When I first started my listing last August, I got a request for a young person coming into DC for a three week internship in November. She asked for a discount which I gave despite the fact so was starting at a very low daily rate. I’ve gotten reviewed since then and have significantly raised my daily rate. Hopefully this upcoming guest won’t be a nightmare.
Tokyo… Remember… Even though it’s not very much, offering any money outside the platform is a violation of the TOS. If you had to have this conversation reviewed by TPTB they would see you offering cash off.
A no no.
I don’t like the tone of this guest. I would have ditched her at the first haggle.
When they don’t respect your price and the right to be fairly for what you offer, chances are good they won’t respect your home or rules. Red flag guest.
Decline this loser. You don’t need the money that badly.
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Good points Kona. Thanks for the advice.
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Let her stay at the capsule!!! 
Here! Here!
I’ve also raised our price and immediately noticed a higher calibre of guest.
I decline guests that ask for a discount.
That is definitely a RED FLAG for me.
Again today I declined a Booking Request:
Requester: "Hello! My sister, boyfriend, and I are traveling through Melbourne for a few days before we head to our cousin’s wedding in Tassie. We are from America (although after recent election results), we may try passing as Canadians!
We are looking for a convenient area to stay in with lots to do. Your charming town home seems like the perfect place. There are 3 of us so I am wondering if two rooms would be available to reserve for $64 per room per night. (my Rate is $85 per soon + $20 for an additional person per room).
Let me know if it’s available Dec 8th-11th.
Look forward to hearing from you! "
Me: "Hello XXX,
Thank you so much for getting in touch.
We already offer a fantastic 5 Star value for a quality stay and are not able to offer discounts.
Fortunately, there are many, many places in our area within your budget.
Give one of them a go and you’re sure to find some lovely accommodation.
Wishing you a great trip to Melbourne.
With best regards from David "
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I had a similar request a couple of days ago. A couple who stayed with us two years ago wanted to return. Our prices are $70.00 per night with an extra person fee of $15.00 per night and a $15.00 cleaning fee. They said that they’d budgeted a total of $55.00 per night and that they would like to pay me in cash. I told them that it was impossible. After paying the 14% Transient Occupancy Tax I would net $46.75 per night. For those of you who say it doesn’t hurt to ask for a discount; I felt insulted. As a result, these people are no longer welcome as guests. They won’t be able to find anything on the West Side of Los Angeles at the price they want to pay.
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You’re right to decline.
Just recently I’ve been less patient with guests and it’s been for the best. The other day as I was heading out the door when a guest showed up and I showed him his room. (I rent out three rooms) He glanced into the master room that was already booked and told me that he would prefer the larger room. (or his girlfriend would be upset with him). I said no, that room is already booked today (and it’s a higher price). - Since I’ve had issues in the past with guests switching rooms I have a sign in each room that if they switch rooms they will loose their deposit and have their reservation cancelled. - I know this guy would have switched as soon as I left and upset the incoming guest if I didn’t have that sign in his room.
Even though he was getting his room for a steel he still gave me 4 stars. I knew this was coming and even though I always give out 5 stars I gave him 4 and I feel good about that.
If you have a bad feeling about someone it’s best to dodge a bullet or if you can’t stop them from booking stand your ground with house rules. If you give an inch they’ll take a mile.
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I decline anyone asking for a discount. They are always a pain in the ass. I have owned and operated many businesses, and every one had clients seeking a discount. Every client granted a discount always made my people work twice as hard.
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I just had a similar experience with a guy that I knew I was going to decline but couldn’t resist telling him why. He went on for several paragraphs about him and his 3 friends (he indicated a total of 2 guests on the request) needed a place to relax and sleep after their convention in Palm Springs. They’d be extremely clean and tidy he said, so he wanted me to reduce the nightly rate, cut the cleaning fee in half and do away with the security deposit.
To compensate–besides being very clean–he was going to “talk up” my rental to all his conventioneer friends which would boost my occupancy and he was going to throw in some discount coupons for some service. I almost choked. He’s a host himself in Inglewood, CA.
I told him it would be impossible to have the cleaners do only half of the condo and that if he calculated the cost per person per night it would be cheaper than either of the 2 Motel6s in Palm Springs.
He wrote back a huffy response and said I was condescending. HA!!! I’d love to bore you with his lengthy, patronizing letter to me. We had a few more back and forths that ended with him telling me he got a great place with the terms he wanted.
Ugh. What a bullshit artist! Thanks for letting me vent.
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Are you kidding! Post his letter here, we’re dying to read his bullshit. And let’s add this loser to the Bad Guest lounge!
I just had an inquiry for five nights in March. Sounded good, all well until she slipped this in… “We want to add two more days to the stay for a whole week. We notice other hosts offer a discount for a week, what about you?”
“Sorry I don’t do discounts, especially in my peak season.” Also reminded her she’d owe tax on the reservation.
Next message. “Christi no longer needs your accommodation”
Hope she found a place in the jungle with lots of loud shrieking frogs, barking dogs and mosquitos! Probably better suited to her budget.
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Because of the post on this forum outlining that the most common guest group size is two, and the fact that I’m slow right now, I changed my pricing to a lower amount (from $195/night to 168/night) for two and then added $20/night for each extra guest (over two) and almost immediately got two reservations – both for parties of two. One starts today for three nights and then at the end of the month for two weeks. No request for discounts! I will change it back in a couple of weeks as I still need to get graduation week booked and that week already has a high nightly rate.
@konacoconutz > "Christi no longer needs your accommodation.“
I wish they would preface their stock response with a more owner-friendly phrase such as: Dear Host, you dodged a bullet. Christi no longer…”
A few weeks ago I had an inquiry from a gal for a 4-ni. stay. She messaged me via the Dashboard (another platform) for a discount because it was a 'last minute trip and we’re on a tight budget." [eye-roll] I replied with my usual Decline Response letter #2.
A couple of days later she sends a formal response through the site, “Please cancel my reservation. My plans have changed.” Huh? So I responded, “Sorry but you do not have a reservation with my property. If you will re-read my previous email, you will see that I declined your request.”
Sometimes, it feels good to have the last word.
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This is such a fun conversation - and I missed the whole of it when it was going on!
And now, where’s @Mearns? 
And a dozen millipedes crawling into her armpits!
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… Should I continue this conversation or start a new one?
Here is the situation and my question…
I received an Instant Book at 4:30 AM from an host in New York. He then messaged me that he would be arriving with his girlfriend, but the reservation was for 1 person. So I messaged him back and let him know that there was a problem and that he would need to correct the reservation so that it was for 2-people.
Here is what he has said so far…
GUEST: “When I tried changing it to 2 guests, the price went up substantially. Given we will be sharing the bed, and not really using any other resources, is there any chance you can make the price the same?”
(The base rate for the room is an average of about $57/night. In the SF Bay Area - that’s pretty darn low, it’s peak season and there are few rooms available. With the weekly 16% discount (-$64), the cost is about $48/night for a single person. I don’t charge a cleaning fee. My fee is $15/night for an extra person.) Before I could respond, he added…
GUEST: “I have used this approach, with all other hosts, and they have been ok with it, I hope it is ok for you as well. We will barely be in the house, just need a place to sleep at night,” and before I responded to that comment he wrote…
GUEST: “I changed the reservation to be 2 guests.”
Here is my dilemma… must I accept his change request? Based on his comments, I really don’t want to accept his reservation. If I don’t, does it show as a cancellation?
Here is what I really want to say to him… “Of course, you are welcome to have two people stay for the price of one! I hadn’t considered the fact that the second guest would be sharing the same bed! However, there is a fee for the walls, windows, roof, HVAC, water, electricity, garbage, Wifi, hot water heater, and bathroom. I suppose, if you’d like to bring your own towels, I could knock off a few dollars from the cleaning fee, but since there is no cleaning fee, we’ll call it even…”
Argh! I will stew on this for a little while before I do anything.
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Decline! Trouble!!! Red Flag!
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Thanks @konacoconutz, I did decline… And he was a host! - That’s what gets me… 
Oh, and I found out that with Instant Book, hosts get 3 cancellations without penalty, after that, you have to call Airbnb. Of course, they don’t make it easy - there are about 4 steps to the process.
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Just broke my discount request virginity. It appears that consensus is to decline anyone who asks for discount. I’m a bit torn as many sites suggest asking.
We don’t decline requests for discounts. We explain that our rates are reasonable for the value we deliver, and as a sign of goodwill, give them 1% off. About half of them do proceed to book.
Many people are just thinking “it doesn’t hurt to ask”
I would first look at my calendar and if it’s wide open, I would offer her a small discount, perhaps 10 % off. If it’s pretty much booked, I would not offer the discount.