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Agree with just about everyone. Deny and rescind pre-approval if you’d granted it. The guests will almost certainly be nothing but trouble.
Recently a potential guest asked for a very late check in, which I granted and pre-approved. She then asked for a hefty discount for the first night. The point here is that if you give them an inch, they will expect and take a mile. They will be demanding, ungrateful and star dinging. You DON’T need them!
Decline and raise your price to be comparable to your competition.
Decline all bargain hunters even if they say they will scrape the $$ together and book. They will only resent you.
The two worst guests we have had have been bargain hunters and also thirty somethings. They expect Ritz Carlton type accommodations and service for less than Motel6 prices. I googled the address of one of them and found they lived in a dump of a mobile home zillowed at 45k (not that zillow is anywhere near accurate). Our house is zillowed at 460k in spite of the actual comps being 520k, but the point I am making is that these people have unrealistic expectations. While there are some very nice mobile homes, theirs was certainly not one of them.
I typically don’t have a problem with people asking for discounts. There’s no harm in asking, after all. I find the better indicator of behaviour to be in their reply to my politely declining their discount request. I either never hear from them again, or (more often than not) get a message back saying “no problem, thanks for your reply”, and they book anyway at my listed price. I’ve never had a problem with a guest who stayed after being declined for a discount.
If you respect your price it means you respect your property. In my experience, guests pick up on that. You have to hold the line and enforce your rules.
I’m typically in the Deny Deny Deny camp. However, if I get a polite request, I usually respond with my We don’t discount speach, and they are happy to IB at full price. We have actually had a few do it, and were just fine. People still have the mentality that it’s OK to ask Hosts for a discount, and honestly some just don’t know. Remember what I said about I only offer this second chance to POLITE requests. The ‘will you rent for $xyz?’ gets a swift Decline.
There are always exceptions. I have a lovely TA guest here right now. Because she was a solo traveler coming for 14 days, I’m the one who offered the discount so she would book. ME, of all people! 
so happy I did. She can’t stop gush8ng about how much she loves it. I really really really needed a good guest. Thank you sweet guest!! (Don’t fall over backwards but I’m going to do her laundry for her too! )
Just picking myself up off the floor and clambering back onto my chair… Very glad to hear that you have such a lovely guest staying after recent traumas. She’s a very lucky lady to have her laundry done!
I will send you my medical bills. I think I have a concussion! 
Personally I would communicate more with this person, feel the ground; then take a decision based upon that.
I have had this happening only twice up to now. The first, coming for 4 nights/fall break wanted a discount, did not get it, yet had an absolute wonderful time here and left a raving review in our guest book and on airbnb, also left us with a few very attentionate gifts and keeps in touch though mail…and the others were sent to us by these same people! and well, you can guess : they also wanted a discount! this time on the cleaning costs because the would only come for 5 nights and she herself did the cleaning…I explained how this went and wrote her there would be no hard feelings if they prefered to look elsewhere. The next mail was full of regret for having mentioned the issue and excuses…asking if they were still welcome. well of course they were but this way they know how we stand, basta! They will be here in two weeks but I have a fine feeling about them due to their reaction. That is actually what it is all about, how people reart to one standing his/her ground and with reason.
In holland people are almost always trying to get a discount even if its pennies, it is their nature, and that’s okay. But an accommodation at someone’s home is not like shopping on the market. We built our little studio ourselves, spent five years on it…time, love, sweat and a whole lot of hard earned money! When you greet and chat with these type of “bargain hunter guests” and explain these kind of things to them, they suddenly realize what went into it…and then all is well!
I wish you luck in feeling the vibe on this person and do let us all know how it went.
Bravo! very smart; would have done the same : )
She’s been so low maintenance that she will probably turn me down. Not a big deal, just want to offer to throw a few things in for her…
Please be aware of a new scam when it comes to discounts. I had a family who preyed on my good will. They said their previous host cancelled on them and now they are looking for a new place in similar price range. Feeling sorry for them, a family with a small child, I agreed to lower the price a bit after hearing another host cancelled. Worst decision ever!! Dude showed up in a $100,000 Tesla, asked for early check in and late check out, knocked my perfect 5* rating on cleanliness by claiming there was a stain on a blanket. Even though he left the place ok, I REGRET sooo much giving him a thumbs up. Stand your ground and don’t believe everything you hear from these guests. So many of them are scammers!!
As Airbnb usually gives guests a voucher when a host cancels; your guests probably received a discount from Airbnb and from you.
Why reduce your price? Will you also reduce your service? Hold steady.
Hi Ellen
I agree. But I also think the guest lied to me about being cancelled on. I called Airbnb and they refused to let me know if he had a cancellation or not, claiming “privacy issues”.
It is possible that 100% of guests are not out to get the host. A lot of tin foil hats in this thread.
It might seem that way but many of us have hosted hundreds of guests and we know that they sometimes throw a curve ball so it’s best to be prepared. Sure, the vast majority of guests are fine (and often great) but nobody wants to read about that!
I guess you could call this a scam of sorts. It was certainly intentional and dishonest.
For my whole house property, I recently had a guest ask for a discount for a 3 to 5 week stay. I offered one because of the length of the potential reservation. As soon as I entered in a weekly discount, they booked for only 1 week.
