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My wife and I usually offer a 25% discount for military and/or veterans. In additon, we often offer returning guests a small discount. If a guest is celebrating a birthday or honey moon we tend to go over the top and decorate the place accordingly.
On a related but funny note - we had a guest message us and expect us to give her husband, a pastor who was coming to town for a conference, a discount because he was traveling in the name of the lord. That was a hard pass.
What do others do in regard to discounts and “perks” for special guest occasions? I want to hear others stories!
I don’t have any set discounts for a category. For one thing I have no way of confirming they are in the category I want to discount for. I am likely to offer a better price for a returning guest.
The only people I had ask for a discount were coming for a volunteer program with a local charity that works with immigrants. Although I’m sympathetic to the cause after I booked a guest in with said discount they canceled the stay. This was after some effort with the back and forth on booking and it just left a bad taste in my mouth. I think the thing to do is discount after the stay is over. I’d hate to find that I’d given someone a discount and then they took all my toilet paper or something. LOL!
I’ve given a military discount for my dog boarding clients in the past.
That’s a good idea. We only do it for military and it’s largely because my wife is military. We usually just send an updated booking request with the discount and go on the honor system.
I hate when I try to do the nice thing and it bites me in the ass. lol
That’s a great idea- to send a guest a discount refund after the stay if so inclined. I could see doing that if a guest was one of those rare ones who leave the place so immaculate it doesn’t even look like anyone stayed in there since you cleaned.
I’m sure it wouldn’t be hard to ask a few questions or even ask for an ID at check in. But it can bite you in the ass.
I had a military guy here several times. His wife would come in from out of town for a weekend. They were good guests and I switched them to cash direct pay. His last stay he wanted to stay 6 weeks with his dog. He’d inquired about staying to the end of the year but I told him I couldn’t due to other bookings for the fall. I gave him a discounted price and he would make 3 payments at the beginning of each 2 weeks. He had his buddies over and one stayed overnight. So I had to tell him no overnight guests the first weekend.
Then about 4 weeks in he messaged to tell me he’d left the next payment ($240) in the room. I go in to get it and almost all his stuff is gone. I thought it was odd but just grabbed the cash and stepped back out. After he didn’t show up that night I messaged him and asked him if he’d checked out and he said yes, something came up thanks and all that. That’s when I discovered multiple bite marks on furniture and a torn open blanket package and other things I forgot now. So apparently the money was for the damage and he found somewhere else to stay. It worked out okay that time but taught me a lesson about discounts in advance.
While I certainly wouldn’t give a discount, I also wouldn’t block them. If they pay full price, their money spends the same as any other guest. I could see how this could be tricky for shared-space hosts, though.
Discounts: 10% for repeat guests, nothing for any other reason. The only way for guests to prove they deserve a discount from me is to have previously received a good review from me.
Perks: I tried to accommodate ALL guests with special requests if it was reasonable and I had time. For example, Christmas lights and tree, bbq grill, cooler, crock pot, bakeware, baseball/basketball/football equipment, and movies on DVD/Blu-Ray.
Yeah, no kidding. I can’t imagine having some guest sharing my home who was spouting off their religious beliefs or trying to convert me over morning coffee.
I had one home-share guest who was a right winger who thought Trump was great. Luckily the guest was a laid back Canadian who didn’t get offended or anything when I made it obvious that I was of the opposite persuasion. Left a good review even. And came by to gift me the sheets he’d had to buy new for a place he stayed after mine where sheets weren’t provided, before returning to Canada.
Unfortunately the sheets were cheapo microfiber and went straight into the painting dropcloth bin
I had repeat guests here in early April who really aren’t on my part of the political spectrum. The “don’t tread on me,” and NRA stickers on their vehicle along with him being a Marine veteran are my clues. We chatted on the front porch several feet apart this last time. But as Brian said, their money spends the same as everyone else’s. I will say that their last stay was before the hyper craziness of the last few months so it’s hard to say if I’d feel comfortable hosting them now. I have looked at pictures of people in DC on Jan 6 hoping I don’t see him.
I’ve certainly never initiated a political or religious discussion with my guests, but it was interesting how many of my guests, since the 2016 election, did start those conversations. Quite a lot of them.
If I just got one-nighters, that likely wouldn’t have happened so much, but since my average booking from American and Canadian guests is 1-2 weeks, we have a lot of time to interact.
Luckily they were all in my camp, aside from the one I mentioned.
I saw one host’s listing where her cover photo is of the sign in her yard that had one of those sayings about being accepting of everyone, regardless of race, religion, sexual persuasion, etc. It weeded out the right-wing bigots from ever booking her place.
I give return guests a discount, it varies on the guest, the season and my mood. Also, it’s not actually all return guests, only the ones that I am pleased to see returning.
I love birthdays, anniversaries, etc because it is fun to do something special. We have a really pretty vintage ice bucket so sometimes we just do champagne (or a large format beer, depending) but we have also left a whole set-up for cocktails with a cocktail recipe for a group going to a concert (hubby is a bartender). If drinks don’t seem to be the right thing, we’ve left a basket of “spa weekend” supplies or even a cake.
I only do the length of time discount. When traveling I was once given a discount for being a fellow host. Another thing that you can do instead of or in addition to a discount is to keep an updated list of local businesses that offer vet/military or even senior discounts. Some of these are only granted when customers ask so this would be very helpful to those new to your community.
As do we. We offer up to 15%, but usually around 10% from the OTA price. I always wait until we’ve checked the place out first time round, then thank them for looking after the apartment and suggest that if they are returning to Jerez, they book direct.
We had a decent amount of “returners”, but this past year has been poor in that respect. Our last direct was for October last year, and ended up being cancelled due to a positive Covid test
I don’t do discounts. All my guests get a perk – a bottle of wine – on arrival. If i know they’re non-drinkers they get a fancy bottle of sparkling grapejuice or something. Because I’m a chef, I have offered and prepared the occasional celebratory dinner – at cost, not free.
Oh one couple had to cancel a “made 6 months in advance” booking because she had to have emergency heart surgery two weeks before arrival. I gave them a one time special offer if they booked later (which they did).
Not to derail the thread, but I love my cooking! My wife just picked up some nice chef knives for me for Christmas. What’s the best brand of knife in your opinion?
I have that sign on my listing but it’s my second picture. I also have that sign and another in my yard and I have signs for political candidates. I live here and it’s my home first. It’s not a hotel, it’s not a business. I wondered if it would affect my bookings but it didn’t. When I’m open I’m booked almost every day available. And more than one guest has commented positively either when booking or on arrival.
“the best” isn’t an easy question to answer.
I find the Victorinox Swiss Classic and Fibrox Pro lines to be an excellent combination of value and utility. The Wusthof Classic line high on my list for value and utility with a more traditional look and feel.
If you really like to cook AND you really know how to use and care for knives AND you can afford them, the Shun Classic knives are wonderful to use. However, I don’t recommend them to most people because they chip very easily and they rust very easily if you don’t take extremely good care of them.
I personally prefer knives with premium steel (VG10, 154CM, S35VN, etc.) from manufacturers that aren’t well known for kitchen knives (Benchmade, Spyderco, Chris Reeve), but they have very limited availability and I don’t recommend them to most people because they are much more difficult to sharpen.
