Guests asking to lower price

Yes, I can imagine a hostel on Skye in bad weather is dreich. But it is also a stunning and very dramatic island - it would be difficult to find more incredible views anywhere in the UK. Interestingly, the guests we have in Skye tend to be ‘better’ guests than ones we get in Edinburgh - happier and less liable to grouch.

I’m sure it was my fault. I had a rail pass and was just travelling around on an ad hoc basis without planning anything. I did notice that there were a couple of people with us who were prepared for the weather and seemed to know what they were doing. Many years later, we lived in Galway, and the west of Ireland must be similar to Skye - wild and beautiful! Those wind-swept trees, permanently bent away from the Atlantic…

LOL! Well it is a tale you can tell in your old age! (Once you get there!) :slight_smile:

Love it. :slight_smile: That’s how we want all guests to be, isn’t it flax?

Too right. We’ve just had a nice couple over New Year. Quiet, out a lot, left the place immaculate. Okay, haven’t had their review yet, but still…it makes the whole experience so much nicer if people are pleasant.

Btw, Happy New Year!!

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If it’s last minute booking, I would consider 5-10% discount if they ask politely.

There was once some guest demanded a discount because “it’s a last minute booking”. I couldn’t click the decline button fast enough. That’s a red flag for problematic guests. You don’t demand discount, I give discount on my free will.

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I wouldn’t reduce my fee. It still entails the same amount of work. Does a hotel reduce its fee because you book on the same day? Or does it raise its price because fewer places are available. I had someone ask me to put a discount if he stayed a week or longer.However, I do not want guests for longer than a week so do not provide a discount.

Yes, hotels reduce their fees significantly if they are not sold out and some people wait for the last minute to book specifically based on this fact, to get lower prices.
Yes, hotels raise their prices based on how many available rooms are left.

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That’s exactly right. Hotels will drop prices last minute to fill vacancies, usually through “opaque” channels like Hotel Tonight, Priceline, or Hotwire.

As far as discounts, if you’re priced right, you should just let them know that you adjust prices based on demand and that if they are looking for a lower priced place, to search for ones priced less than yours. Asking for a discount assumes that you’re overpriced. If you are, it’s better to just lower your price (like for winter in most non-mountain markets) directly on Airbnb (or use a rate management tool that does that automatically), rather than doing one-off discounts.

I just spoke to a hotelier who said something very different. Prices usually go up at the last minute…there is a sort of U-shaped pattern that prices take depending on the date they are booked/empty, etc.

Hi Reeny

That is what I thought. I like that idea. :smile:
What do you do? Or will you do in the future?

Can you explain more about this u pattern if you know it?

The price drops about 10 days to 4 days, roughly…then day 4 to last minute the price increases incrementally.

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Ahh if only airbnb hosts all worked together to follow this strategy so we all benefitted.

Thank you.

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Back in the day, when I was doing a lot of travelling, I used Hotwire. The 10 to 4 day pattern was very obvious.

I don’t do last minute price drops. I think it attracts the wrong kind of guests.

Yeah, it definitely depends and every hotelier has a different strategy. Usually, they follow something similar to how Southwest prices, having a certain number of rooms/seats at, say, $200 and when those all get booked, only the $300 ones are left, and once those get booked, only the $400, etc. So closer to the date, you might see prices go up. However, if they aren’t booking up as quickly as they expected, they’ll open up lower prices. If things catch up, they’ll continue with that upswing. If they screwed up and underestimated demand and have a bunch of empty rooms, then they’ll discount. Airbnb’s are different of course, because you only have 1 room and if it doesn’t sell you get zero revenue, versus hotels who have 200 rooms and so they can afford to leave that last room empty.

Here’s an article about that “U shape” for airlines: http://www.tnooz.com/article/3-things-expedia-has-learned-from-analyzing-airfare-data/

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See forbes quoted an extract from one of the regular posters here, kona… It was about accepting people who ask for discounts

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This post is from December 2015 and I wonder if the host is still in business? $17 per night is just crazy to me. :slight_smile:

Hello Jaquo and yes I still am , since then my price has gone up to $50/ night and have over 380 reviews , $17 was when I first started off lol

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