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Comment by nostromo | Hacker News Reader

Airbnb could likely get a lot more bang for their buck by letting hosts run experiments on pricing than by testing button colors and whatnot.

I ran an online marketplace at a previous gig. Our service providers always complained that they didn't know what to charge to maximize their business. They couldn't see the forest as a tree. Because we had the data for all providers, we started letting them know if they were under- or over-priced, and we saw more conversions and revenue.

Dynamic pricing (like Uber does on holidays) alone could be hugely valuable.

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> testing button colors and whatnot.

Isn't that exactly what they're not doing?

As a conversion optimization guy, I see my fare share of "button color" stories--which are as much of a mockery as "growth hacking". So I was glad to see they're doing this right: Tracking conversions and paths by cohorts; cautious of false positives; testing big changes instead of, eg, button colors; combining test results with qualitative data (usability tests) when making decisions; ...

I agree. I've had to spend some time lately on the host pricing page for an AirBnB rental and I would love some more advanced features.

I've previously thought about writing a little program that keeps an eye on the major hotels in the city, so I can work out when rooms are more in demand and amend my pricing.

Even a "this is the average cost of similar rentals within a X radius of you" would be helpful.

It would be beneficial to AirBnB too. They'd get more money in fees and money flowing through their system. It also works both ways - if I reduce pricing in low demand times, it's possible I'd get bookings I wouldn't have before - again increasing the amount for AirBnB.

Classic 'push this button to make more money' app, with a nice path to acquisition baked in.

Someone with an afternoon free should really step on this. Just make sure it doesn't end up starting price wars with itself!

Call it Autopilot, or something.

Because we had the data for all providers, we started letting them know if they were under- or over-priced, and we saw more conversions and revenue.

Did your TOS allow for this? At one of the early SaaS firms we really wanted to publish metrics (well, sell..) about how each firm was doing relative to their peers.

They all wanted this info, but at the same time were strongly opposed to our using their data in the studies.

This talk may interest you (includes speakers from Uber and Airbnb.)

http://nerds.airbnb.com/openair-algorithmic-pricing/

The phrase "forest as a tree" tripped me up. Did you mean "forest for the trees"?

It will be based on the idiom "forest for the trees", effectively having the same meaning but also includes the fact that they are a part of what makes up the forest.

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