Default nightly rate when extending reservation?

1

I was just wondering what price Airbnb chooses by default when a guest alters their reservation to add a day or two. I have noticed that Smart Pricing has increased the prices considerably for some dates compared to 2 months ago which is when most of my guests book. I’m wondering what price the Airbnb system gives the the guest by default. Does it just use the old nightly rate for the added night or does it use the new nightly rate for the added night and the old nightly rate for the other nights, then average it out?

I have received a couple of alteration requests to add a day and I accepted the alteration requests and could see that the price for the added night was exactly the same nightly rate as the existing reservation. However, I didn’t check the calendar first to see if the price had gone up for those nights, though.

2

I guess I don’t know.

I assume the added dates would be at the price shown on your calendar.

So if the original days were $100 each, and the next two days on your calendar were set at $125 each, then I assume the additional days would be $250 (plus whatever fees/taxes apply).

I’ll be interested if anyone knows for sure.

3

Exactly.

I believe when a guest books, Airbnb shows only a single nightly rate which is the average of the dates in the reservation (I see that from the host side, too), so an alteration that causes the nightly rate to go up for previously booked dates might cause backlash from guests.

4

The added dates will be charged at the rate they are at when the reservation is altered.

If you have increased your price, it will be the increased price. And you can (not that I’m recommending it at all) go in and increase or decrease the price prior to sending the guest the change request.

Also, the change request will take into account any discounts that have been added or taken away since the original reservation. For instance, if you recently added a discount for a 5-day stay and the reservation you are changing is 5 days or more, those guests will now get the discount even if it wasn’t available when they originally booked. So, that also needs to be taken into account.

I had somebody book for February way back in August but have since added a multi-day discount. He contacted me recently to add a couple of days to his reservation. I didn’t want to extend the discount to him as it wasn’t part of the “original deal”. I went into my settings and removed the discount prior to sending him the change request so that his whole stay wouldn’t be discounted. After he accepted the change, I went in and put my discounts back.

Edit to add:

I guess but I wouldn’t expect that. They can (and probably did) go and look at your calendar prior to asking about adding the dates. I usually tell them something like, “yes those 2 days are available, that Saturday will be $189 and that Sunday will be $169. I can send you a change request, if that works for you, just let me know”. If they sent the change request themselves, then they were given the new rates and additional charges prior to hitting the send button. I really don’t think it matters.

5

It definitely works that way when the host creates the alteration request. Is it the same when the guest creates the request? It would be logical for them to be the same, but you never know with Airbnb.

6

Yes, sometimes you do know. This is how it works and it’s plainly written in the help documents. I’ll look for it for you if you want. It’s also common sense. If you add anything, anywhere you pay the current price. Want an additional banana at the store that you forgot to get yesterday? You’re gonna pay today’s price. Adding an extra night at a hotel? You’re going to pay the current price. I really don’t think anyone expects to pay some guaranteed price for something they purchase at a later date. I think you are over-thinking it :slight_smile:

edit to add: Modifying a reservation as a Host - Airbnb Help Center

4th bullet point in the middle of the page.

Yes!

In full disclosure, you should know that there have been glitches in the past that have caused the math on the reservation changes to be incorrect - not just an old price or anything but way off, so you should do the math to make sure that it calculated correctly. I haven’t had trouble with it for a few months now but it was going around for awhile.

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