Turn on Airbnb's new dynamic pricing or Smart Pricing only if you price directly on Airbnb: when a channel manager or PriceLabs sends your rates, keep both off. This guide compares the three tools, shows how discounts and the 15.5% host-only fee change your floor price, and explains where Nowistay's built-in AI Pricing fits.
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Start freeYes, Airbnb has a new tool called dynamic pricing. Announced on 30 September 2026 and rolling out from October, it recommends a nightly price range for your listing and, once you turn it on, adjusts your prices every day based on demand and supply. It is not the same thing as Smart Pricing, the older automatic tool where you type your own minimum and maximum, which is still documented in Airbnb’s Help Center. Turn one of them on only if you price directly on Airbnb: if a channel manager or a pricing tool such as PriceLabs sends your rates, keep Airbnb’s automatic pricing off, or the two systems will overwrite each other.
Below: what Airbnb has actually said about dynamic pricing, how it compares with Smart Pricing and with PriceLabs, how discounts and the 15.5% host-only fee change the maths, and which setup fits a single Airbnb listing versus a calendar shared across several channels, where Nowistay’s built-in AI Pricing is one option.
Airbnb presented it in its 2026 fall update and in a Resource Center article, New tools to host smarter, not harder (30 September 2026). Here is what Airbnb says:
What Airbnb hasn’t said yet: which countries get it first, whether it replaces Smart Pricing or sits next to it, and how it behaves on listings connected to a channel manager. As of 9 October 2026, Airbnb’s Smart Pricing help article is still online and doesn’t mention the new tool. Until Airbnb publishes a help article for dynamic pricing, treat more specific claims you read elsewhere with caution.
The same update adds pricing and availability tips in the calendar from October, AI earnings insights for hosts with 5 or fewer listings, a 15% discount you can offer to top-rated guests, and a multi-listing calendar that becomes the default on desktop for hosts with 6 or more listings in the coming months.
Smart Pricing has been around for years. According to Airbnb’s help article on Smart Pricing, it uses hundreds of factors about your listing and your area to adjust your nightly price based on demand. You turn it on from your calendar’s price settings and enter a minimum and a maximum price. A few rules from that article are worth knowing before you switch anything on:
The visible difference with the new tool is who draws the range. With Smart Pricing, you choose the floor and the ceiling. With dynamic pricing, Airbnb recommends the range and you adjust it, with a comparison against similar listings built in. Both price Airbnb and nothing else: neither knows what you charge on Booking.com, Vrbo or your own booking site.
PriceLabs is a dedicated dynamic pricing tool with its own subscription, and its website offers a 30-day free trial. On its product page, PriceLabs says it combines public market data from Airbnb, Vrbo and Booking.com with seasonality, day-of-week trends, events, holidays, booking pace and lead time, plus your own past and future bookings. You set a base, minimum and maximum price, and you can add seasonal profiles, date-specific overrides and minimum-stay rules. Prices and minimum stays are recalculated daily and synced automatically.
The bigger difference is where the price goes. PriceLabs can connect directly to Airbnb or to a PMS or channel manager. Its own Airbnb integration guide is clear on two points: if Smart Pricing is on, turn it off, because “it could conflict with the prices set by PriceLabs”; and if you use a PMS or channel manager, connect PriceLabs to that software, not directly to Airbnb. Connected through your channel manager, one PriceLabs price feeds every channel you list on.
Other dynamic pricing tools follow the same model with different data and pricing plans, and some channel managers now include dynamic pricing of their own, such as Nowistay’s AI Pricing (see the last section). Whichever you choose, the rule in the next section applies.
No. Every night needs a single price source. When a channel manager sends your rates, Airbnb’s help on software-connected calendars explains that rates and availability are synced through your software, but that changes made directly on Airbnb can override them. If Smart Pricing (or dynamic pricing, once it reaches you) also sets that night, the price guests see depends on which system wrote last, and your channel manager no longer shows what Airbnb displays.
In practice:
Yes, and this is where hosts lose money without noticing. Airbnb applies discounts and promotions on top of the nightly price, whatever set it. The Smart Pricing article warns that an early bird discount can bring the guest price below your minimum. For software-connected listings, Airbnb says promotions and discounts are the most common cause of price differences, and a discount set directly on Airbnb is not reflected in your software.
A quick example. Your floor is $100 a night. A guest who qualifies for the new 15% top-rated guests discount pays $85. After Airbnb’s 15.5% host-only fee, you receive $71.83. If that floor was meant to cover cleaning, utilities and laundry, it no longer does. Set floors with your discounts in mind, and check your weekly and monthly discount strategy so stacked discounts never push a night below break-even.
With the single fee, the price you set is the price guests see, and Airbnb deducts 15.5% from your payout instead of 3%. A floor chosen under the old split fee is now worth less. An $80 minimum used to pay you $77.60; under the single fee it pays $67.60. To keep $77.60, the floor becomes about $92 (77.60 divided by 0.845).
Airbnb’s help on its price adjustment tool says the tool raises the Smart Pricing minimum and maximum along with your other prices, for hosts who don’t use property management software. If you had already switched to the single fee, it adjusts only the minimum and maximum, because Smart Pricing already takes the single fee into account. If your prices come from PriceLabs or a channel manager, Airbnb’s tool doesn’t reach them: raise the floor in PriceLabs, or add an Airbnb markup in your channel manager. The full calculation is in our guide to repricing for the 15.5% host-only fee.
Nowistay is a PMS and channel manager: your calendar, rates and bookings sync in real time with Airbnb, Booking.com, Vrbo and Expedia. To automate pricing across all of them, you have two options: AI Pricing, built in, or PriceLabs.
AI Pricing is included in the AI Channel Manager plan at no extra cost. Open AI Pricing in the left menu, just below Calendars, and set three values per property: a Typical price (your default nightly price, which AI Pricing never changes on its own), a Minimum price and a Quality level compared with similar homes nearby. AI Pricing then suggests a price for every free night over the next 2 years, following the season, weekends, demand among about 20 similar homes nearby, holidays and local events, with the reason for each change. It discounts nights still free at the last minute and orphan nights (1 to 3 free nights between bookings in the next 60 days), and can shorten their minimum stay, but it never raises a minimum stay. When your Airbnb last-minute discount already covers a night, AI Pricing adds no last-minute discount of its own.
AI Pricing works for single-unit properties connected to Nowistay PMS. As with any pricing sent by your channel manager, keep Smart Pricing and Airbnb’s dynamic pricing off on those listings. Details in How AI Pricing sets your nightly prices and AI Pricing Automatic mode.
PriceLabs remains available as an integration (the PriceLabs subscription is separate and billed by PriceLabs). Each property uses either AI Pricing or PriceLabs, and a PriceLabs property can switch to AI Pricing in one click. To connect PriceLabs:
The full walkthrough is in How to connect PriceLabs for dynamic pricing.
Each channel can get its own price without changing the base rate. Go to Properties, choose Synchronization in the property’s … menu, click the Channel settings icon next to a channel and open the Rate Adjustment tab. Enter a percentage increase or decrease for that channel, for example +15% on Airbnb to absorb the host-only fee. The adjustment is applied to your base rate, whether you set it yourself or it comes from AI Pricing or PriceLabs. For Airbnb, the same tab lets you manage Airbnb discounts (long stay, last minute, early booking), which Airbnb applies on top of your adjusted rate. Details in How to manage your rental prices.
Yes. Airbnb announced dynamic pricing on 30 September 2026 in its fall update. It recommends a price range and adjusts your nightly prices daily based on demand and supply. Airbnb says it starts rolling out in October 2026, without listing the countries that get it first.
Not as described so far. With Smart Pricing you set your own minimum and maximum; with dynamic pricing Airbnb recommends the range and you can change it. Airbnb hasn't said whether the new tool replaces Smart Pricing, and the Smart Pricing help article was still online on 9 October 2026.
No. PriceLabs tells hosts to turn Smart Pricing off because it could conflict with PriceLabs prices, and Airbnb says changes made directly on Airbnb can override rates sent by your software. Keep one price source per night.
Yes. Discounts and promotions set on Airbnb apply on top of the price your software sends, and Airbnb notes they don't show up in your software. Check that discounts can't push a night below your break-even.
Usually yes. An $80 floor paid $77.60 under the 3% host fee and pays $67.60 under the 15.5% single fee. Keeping $77.60 requires a floor of about $92. Airbnb's price adjustment tool updates Smart Pricing minimums for hosts who don't use management software; otherwise update the floor in your pricing tool.
Yes. PriceLabs is billed by PriceLabs under its own subscription, with a 30-day free trial on its website. Connecting it to a PMS or channel manager doesn't remove that subscription. Nowistay's built-in AI Pricing, by contrast, is included in the AI Channel Manager plan.
Yes. AI Pricing is Nowistay's built-in dynamic pricing, included in the AI Channel Manager plan at no extra cost. It suggests a nightly price for every free night over the next 2 years, never below your minimum price, with the reason for each change, and sends applied prices to Airbnb, Booking.com, Vrbo, Expedia and your direct booking website. It works for single-unit properties connected to Nowistay PMS. PriceLabs remains available as an alternative: each property uses one or the other.
No. The one-price-source rule applies: when AI Pricing or PriceLabs sends your rates through Nowistay, keep Smart Pricing and Airbnb's dynamic pricing off on connected listings. Airbnb discounts still apply on top, and AI Pricing adds no last-minute discount of its own on nights your Airbnb last-minute discount already covers.
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Over 25 years of experience in real estate investing and a recognized expert in short-term rental automation. Bassel helps property managers increase revenue, cut operating costs, and deliver 5-star guest experiences using AI-powered tools he built from firsthand hosting experience.
