't you be able to change your
prices on the go and today your calendar
looks like this and I want to highlight
the price settings the price tips those
of you that use this feature and adopted
the price suggestions make 13 percent
more revenue on average so if you're not
using this feature how much are you
leaving on the table so I want to talk a
bit more about why pricing is so
important there's a huge relationship
between pricing bookings and earnings if
you're massively under priced you're
gonna get a lot of bookings but you're
gonna leave a lot on the table in terms
of earnings however many of you are
overpriced you set one price for the
year and that price might be great
during peak season but it does not make
sense during low season you don't get
very many bookings
and you don't get your maximum earnings
the other issue is you might be setting
the wrong expectation with your guests
and it might reflect negatively in your
reviews and prevent future bookings what
we want to do is help you set the right
price that gives you the right bookings
and maximum earnings so to make that
easier today we're announcing smart
pricing and this is what smart price is
gonna do you go to your calendar you
tell us what is the minimum price you
want to host for what is a maximum price
and tell us how often you want to host
you turn the feature on and Smart
pricing takes care of the rest it thank
you
yep so Smart pricing takes care of the
rest and it updates every single day so
if the Pope comes to your town your
prices will adjust automatically and
this is what it's based on actually many
features but these are the some of the
primary ones that will drive the price
it's really important to note that each
of you should have an individual price
because no two listings out there are
identical everything on our platform is
completely different which is what makes
air B be so valuable but we need to give
you some guidance about how to price
your listing so here are some of the
things that we use first of all your
location this one's pretty obvious where
you're where you're located in the city
makes a big difference in what price you
should charge next what amenities you
provide do you have a jacuzzi you should
probably be charging a little bit more
what is your past reservation history
what have people been booking at the
quality and number of your reviews if
you're a super host with a hundred
positive five-star reviews you should be
charging a different price than someone
who signs up on the platform tomorrow
how many people viewed your listing and
most importantly what what does the
search what does our search show you in
terms of travel trends we sit on this
data we know who is searching for what
dates and we can give you some
indication which dates are hot and which
dates are not not just for different
seasons but also also for different days
of the week so let's dive in a little
bit deeper about how this works this is
a host that normally charges $200 all
year round
they say try on smart pricing they set
their minimum they set their minimum at
150 they set their maximum at 300 and
they say I want a host as often as
possible then they say turn on the
feature turns on and what we're gonna
zoom into is to see that the price has
changed for different days on this
Saturday they can actually charge more
they can charge $210 but on Sunday maybe
they should be charging less but why is
that let's double click on that and look
that Sunday was discounted because it's
the day of the week in that market
Sunday is not a popular day or it's a
less popular day so you should be
charging a little bit less
you can also override that if you're not
happy with it maybe you go back to 200
smart pricing works up to four months in
advance if you don't like the
suggestions you can easily turn it off
and go back to your set price and we're
really happy to announce that Smart
pricing launches exclusively to this
audience on both web and mobile today
so give it a shot come to our booth we
even have some breakout sessions to talk
about how it works and now that you're
getting a lot of bookings how can we
help you manage the day-to-day of your
logistics of hosting so we're launching
host assist and hostess is going to be
an ongoing program that helps you deal
with some of the nitty-gritty issues of
hosting and today we're gonna start with
key exchange now as a host I love to
check my guests in just like that host
in Mexico City did for me I like to
spend time with them and orient them but
I also have a full-time job in a six
month old I can't always do it or maybe
the flight gets delayed so I think it's
really important that we solve this
problem but Airbnb could not create a
one-size-fits-all solution that would
work for all of you but what's really
great is that there are several
companies out there that have solved
this problem already and we're gonna let
them connect into Airbnb and connect
into your account and help you manage
help manage your key exchange on your
behalf so let's go through an example
this is the August lock a lot of our
hosts already use this this is a lock
you can buy from the store you can buy
online you can install it pretty easily
you connect your Airbnb account with
your August account and here's what
happens I guess makes a booking August
automatically sends a virtual key to
your guests on your behalf you don't
have to do anything that key only exists
during the reservation not before not
after once the guest checks out they
can't access the door anymore we're also
really excited to say that in 2016 we'll
be partnering with a Linus lock by Yale
powered by nest this works with a code
once again your guest gets a temporary
code where they can check in during the
time of the reservation and once the
reservations over the code is revoked
and this product works with all your
other nests if you're in the nest
thermostats and the smoke detectors this
works in the whole nest family but smart
locks don't work for everyone when I'm
when I was a host in an apartment I used
key cafe key cafe is for host that can't
use a smart lock so
what they do is they put they put block
boxes behind counters at gyms at
restaurants at bars and what you do is
you grant access to a guest to go get
the key from the lockbox and usually
those places are open pretty late and so
this has been a great way to host when
you can't use a smart lock and once
again the guest checks in and they get
temporary access to your key cafe and
it's very secure we're happy to announce
the key cafe is launching in Paris today