Funny discount seeker

There’s a electronics chain I buy from occasionally who advertise “discount for cash” which also turned out to include credit cards (and probably cheques as well if such things still existed). After adding it up the sales guy grandiosely announced: “and then there is your 15% cash discount” as he took my credit card. I always thank them profusely, for nothing, as I can’t think what else to say.

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I guess I was coming from the perspective that some guests just haggle because its in their culture. They grew up with a deep mistrust towards merchants and their pricing. For some countries like thailand and vietnam, for example, its normal for locals to haggle 30-50%, or until the seller gives a firm No, then it usually means they’ve given you the best price they can possibly give. Not everyone is well travelled and they may not understand western culture. Or, they simply can’t shake away the haggling instinct because its honed through years of getting ripped off!

Hence, if u do meet such guests, just understand some people like to haggle because they grew up in that environment!

This kind of mentality is rampant on eBay. Someone will sit in front of their computer getting into bidding wars for an item, paying more than they could have on another auction for the same exact item. The latter item could have been purchased instantly at a set price but some people (my guess) get some sort of high from the whole bidding process. So I guess there is a sense of satisfaction they get when they win the bidding war, but they lose out on the savings they could have had by just purchasing instantly at a lower price. HMMMMM.
:face_with_raised_eyebrow:

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I would say, in terms of pricing, giving a firm “NO” upfront would often be a good strategy. It means they know you are not the kind who haggles. If they reject without further haggling (after the firm “no”) or accept, then they are less of a red flag. If they are very persistent even after the firm “No”, it’s a major red flag they are going to be very bad guests. It’s really an art rather than a science.

For airbnb, i will definitely not provide a “feel good discount”, as it would require you to price your room higher than market. It won’t work unless every host provides the same “feel good discount”.

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LOL, I’m an American, but I don’t necessarily feel like I do business like one? I do spend a little time hunting for deals, but usually there is a trade off between better price and/or better quality, for me, and I usually go for better quality. I can’t speak for others, however… Personally (and speaking as a noob here) I don’t think any hosts should offer discounts except for in situations where it’s warranted. Eg. you have to jiggle the handle on the toilet in the bathroom, or the last guest checked out late so you are running behind schedule in getting the next guest set up and checked in on time. To me those are legit reasons for discounts. I think the more hosts offer random discounts the more people will just start to expect them. That’s just me I am not one, and do not enjoy haggling! Just pay the amount on the dang tag or shop somewhere else! HA!!

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YES. And when this is the case I won’t spend a precious moment to save a couple of bucks. Life is too short!

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A very good point, as a blue eyed foreigner in this country people often try their luck with me, often succeeding :smirk:. If there really taking a piss at me with their prices, I will react firmly, if they let the price drop a lot after this, I always tell them they should have started off with the right price instead of trying to con me. Best case scenario I start haggling further down. If I don’t feel they’ve made up for their attempt at conning me, I tell them I don’t feel like buying anymore because it doesn’t feel good and I walk away.

I would give the Brazilian a discount for the first night, because it would be a night already lost (passed normal reservation window). I hoped that it would have made her happy, but I haven’t seen any reservation yet. I do feel like upping the price for those nights, but am thinking about my karma account.

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Brilliant! And bring your own toilet paper too!

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I guess it is a cultural thing. I had once heavy bargainer who was cautious about spending 5$ extra and then bought for 10th of thousands of dollars merchandise. He ordered more than 30 boxes from Amazon and them left those opened boxes on my driveway. It looked like some warehouse went out of business. We didn’t know how to get rid of them as gargabge wouldn’t pick them up. We were rewarded though with 39 shampoos that arrives after they left.
But other than that they were very clean and and never home :grinning:

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We are comparing like t-shirts. No two singular spaces are the same so this kind of economic analysis doesn’t really work.

Feel your pain GutHend. I have done that before. Had a looker with few reviews and one of them not great so when he pressed for a discount I blocked the dates. I was picking up trouble ahead signals in spades…

I got this one today, not from Brazilian travellers, but funny either!

Hey Mirta,

Your place looks great! Are you interested in advertising it to get more bookings long term?

We travel the world filming working with companies and accommodation partners to share on YouTube, we were hoping you might be interested in being our Budapest partner. Our mission is to showcase your place with a video tour and provide our audience a direct link to book your apartment - all to get you bookings in the future.

We work with Luxury villas, hotels and AirBnB hosts often - sadly we can’t send URLs via this chat, but you can find some examples online. If you search for “Daneger and Stacey Manila Best Accommodation” on YouTube you can see an example, the video has 42,000 views and more bookings than we can count. We get paid to work with villas like the video you can find searching for “Pool Villa Luxury @ Origin Ubud” as well.

Understand you are not a big company, so we are of course happy to still cover costs! For a 2 week stay, Aug 14-Aug 28 for 2 Pax we would:

  • Create a similar video focussing on your apartment
  • Verbally mention and provide a direct link to book your apartment
  • Feature the apartment in any following days videos we film, which will likely be 1 more video
  • Obviously leave an awesome review for you on Airbnb
  • Cover your full cleaning fee and service fee

In exchange for the above promotion we would ask for you to send an offer via Airbnb for 40% weekly discount.

Please let us know if you have any questions or want to know the specifics around the content we would produce?

Thanks so much,
Dane & Stacey
Hoje às 07:26 · Daneger And Stacey

Several people have posted here about getting one of these similar offers. I wonder how many people fall for it?

Yes @KKC, I thought the same and I looked at their reviews and saw that they have got hosts that accepted their “services” the last one in Poland, they were lodged for a month in an airbnb there.

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I always laugh hard at this story, something hilarious about picturing all those boxes and then having a storehouse of shampoos arrive later!

Not applicable when it comes to accommodation. If the room remains vacant on that particular night the trolley car never turned up.

LOL. This is funny that I should be part of this topic. I actually screen print and embroider t-shirts for a living. Many wholesale accounts, hundreds of t-shirts (brands/weaves/fabrics/styles/etc.) sampled, and 23 years later, I can expertly attest that no two t-shirts are “like”. THIS is where my expertise end, however! :relaxed:

Humor aside @Lori_Beth_Merrill I don’t think we are talking economics, rather, basic human nature. Some natures are better than others. BUT. Give people an inch, they will take a mile, then EXPECT the mile and then some. OK, so my other set of expertise lie in the service industry of restaurant & bar hostess/server/bartender, in that order. I did this non stop from 14-45 years of age (yikes, who’s counting). The “expectations and then some” crowd tip like sh*t, all the while gushing over the great service, how much fun they’ve had, yada yada. From all of the reading I’ve done here, this appears to be a trend in the “hosting” scenario, no matter what type of space you offer.

Having said all that…I’m breaking my own rules! Doing too much in some areas and maybe not enough in others? As I’m doing it, I know I am, yet I continue. Sigh. Gush gush, no review. Businesslike transaction between adults, proper review(s) and helpful nonpublic comments! Love these. This whole review thing continues to give me sleepless nights. Brain. Stop with it. Already!

Blathering on, off topic, I soooo don’t want to focus on negatives. I’ve so far been booked solid and loving it! I’m a noob, only been at it since end of May this year We will see if burn-out ensues. So many positives. All of the people have been great and I’ve enjoyed meeting them all. Such a wide variety of folks and lifestyles! It has really made be get back “out there” and be social. Working from home doing solely t-shirts and hats (vs. garments by day/the bartending at night) tends to put you into a social rut. In Pajamas all day, not really motivated at days end to do much else but walk the dog. This is so GOOD for me! And, house is always clean. Bonus!

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I turned it bargain hunter away by saying if money was an issue I am sure he could find a more budget part of the city. He apologised and booked at full price. Hope he’s ok!

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