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I like the ideas of extending their reservation as they pay or encouraging use of vrbo
Yes encouraging them to use another site is against TOS. However if it is one time out of many other airbnb rentals I doubt you will encounter a problem. It is a risk you will have to weigh.
About the airbnb fees—you can adjust out duplicate cleaning fees as they book by sending them a special offer. Also airbnb fees are a percentage of the total so as their reserved days increase the net additional payout is only on the rent for the new days. It can work and I like it. I’m going to remember this one!
I know the conventional wisdom is that your prices are too low if you book more than a few months in advance. But we are in a fly-to area and many people plan up to a year (or more) in advance.
We weren’t booked for most of November 2017, so I dropped the price by $50 per night - from $500 to $450 for two people.
And you are right - they don’t charge per night. If you book one night for $500, you’ll probably pay about 12-14% in service fees. But if you book six nights at the same place for $3000, the service fee will be about 6%. So, I expect that AirBnB will charge the 12% on each of the 1-2 night bookings these people would make, meaning they’ll end up paying about twice the booking fee (nearly $200 more in booking fees).
@Helsi - that’s essentially what I told them - that AirBnB is not flexible in how payments are made and that other sites are more flexible. I refrained from telling them which sites. I’m sure their checker would block out “VRBO”, “HomeAway”, “direct booking”, etc, anyway. We have a villa name that I use liberally in the communications with them, and there are people that figure out how to find us online without my sending them the web address.
I was very careful to not say anything other than the facts, and did not encourage them to look for us elsewhere. It’s not worth risking getting kicked off AirBnB to get one booking.
If they decide to go with the book a few days then book more, I’ll report back what happened with the service fees.
Given all the crap that Airbnb lets slide that they know for a fact happens I can’t believe they would kick you off the forum for one suspicious transaction or a few exchanged messages. Did you consider calling them to ask if your property can be made eligible for the payment plan option?
10%? Non-refundable I hope. How long would you hold it for that amount? I tried to scan the posts but didn’t see the 10% or the timing schedule you have in mind.
I haven’t defined the exact payment plan yet, and I was not going to go for 10%. I’ve done 25% before, with the other 25% due 90 days before arrival and the balance due 45 days before arrival.
I do two part payments on VRBO all the time and only once has it been a problem. Usually folks pay up the very day they get their auto reminder to pay the balance. Since Air doesn’t pay me until they arrive anyway, I really don’t care if Air breaks it into two parts. What DON’T want to have happen - and it is, from what I hear - is multi-party payees. All I need is four 21 year olds who want to split up $400 between them. Oy!
Isn’t this in beta, where they are experimenting with split payments? It’s not the split payments that would be trouble, it’s all the maneuvering Piton is speaking of doing.
Yeah, I don’t think I would do that either. I would just have the potential renter call Airbnb and ask if there is any formal system in place to pay in two parts. If they are beta testing it they may offer it. I wouldn’t try to rig that booking to extend the stay and then ask for more money. Although I could see how that would work.
We had our first group payment booking yesterday. It was for four people for a whole $309!!!
It was very annoying. They eventually paid before the cut off period.
Yes, as I understand it… if not everyone pays their share the reservation gets dropped after blocking up your calendar.
And you didn’t have any say over it, right TS?
They found our direct site. It’s a single party, they just wanted to spread things out a bit. I routinely do two payments (most of my bookings come from VRBO), occasionally do three, and allowed five once.
This isn’t that much trouble, and it is for over $3000 US for our low season. Worth s little inconvenience to me.
Best possible outcome! Now you can book the guest exactly as you wish.
You know, when I stop and think about how much these sites control our properties and our money and our lives it really makes me mad. All Piton wanted to do was offer the guest a payment plan option for her own property and ran into a bunch of roadblocks.
@konacoconutz -
Exactly! I charge a little higher price directly (or discount on AirBnB to help the traveler with the service fee - depends on who I am talking to!), but it’s still a little lower than the total on AirBnB.
But the guest and I can come to agreement on what is best for both of us - or one of us walks away.
