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I only started hosting a month ago and something similar happened to me and it might be what is affecting you. My cleaning fee is $25 Canadian. For the past month, every booking came through at that rate but last weekend, I got one where it was $24. So I called airbnb and asked them about it and the person checked, and got back to me and said it must have been a computer glitch.
I wasn’t worried about the $1, just that they respected the prices I listed. Well yesterday I got 2 more bookings and they were again at $24 even though my listing clearly stated $25. So I called again and this time the girl checked with her supervisor and gave me an explanation that clarified it for me.
It all has to do with rate of exchange. Airbnb does everything in US dollars and because they don’t work with decimals, or cents, if your curency goes up or down, then the price might fluctuate because of that.
Sorry for being so long winded, but I thought maybe some of you outside the US might not know about this.
No, Airbnb gave me their version of events. See higher in the thread for their explanation (linked below). And prices can fluctuate because of currency issues, but only by a comparatively small amount.
Something similar just happened again. I got a one night reservation request, but the price given in the reservation is Rs. 1902. But my listed price is Rs. 1950. A small difference, perhaps, but I’d like an explanation. This time I took screenshots!
I like the way you thanked him for all his well wishes! They fall all over themselves offering well wishes don’t they?. It sounds a bit hollow after a while.
Yes. It’s probably part of their customer training sessions. You can just hear the session leader saying “Thank the host profusely for being such a great guy. Then maybe he won’t notice that you didn’t answer his question. Market research indicates this approach works 37% of the time”.
And if by “after a while”, you mean “right away”, then yes.
If someone books 1 night It displays £20. If they book 3 nights it displays £61. The amounts rounds up or down.
The service fee is what the guest pays on top. So for 1 night the guest pays £24. This isn’t set in stone though. It says that it’s usually between 6-12% but can be higher.
This is really crazy since it has happened to you twice. Do keep us posted. Sometimes I have had bookings and looked at the price and thought “WHA?” but since I’m so skittish I play with my prices frequently and thought it was just me. I’ll keep a closer eye on it.
Well, among other things, the rounding in my case, if that is what it is, is inconsistent. I can think of no good reason for that. I also pointed it out to Airbnb via Twitter.
For posterity, here is my exchange with Airbnb on Twitter.

Hi. I have a pricing discrepancy. My price setting for the 7/8th of July is Rs. 1950. But this request shows it as Rs. 1902. Please see attached screenshots. I had a similar issue earlier, but that time I did not take screenshots. Please explain this discrepancy. Thank you.
6h 6 hours ago

Hi Faheem. Sorry to see this: it doesn’t look correct at all. Can you DM us your email address so we can take a closer look? Thanks.
6h 6 hours ago

Hi, thanks. My email address is xxxx.
5h 5 hours ago

Hi Faheem, thank you very much for the details. We checked and it looks like this is caused by the rounding. Our backend works in USD and we don’t support cents (or any division of a whole currency) as a monetary unit—this means that when totals are calculated, rounding occurs. For example, our system will round an amount of $101.49 to $101.00, and $101.50 to $102.00. This is why you see a difference in the nightly price. We hope it makes sense! Sorry for any inconvenience this may cause, Faheem!
5h 5 hours ago

Hi. Thanks for the response. But Rs 48 seems to be a good bit larger than 50 cents, (that would be closer to Rs. 32/33 at current exchange rates). And I hadn’t noticed any such difference occurring in previous bookings; usually prices given in the bookings are within a few rupees of the stated price. If what you are saying is correct, then I should be seeing relatively large jumps all the time. And see for example xxxxx xxxxxx, who is booked for Aug 17/Aug 18. His price is Rs. 1947, for one day. With the same base price. From what you are saying, his price should have been 1902 as well - it’s exactly the same situation. This is typical of previous bookings - the prices given in the bookings are within a few Rupees (2 or 3 or 4) of those that I’ve set. Are you sure this is a rounding error?
5h 5 hours ago

Hello Faheem, we’ll forward your case to the correct department for further investigation. Thank you for bringing this incident to our attention and for the additional information you provided. All the best
4h 4 hours ago

Ok. So, I’m currently waiting on xxxxxx to get back to me. I asked her a question, so I’m waiting on that. When she does, I would have no reason not accept her booking request. However, once I do so, the pricing info on the calendar will vanish for that day (7/8th July). Is it Ok if I do that? Is the screenshot that I have provided sufficient documentation? Presumably you have also taken a look at my account yourselves. Please let me know. Thanks.
4h 4 hours ago

Hello, Faheem. Yes, you have provided us with sufficient information. Rest assure that we have forwarded both the screenshots and your messages to the correct department for further follow-up. Thanks
3h 3 hours ago
Thank you for contacting us on Twitter regarding the pricing discrepancy you came across.
We are forwarding your case to the correct department and a case manager will be in touch with you soon to assist you with this issue.
Kind regards,
Obviously, this could turn out to have been a big waste of time. It usually is. If I hear anything further, I’ll update. I recommend everyone keep a close eye on their pricing settings. If you are making local/temporary changes, record them somewhere outside the Airbnb site.
Like if its a one off I’m not too bothered, it’s only 1 pound. But imagine over the year that’s over 300. It’s like the value of 2 weeks of bookings. Which in itself would be a big issue.
I got a bs answer that didn’t explain why I’m only receiving 19 GBP. He even says after VAT and 3% fee I’m recieving 20 GBP. It clearly says the booking was 20 per night and after fees I’m recieving 19.
Send him a screenshot. That tends to help. Circle the relevant price, if you know how to annotate images.
Are you using Twitter? Whoever the people who are answering there, they seem to be slightly more clueful than the people who answer email.
Another thing you could do is explicitly reference my issue. I’m Faheem Mitha. They said they would look into my issue, but they’ve probably already forgotten about it.
