I’m very upset! I’ve have two inquiries where they feel misled about my rates because of how Peerspace is posting my rates! You ask us for our rates based on Weekday versus weekend and on my end you show my rate as “starting at $45/hr” but on the actual public page you say that is my ONLY rate so when people want to book the weekend then they are surprised to see a higher rate. This makes me seem misleading. Why does it show up with the separate rates on my side but not theirs? This makes absolutely no sense and needs to be fixed immediately. I’m glad these two people made me aware because I never would have known because from where I’m sitting it does not look like this. Please make my pricing transparent so I can find my target market!
Hi @Princess_J - Thank you for your post! My apologies for any confusion surrounding the variable pricing features. A member of our Customer Support Team has responded directly to your email with further clarification. If you have any additional questions or concerns regarding the feature please feel free to respond to that email and we will be happy to assist further!
Can the rest of us have some further clarification?
Hi @Kevin_B - Absolutely!
As we understand many hosts have different rates depending on a number of reasons, we have built features for variable pricing based on dates and times as well as attendees.
In an effort to provide pricing transparency, the price the guest is presented on the search results page shows “from” followed by the base hourly rate, as the rate could fluctuate depending on the variable pricing/details of the booking (screenshot below).
When a guest is viewing your listing they can see the pricing set up for a specific day/time by inputting their desired day/time on the calendar. Once selected, the updated price for that day of the week/time of the day will be visible to them.
In this specific example, @Princess_J has a weekday rate of $45/hr and a weekend rate of $125/hr. If a guest selects Thursday 6/13 they are presented with the weekday rate of $45/hr. If a guest selects Saturday 6/22 they are presented with the weekend rate of $125/hr (screenshots below).
Additionally, when a guest selects the number of attendees using the drop-down menu (screenshot below), the price is updated accordingly.
I hope this clears up any confusion but please let me know if you have any additional questions or feedback on the feature!
How are you losing business to a guest who apparently can’t afford your location?
If a guest is freaked out by the eventual rate of your weekend pricing, there’s a good chance you’re outside their budget anyway. If Peerspace did not show the lower weekday rate as an option, the guest’s filter settings would have eliminated your venue from the results and they would have never seen you.
At least with this scenario, you get the opportunity to negotiate and/or explain the value they receive with the increased rate. It doesn’t happen often, but I’ve definitely talked people into booking after their initial annoyance with what seems like a bait and switch pricing (it’s not, people just don’t read).
People just want to feel like they’re getting a deal. Set your rates high to allow for negotiating room while still making a profit. Throw in something you own that doesn’t cost you anything like chairs or give them an extra hour “on the house”.
I agree 100% that this is problematic. It should definitely show a range including the top end, ie: “from $45-125/hr” and anything else will be perceived as deceptive. You never want to surprise a customer with a higher price. If they have a low rate in their mind, they’ll be disappointed with the higher price, even if it’s totally reasonable and they can afford it.
For this reason I actually just changed my rate to be the same all week. We just got a weekday booking at what used to be my weekend rate, go figure!