Hi - we are new to vacation rental hosting and have a questions about potential guests attempting to negotiate lower rates. Is it common for people to do this? One person has requested to book and gave me his total he wanted to spend for a 6 night rental. I adjusted nightly rate bring the total within $80 of his price range and he then came back and told me the ‘all in’ nightly rate was too high and said he didn’t want to pay that much per night and could I throw in an extra nights stay. The ‘all in’ he calculated includes the Aibnb fees he needs to pay. He then sent another email asking if the house is on other listing sights and why don’t I have any reviews on Airbnb. We have quite a few bookings which he can see by the calendar and one review on another site.
My question is should this be a red flag for potential renter if he does book with us? Is there any way for this be a negative reflection on my as a host if I end up not communicating back and fourth with him or ultimately allowing him to book? Thanks for any advice!
Just say no and move on.
RR
NO. Don’t do it. His budget is not your problem. I would decline and block him if he’s on Airbnb.
No, no, no and NO. I always decline discount seekers. Most turn out to be the worst guests… because they are cheapskates, no matter how much you lower it, it won’t be enough.
Also… If they don’t respect your price, they won’t respect your place.
Here’s how I generally respond:
Hi, thanks for your inquiry. I understand you are on a budget. I am too, lol. So because my place is priced fairly for the area and the season, I don’t offer discounts. There are plenty of other places around that might be more budget friendly, so good luck in your search.
I don’t have the time to start messing about with rates just to please some cheapskate who probably won’t stay anyway.
Like @konacoconutz I just send a (saved) message saying that the place is already very reasonably priced so bugger off. (Well, I don’t actually say bugger off, of course!)
It’s daft for people to ask for any sort of discount on a place that they’ve not even seen.
Do not listen to bargain hunter guests or Airbnb when they try to get you to lower your price. Switch to travelling and check your place is competitively priced, then stay confident and stick to your guns.
Thanks for all the great advice! It was my instinct to not allow him to book but wanted to get a feel for what others would do.
Amy
I’ve sometimes agreed to a polite request for a discount, but only if it is in my best interest. If either party is unhappy with the price, the deal should not be done.
Edited to add - I gave a guest a discount about a month ago and they were great guests. Asked a lot of questions, but other wise just fine. After a while, you’ll get to learn the difference. The person that asks to pay 50% “because they won’t take up too much space” isn’t going to be a good guest; the person that tells you “I’m only going to pay you this much because your place isn’t worth more than that”, won’t be a good guest, etc. But not everyone that asks for a little off because it’s a last-minute booking or an extended stay will be a jerk.
Don’t do it. Seems like cheapskates try to take advantage of new hosts From my limited experience, those who ask for a discount don’t respect you or your house from the beginning, and that’s a bad set up to start with. I’ve just started out and have had good guests, except for the one jackheap that requested a discount. He was a total jerk and pig who had no respect for our house.
Stick to your guns and good luck!
I just had someone ask for my “best price” on 11 nights spread over 3 weeks for her husbands work trips. I offered her 1 free night, as per ABB, so $1000. She said they actually wanted the 3 Sunday nights as well and could I make it $1000 for 14 nights. I said “no” and my place wasn’t right for her. She wrote back saying how her husband had to work 5 hours away from home to provide for their family (cue violins) and they were on a tight budget blah blah blah. My care factor: zero. I wanted to ask her that as I also have had some unexpected bills would she be okay if I charged her a little extra? She didn’t help her cause by also having a beautiful AirBnB whole house, much bigger, nicer and in a popular spot for rich people, that she charged double what I do. Some people.
Chances are she is asking half a dozen people so after all that effort you won’t get a booking anyway.
It’s annoying sometimes when you see your guests’ Airbnbs. I just had a guest give me 4 stars for value and her Airbnb in a town a few hours away is 3 times the price of mine. Bit disheartening.
I love it!!! Thank You for the new word!
There are entire blog articles and websites devoted to how to get the best deal/a discount/etc. We don’t get our knickers in a wad about that do we. I had a girlfriend in the military who always asked, everywhere we went, if they had a military discount. I had to get over my embarrassment. Some places said yes, some said no, no one was offended.
Just say no, don’t take it personally. JJS and I are of a mind on this. They have a budget and so do I. If you must inject your feelings into the transaction just tell the guest of your recent unexpected bills.
That is why hosts are the worst guests.
They do not see your place as is (for price and location), but always compared to theirs.
I avoid them, especially superhosts.
I thought you had instant book?
I understand as I’ve had fellow hosts as guests several times and about half of them annoyed me in some way. However, I’m a superhost and if I do say so myself, a superperlative guest.
I’m on top of my prices and know what guest alternatives there are.
What i’m finding is that guests that are refused a discount but book anyway at your price are still PITA’s.
I just had some bad bad superhosts. What they say seems to be true.
I recently got this inquiry;
“I am wondering if you do pretty late check-ins? I imagine we would get here closer to midnight. Also since we would be arriving so late, I’m wondering if you would consoder discounting the first night of the stay?”
I replied, “No. We do not discount for late check-ins.”
He wants me to stay up late to wait for them and give a discount for my inconvenience. I don’t think so!
What are people thinking? I would consider discounting people who leave early but not ones who arrive late. LOL. Late arrivals do work very well in my listing but in a shared home? Ugh.