Additional Charges - Option of additional per ROOM or per guest needed for ENTIRE HOUSE RENTAL

[Francesca-and-Dave0]

After a 3 year hiatus, I have re-activated one of our listings here on the Air BnB platform and I notice an issue that was raised in re booking options by several hosts at least 5 years ago has not yet been addressed and I’m trying to understand the rationale for this limitation. 

The situation: I have an entire house rental that I rent via non-AirBnB venues as either a whole house rental with ONE bedroom or a whole house rental with TWO bedrooms or a whole house rental with THREE bedrooms by locking and unlocking the extra bedrooms depending on the number of guests and how they want to use the bedrooms.

This allows us an option to provide more affordable accommodations to a single traveler or a couple traveling together who need only ONE bedroom, but still want a whole house rental or people traveling who need two, but not three, bedrooms and still want the whole house experience. One bedroom is less cleaning time and less cost for utilities and supplies with fewer people than 2 or 3 bedrooms so we can pass those savings on to guests who can pay for only what they need and want. I charge a base rate for the whole house and one bedroom and add an additional charge for each of the two additional bedrooms when guests want to reserve them. This has worked beautifully for us for years — except on Air BnB.

For example, a couple traveling with their child who want a bedroom for themselves and a separate bedroom for their one child, or a separate bedroom for each of their two children, can easily be accommodated by a PER ROOM RATE while a per person charge will NOT meet the guests needs. Another example is two or three friends, or two or three couples, traveling together who each want the whole house AND their own separate bedrooms. With a per person charge I have NO IDEA how many bedrooms our guests want — unless there are a six people which would require all 3 bedrooms. 

When I have addressed this issue with Air BnB their suggestion is to use the per person additional charge, which is useless to us in this situation since it’s NOT the number of people that matters, but the the number of bedrooms our guests want/need that counts. Air BnB has also suggested I list EACH bedroom as a totally separate listing that stands on its own, which is even more useless to us since it means parents traveling with kids, or friends traveling together, must somehow magically know they need to hunt down 2 or 3 separate listings and then make two or three SEPARATE bookings to get the bedrooms they need for their kids, or their friends, in addition to the whole house they want.

It also means we end up with people constantly trying to book ONE of the bedrooms at a very low rate for that one bedroom with its separate listing without understanding they can’t just book one separate room since it is part of a WHOLE HOUSE RENTAL and not a stand alone listing.

I have tried including several variations of instructions and explanations on our listing to help our guests book our property with the preferred number of bedrooms, but it really is too complicated and too much work for hosts and guests — especially when a simple solution exists. 

The last suggestion I had from AirBnB was that I just set a whole house rate and hope for the best in bookings…?! While I may not understand Air BnB’s reasoning, what I do know from having been in this business for 30 years is MY property and MY market and MY guests, which all do best with the capability to book the whole house with an option for one, two or three bedrooms. That is how we get the most and the happiest guests who feel they have gotten what they want for the best value,p.

I don’t understand why there can’t be an option under the additional fees section for ADDITIONAL ROOMS as well as additional guests since having BOTH options makes the most sense to the most hosts and guests. Is there a specific reason for not allowing this — especially after it has been requested for at least 5 years? Has anyone else had this issue or found a solution for it here on Air BnB? With the New Host Tools I wish they address REAL issues that hosts are concerned about and which hosts have raised repeatedly. 

[Mike-And-Jane0 · Accepted solution]

@Francesca-and-Dave0 The way to achieve what you want is to have a 3bed listing, a 2 bed listing and a 1 bed listing.

You will need to make one of these request to book and the other two can be Instant Book with their calendars linked to stop double bookings. 

You can also block the smaller listings when it is high season and you have a reasonable chance of booking the 3 bed listing.

[Francesca-and-Dave0]

Thank you so much for your reply!

That is an interesting way to approach this problem and presents a possible, but still awkward and imperfect, solution. The inability to retain instant book to avoid double booking is an issue since instant book has some real potential benefits. In addition, it is time consuming to do two entire extra listings. It would be a solution I would embrace, even with the extra time required, if the Air BnB booking and calendar system was capable of automatically canceling the remaining two listing options and automatically blocking off the calendar dates so I could retain the benefits of Instant Booking. Still, when I have the time and energy it is something I will definitely look into.

Thanks again for your response; I really appreciate it — and your creative approach!

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Francesca-and-Dave0 If you do go down this route then go into your account and switch on pro-tools. That way you get a better calendar suited to multiple listings and the ability to use rulesets.

@Jennifer3476 It takes almost no time to manage multiple listings

[Francesca-and-Dave0]

So I decided to try out your idea and just spent 2+ hours adding a separate listing with only one bedroom and the “entire house” that is NOT “instant book” in addition to the listing I have for two bedrooms with the  “entire house” that  IS on “Instant Book”.

I published that listing about an hour ago and I think I did everything correctly, but when I go on ABB as a “traveler” and search my community, ONLY the more expensive 2 bedroom listing shows up and NOT the less expensive 1 bedroom…

I’m wondering if I made a mistake in the listing or if there is a glitch in the ABB software that won’t allow me to do that since both listings are for an entire house or if I’m just not seeing my own property, but I’m concerned it is not showing up in my searches nor is it showing up on the map? Foiled again by ABB it just a glitch?!

I do have pro tools turned on, but haven’t used them in several years so I need to get back up to speed! 

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Francesca-and-Dave0 It usually takes 24-48 hrs for a listing to show up.

We have 3 apartments and sadly they often hide each other on the map, We haven't solved this yet I am afraid.

By the way - if you used the duplicate function you need to check cancellation policy and booking (instant book or not) as these default to flexible and on when you duplicate.

[Francesca-and-Dave0]

And it was simply a matter of my own impatience! My second listing for a whole house rental with only one bedroom is now up and appearing in search results as is the original listing, which I changed to two bedrooms and a whole house rental. So thank you for that interesting advice—while it’s not a perfect solution, I think it is much better than the way I had the options listed before, (which was messy) and it will suffice for now. I appreciate your help and support!

[Fred13]

What you are trying to do is really for you to have the option of renting individual rooms and/or an entire place jumping from one or the other as demand determines, but not locked before hand with either separate-room listings or an entire place route (charging according to how many come). 

What have other booking agencies you been dealing with have suggested?

[Francesca-and-Dave0]

That’s what makes it complicated for Air BnB, although we have been doing this for over 20 years through our own website, phone bookings and places like Vrbo. I also know other hosts who are in the same position we are with having a whole house rental and providing guests with sn option for the number of bedrooms they want or need — they rent their properties in the same manner. All it requires is to have a menu option for “add rooms” at the time of booking. It’s so weird that Aur BnB can’t do this. That’s why I was wondering if there is a technical problem they’re having or a philosophical problem or something else…?

I rent the WHOLE hose out with one or two or three bedrooms. If only one bedroom is booked, I lock the other two and guests renting the one bedroom also have the entire house to themselves. When I rent two, or all three, it is ONLY to parties traveling together and they are also getting the rest of the entire house whether they book only one room, or two, or all three. Separate rooms are never booked to separate parties. 

thus option allows me to maximize my bookings and meet my guests needs. 

[Fred13]

I see what you are asking, not unreasonable at all.

[Jennifer3476]

I was just joining this forum to ask about this. I am very surprised that with all of the host upgrades that Airbnb just did, that this was not one of them. I read the reply and I am not willing to put in the extra time to manage a separate listing. It would be really nice if there was options like you suggested. 

[Lisa8784]

Hello! I would like to do lock off some bedrooms in my 4 bedroom to make smaller listings as well. What kind of lock do you use on the bedroom doors you wish to lock off? I wouldn’t want guests to be able to lock those doors when they do have access to those rooms. Thanks in advance for your help! 

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Lisa8784 a 3 or 5 lever deadlock with no latch is all you need. Just make sure you do not degrade fire safety by locking the room.

[Lisa8784]

Thanks so much for the quick reply!! 

[Lisa8784]

@Mike-And-Jane0 Thank you again for your quick reply! I’ve been trying to find a lock like you described and I’m having trouble. Would you be able to provide me with a link for a lock that would work? Thank you so much! Lisa