AirBnb is now giving me an option to offer a 10% discount for guests who opt for a non-refundable option. Would you use this?
I just saw this today but 7% is really not worth it.
I considered it for a split second but I get good bookings and hardly no one cancels. I’ve had 1 cancellation in 2 years and I really don’t like the hassle of those, so I’m gonna keep my strict policy
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I might consider it if I could “afford” to raise my rates 10% to compensate for the discount I would be forced to offer.
We’ve not had any cancellations until this year, but we did have three or four which I think were people exercising their ‘48-hour no-penalty cancellation’ option.
For those who sign up: let us know if the CS agents call and ask you to refund the guests anyways.
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I cant figure out what they will do with the extenuating circumstances. I bet they will still stick it to the owner.
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Someone posted the screen shot of the policy on one of the other threads on the same topic. EC will still be in effect.
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then it is totally worthless
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I’m with you. I thought about it for a few minutes. Did the math. Decided against it, since we are still their insurance policy as long as AirBnB will give them all their money back for an EC situation.
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Got this too!
Airbnb made it sound like it was something great!
Signed up for it but then did the math, 2 scenarios
- If I add 10% more to the listing price and then do the discount, I get fewer bookings as guests who have no intention of cancelling will first see the higher price.
- If I just add 10% discount without raising rates, will lose money. And very much possible that Airbnb will anyways cancel penalty free for the guest stating emergency.
Eventually I think I will cave in as other competitive and mindless hosts start accepting non-refundable bookings.
Airbnb is killing profit margins with every new feature it adds.
I considered adding the discount. At first I was interested, then I decided against it. I opened the enrollment page & received a surprise. The DEFAULT when they pushed out the change was to OFFER the discount!!!
Check your listing to be sure your don’t have discount selected (unless you want to offer it of course)
You see that when you click “learn more” but it’s not your setting until you click “save” at the bottom. If you look at it and then close the window it’s not set by default.
Looks like Air is testing different things. Instead of offering a 10% discount to those willing to book a non-refundable stay, I was given the chance to add a 7% premium to people who want to book a stay they think they might have to cancel, and keep my regular price for my Strict cancellation policy.
@Chloe - I suspect what they offer depends on your current cancellation policy. Have the strict policy (like we do)? Offer a flexible policy for a higher price. Have the flexible policy (like K9 does, I think)? Offer the non-refundable for a discount.
I suspect they are calculating the value the guests place on the difference between a refundable and a non-refundable rate. Hotels can do that just between their rooms; AirBnB has to have a more complex process to figure it out.
Yes, I have flexible and the option described in the OP is what I was offered.
I have moderate and was offered the 10% for guaranteed payout as well.