> Supply and demand is volatile, so just because a unit averages $x does not mean it can't sometimes fetch 5x (see Uber's surge pricing). Smart pricing never do

> Supply and demand is volatile, so just because a unit averages $x does not mean it can't sometimes fetch 5x (see Uber's surge pricing). Smart pricing never does this, so I suspect there is no notion of demand surges built into the algo, even though they obviously occur. There are laws against such price gouging in many US states, e.g. to prevent hotels from charging very high prices during natural disasters, or from discriminatory rates. Undoubtedly airbnb will not implement such protections unless forced to.