One of the thing that AirBnB does best is to constantly make improvements to its service. Often, those improvements are for people that rent our properties using the site. One of the latest improvements that AirBnB has made is to the way that hosts create pricing.

Because pricing can be tough to figure out for anyone, the company aims to make it all much simpler by taking many different factors into account.

Smart Pricing

The new tool that the company has unveiled will make it a lot simpler for hosts to simply plug some details into the site, and then let the site figure out how much a host should charge.

The calculations that the site generates are based on a number of criteria including how much other hosts are charging, whether or not a festival or other event is happening when a guest wants to book, and what the host is comfortable with making on a booking.

Hosts can also enter criteria like the maximum amount that they are willing to charge (and a minimum), and whether or not a property is available for rent all the time or just part time.

The company hopes that the new Smart Pricing model will make it much easier for a host to rent out a property with fair compensation. Sometimes, hosts don’t know how much to charge, or aren’t taking current events into consideration, and this can lead to overcharging or undercharging.

Optional

As with most new services that AirBnB offers, Smart Pricing is completely optional. Hosts do not have to let the site’s algorithm do its trick, and they can simply choose a rate that makes sense to them. However, a lot of hosts don’t have the time to do the right market research, so this service might help. On the side of the guests, the new service might help to regulate how much people charge per night in certain cities.

For AirBnB, the new Smart Pricing is a win-win. Hosts, for the most part, will like the ease that comes with letting a site create the best possible pricing for them, and guests will enjoy the fact that pricing (well, some pricing anyway) will be more competitive. AirBnB has also stated this week that the company will no longer fight policymakers.

Playing Nice

AirBnB has decided to pay hotel taxes and work with lawmakers in various parts of the world. The company isn’t going to fight some of the backlash that its been facing, and this is a smart move. Since policies are too hard to fight (and too expensive when it comes to court), the fact that AirBnB has decided to play nicely with lawmakers will make it a lot simpler for the company to move into various cities across the world.

AirBnB has also stated that “no army” can stop the site - a bit of a large statement, but one that the company feels secure in making. If AirBnB continues to play nice with policymakers and is successful at making sure both hosts and guests have it easy when it comes to pricing, that statement might actually be true.