What's the minimum room rate?

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The most expensive of my 3 rooms has had fewer nights rented in the year since I opened, and due to a couple of folks who apparently never give 5 stars, it has a 4.5 rating.

I have a relative coming for a visit, and I’d like him to rent the room for a minimal amount because he’s also a host, and I know he would leave a 5 star rating. However, he’s on a very tight budget for this trip so I want to make him a special offer that will be whatever is the minimum that Air requires.

Does anyone know if there is a minimum? If so, how much is it?

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Under T.O.S. : 10.3 Members are prohibited from manipulating the Ratings and Reviews system in any manner, such as instructing a third party to write a positive or negative Review about another Member. I can not locate any specific in regards to a minimum rate, however I have seen rates as low as $19 a night.

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It’s $10 US dollars I believe

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You charge your relatives to stay with you?

That is one way they won’t be bothering you in the future.

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If you send you family member a special offer you will see what the system does and doesn’t accept. It used to be less, but I think nowadays it is indeed US$ 10 per night.

Of course you charge relatives! It’s a business, it’s not having them sleep on the sofa in your living room for 2 nights.

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Oh geez, don’t do this. That’s a biased review unless the relative discloses your relationship. As well as what @Cindy_Turner_Dodd points out, manipulation. Just don’t, please.

This is precisely the massive problem AirBNB has with rigged reviews and why Amazon banned reviews by friends, relatives and business associates circa 2012.

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GutHend: I can’t wait to charge my visiting family at our house’s next Thanksgiving dinner: “That will be $1.25 for your turkey drumstick, 75-cents for your mash-potato serving, $1.35 for your cranberry sauce, 35-cents extra for gravy, $4 per glass of wine, and a $5 dishwasher clean-up charge. Gratuity tip not included.”

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@Don_Burns Unless they are occupying a table in your restaurant that comparison of course isn’t correct.
I’m happy for you that you can give unlimited free stays to your friends and family. If I do that I might as well have no business at all.

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Do you own a restaurant, or have a catering service? Do you have to close to feed them, deny other paying customers? Then yes!

Simple business 101: Keep business and private separated: You always pay, and you always charge.

If you don’t people will take advantage of you, and you will be out of business.
“Lets go to Don’s place for three weeks this summer, because we can stay there for free.”

My friends and family know that they will have to pay, if they stay with us and want the same level of service as a normal guest.

The other way around, I never take free services from family or friends. If someone helps with cleaning, gardening or work on my car, I pay them, even if they do not want. Because 1. I can ask them again 2. I can expect the same quality and service as a normal customer.

My brother in law owns 3 restaurants, and when he goes there to eat, he always pays. No freebies, even as an owner, because whats is next free food for employees when their not working?

Of-course, you can give discounts or extra’s for friends an family,I do that, but only in the off season. If anyone wants to stay during peak season, they pay full price.

There is of-course one exception, and that is when you invite them.
But if they invite themselves, they pay, or else they keep inviting themselves.

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As Ebenezer Scrooge would say to his family and friends: "Bah, humbug!"

scrooge

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So why do you list on AirBnB then?

Why not invite all your friends an family to stay over for free.
I bet you will make a lot of extra “friends” too.

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Chris: You said a three-week free stay, and not me.

“Visiting relatives and friends are like dead fish. They start to stink after three days.”

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I have been known to charge. I don’t write their reviews. It’s minimal. But they respect the rules, which didn’t always happen before.

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My brother knows that if he comes in the off season, it’s free. Memorial Day weekend is a month into my summer season. When I visit him in Mexico and stay in his downstairs apartment in the winter, it’s their busy season and I pay him (but not what they usually charge).

My family has also always paid me for taxi rides (before I bought my own limo) and limo rides if I was working that day. I also pay to buy vegetables from relatives who grow commercially.

So yes, my relatives understand that it’s a business, and that they can stay here for free in the off season if they clean up everything.

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Ah, good for you that they understand. I still get relatives saying things like " Can we come stay over Easter? Obviously only if you don’t have a booking! We wouldn’t want you to lose money lol". And that’s from the intelligent side of my family.

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My brother in law has a 4 bed house in the Greek islands. When we stay I insist on paying and then we get into an argument about the amount. He says a bare minimum and I want to pay more. Nothing pings me off more than a freeloader and eventually the welcome will wear out. He has ongoing costs for the year and I put money in his bank account to help cover these. He has many relatives and he tells me I am the only one who insists on paying. I tell him this is part of being a Airbnb host…you get over people wanting a free ride!

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Friends and relatives should support your business. Asking for freebies is not supporting your business.

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That is so true!

We’re fortunate, we have a guest apartment on the same floor as ours, so when friends/family visit we can accommodate them without it interfering with our business.

If one of our apartments (much more comfortable and spacious) is free while they are here we have in the past put them in there, but on the proviso that if a last minute booking comes in then they are bumped upstairs to guest apartment!

Before we started our project (restoring an old rambling townhouse in the south of Spain) someone said to me that we may be surprised at how many friends/relatives suddenly decide that they must visit, just to see us of course :wink: and to a certain extent they were correct! Our only gripe is that most folks forget that while they are in holiday mode, we generally aren’t - changeovers, check in/outs, constant maintenance (old house syndrome) and simply dealing with day to day shit is at times a full time job in itself.

So far most have been understanding of the fact we can’t be constant tour guides, taxi drivers and able to go off drinking sherry at the drop of a hat.

With regard to charging folks when they visit, we’d never do that if they stay with us in our guest apartment. But folks know that, so in return for our hospitality we get to eat out in some very nice restaurants during their stay, on them.

If they specifically want to stay downstairs, in one of the rental apartment, then they pay. A bit less than advertised rates, but they know we’re running a business and there’s been no complaints so far.

JF

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1000 likes for this post

RR

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Lots of friends and relatives would love to visit our house and cottage, expecting meals, tours, laundry, and cleaning up after them. They want canoe and boat rides, trips to the casino, and good weather, too. The mind reels.

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