Pricing issue when guests extend stay

[Zoe338]

We’ve been hosting for a couple of years and are now having an issue with pricing when guests extend their stay. I’ve checked & rechecked to make sure we don’t have any discounts (Airbnb rep I just spoke to also confirmed this) for weekly stays or lower prices in certain days but for some reason we are now on our second guest who has chosen to extend their stay, send the request via the app and the add’l days are discounted. I didn’t notice the discount when it happened the first time (nightly rate was discounted $10/night) but noticed it tonight and not approving the extended days. I placed a ticket with Airbnb over a week ago and have had no answers other than “this is not an issue on our end”. I’ve been successful using this app for two years and find it disappointing that I’m still trying to solve this issue alone.

[Gwen386]

@Zoe338 When a stay is extended, it is at the same rate it was when the guest reserved the space, as long as the guest has not checked out.

Example: if guest rented space for a week for a discounted rate of $700 (excluding fees), that’s $100 per night. If they extend the stay for 2 nights, that’s an extra $200. It doesn’t matter if your daily rate when they extend is $300. Guest extended rate is based on their original rate at time of reservation.

Now, if guest checks out and then do a new reservation, the rates you charge at that time come into play. 

Hope this makes sense. 

[Zoe338]

Hi Gwen- thanks for weighing in but when last two guests sent stay extension requests they were NOT at the same rate as their initial stay. Finally got a tenacious support person tonight who spoke with a manager and let me know that guests have the option to REQUEST ANY RATE THEY WANT when sending a request. The first one I missed so was out the money and the second I didn’t accept (guest said they’d check out if discount wasn’t accepted). Both were guests who came to work (several days) in the area. I’ve never seen this information anywhere (nor have I ever needed to extend my stay when traveling) but now when my partner researched, found info on nerdwallet about an Airbnb hack for guests to save money by booking minimum number of days then requesting a discounted trip alteration. Highly recommend hosts carefully review payout before accepting stay alterations.

[Zoe338]

UPDATE: We’ve gone back & forth with support for almost two months with this issue. Each person gave us a different explanation (most gaslighting us by insisting we put a discount on our stays even though a past rep carefully reviewed all our settings & confirmed this was not the case & we’ve never offered discounts). And just as quickly as the issue appeared it went away which confirms it was a software glitch. Our thoughts go out to any and all hosts who encounter issues as we’ve seen first hand how frustrating it is to go around & around to resolve what should be a simple issue and never receive a definitive answer nor compensation for lost monies.

[Cheryl-And-Tom1]

We are experiencing this now for the 1st time… book one night, then extend a night at significantly discounted rates for BOTH nights when already had a promotion on 1st night. 
Still learning this system… and frustrated. 

[Zoe338]

I wish you well. Please post again if you are able to get resolved or come up with a work-around. I do suggest you reach out to support (sending a message not calling) so at least the issue is logged. I feel your frustration & hope issue goes away quickly.

[Vicki651]

I just had this happen 20 minutes ago. I politely messaged the guest and told them there was a software glitch at airbnb and that I needed to deny their request, then I would send them my own request immediately. This way I could retain my earnings. Their one day extension was automatically generated by Airbnb for $13 on a $150 per night stay. I extended their stay one day and put in my own pricing of $150.

[Zoe338]

Thank you Gwen. Can you believe no support rep told us this after talking to multiple reps? Ultimately we realized there was some sort of software glitch which magically seems to have corrected itself (we suspect our requests were forwarded to engineers who got it corrected yet we never received a definitive answer from support. Phew! Good riddance! 

[Breanna]

Hi @Zoe338 

Just wanted to stop by and leave the link to what I believe explains the issue you've experienced >> https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Support-with-your-bookings/Wrong-fees-when-guests-attempt-to-ext...

I see you had raised the issue with customer service as well. Did you hear back from them about why it happened?

[Zoe460]

Hi Breanna- please see my follow up comments that I previously posted. There was no glitch or mistake. When a guest makes an alteration to their booking they are able to CHOOSE WHATEVER PRICE THEY WANT TO PAY (raising my voice so other hosts are aware). Since I’ve never had to extend a stay as a guest nor had a guest do this previously I was blindsided and out the money when I accepted guests alteration. Guest didn’t say anything about wanting a discount or asking to negotiate the new days price & I didn’t look closely at my bottom line until after the guest checked out. Later, my co-host discovered this “hack” being mentioned on nerdwallet. Just when I thought I understood the platform…

[Zoe338]

Thank you Breanna. This link is to a post by my co-host. We never received an answer from support and the experience has left us disillusioned with the lack of a deep understanding on how the system works. He spoke to multiple reps in different countries and no one had an explanation and either insisted we were paid our full rate or that we had placed the discount. We finally realized it was a software glitch which now seems to be corrected. It’s disappointing the lack of knowledge and training even managers receive which leaves them unable to assist.