I am not the original poster. This is a repost subreddit.

Original post by u/whygeorgia. Originally posted on r/AirBnB.

Has anyone tried setting price close to zero and the "Pay What You Want" model ? Here's my experiment

https://www.reddit.com/r/AirBnB/comments/heck09/has_anyone_tried_setting_price_close_to_zero_and/

Hey guys,

The pandemic had really made it tough for a lot of us. Revenues had plummeted 75% and I find myself charging 30-40 euros a night for very nicely decorated rooms, in order to get 75% occupancy (in an Airbnb Plus apartment in the absolute center of a major EU country, as all the big groups that would pay 500 euros a weekend night for the apartment had all but dried up). Other perks in my apartment includes free coffee, fruits, snacks, parking and laundry service.

Today I will welcome my first guest who will be paying 4 euros for a night (the minimum allowed by airbnb, and does not even cover the city hotel tax of 4,5 euros per room night). I will in fact reimburse the guest the 5 euros he paid on airbnb the moment he arrives, so technically the guest can even make a net profit of 1 euro by staying. My idea is to allow guests to pay me whatever they think the service is worth. At the end of the visit the guest will have the opportunity to leave whatever they think is fair in a box inside their room so there will be no embarrassment regarding their contribution.

Relevant Comments:

• I have a feeling I will be disappointed as well! I just want to see if people are decent - I have no problem hosting, say 20-30% of people at below costs / half the normal rate, but I would like to see at least half of the people paying at my standard rate and perhaps a minority of 15-20% overpaying. However, I am only doing this because of the pandemic - I have to pay my manager and my mortgage anyway, so anything above zero revenue when rooms go un-booked helps with my fixed costs.
• When asked if the OOP was clear that this is a "pay what you want" booking: Yes I did, in the pre-booking message, profile and a post-booking automated message! Plus the price is around 2 euros per night, I have set the cleaning fee and extra guest fees to zero, I doubt anyone would seriously think this is the "real price". The first guest left 10 euros and a raving review. I hope it will just be exception to the rule coz of course I will not be able to survive like this... But I am also ready to do it for a week as a test...
• I did put 70 euros (the pre-pandemic, base price without any add-ons) as the normal rate, I would not be disappointed if most people pay even 50 euros, as 40-50 is what I’m getting these days post pandemic .

Update on my “Pay What You Want” experiment

https://www.reddit.com/r/AirBnB/comments/hfitup/update_on_my_pay_what_you_want_experiment/

Because of the pandemic, I recently set my price to 2-3 euros a night (with last minute discounts) with no additional charge on cleaning and extra people.

My rooms are in a beautifully decorated Airbnb plus 4-bedroom apartment that normally would go for 500 euros a weekend night and the rooms individually 80 euros during week days.

I provide free parking in the absolute city center, personal greetings and free coffee fruits and snack and laundry service.

I now have had 5 groups of guests.

Positive :

• rooms are gone instantly
• All 5 star reviews with long raving comments

Negative:

One couple left 10 euros - despite spending hundreds on zara and shopping

One local girl (from same country I’m from) left 20 euros a night.

One group insisted and promised to pay by bank transfer but nothing so far.

The other two groups also left only 20 euros a night.

Meanwhile a normal bunk bed in 8 person room a hostel in my city costs 20-25 euros a night .

I don’t feel particularly taken advantage of, but I was hoping people will leave at least 40 euros a night, which is the lowest Airbnb price for rooms in my city that have horrible comments and poor location , therefore I will stop doing this after the end of this month.