Smart pricing gone horribly wrong

[Mike-And-Jane0]

We had set smart pricing to have a minimum price of £65 per night so were horrified when an Instant Book reservation came for 9 nights at £310 total.

I spoke to Customer Support and was told

1) I had given a 50% discount for a non-refundable booking (I Hadn't)

2) The guest has only paid half and the amount will go up later (They hadn't and it won't)

3) They would look into it further and would message me with a case reference (they didn't)

I then chatted with a support ambassador who typed that he would pass it to a case manager and promptly closed the chat - no idea what, if anything, will happen next.

I guess I am forced to cancel the reservation myself as Customer Support is totally lacking. It is a shame as the guest wants to book with us and I fear if I cancel then they won't be able to. Perhaps I will call Customer support tomorrow and hope I get someone in Ireland as they appear to be more capable than most.

I have also switched off Smart Pricing as it seems to throw up major glitches!!!!

@Nick I remember you asked about people using smart pricing recently - Issues such as this may or may not be associated with smart pricing but as I have never had such a problem before I have to assume that Smart Pricing is at fault.

[Brian2036]

@Colleen253 

Thanks to your warning I just checked my settings and once again found that refund policy was "Flexible" rather than "Firm."

I really appreciate your advice.

I think this has happened at least twice before but my memory is not completely reliable. I thought I had changed it but when it went back to Flexible later I thought that perhaps I had failed to click "save."

[Colleen253]

@Brian2036 "I think this has happened at least twice before but my memory is not completely reliable. I thought I had changed it but when it went back to Flexible later I thought that perhaps I had failed to click "save."

That's Airbnb gaslighting you.  Your memory is fine.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

So after a long chat with Customer Support they seem to have accepted that there might be a problem with their software. BUT sadly tell me that 'There's no way to escalate this to other sectors of the company.'

So even if you do persuade them there is an issue there is no way of them doing anything about it. 

@Nick Surely there is a way to pass issues with the software to someone who can actually investigate and sort it out!

[Brian2036]

@Mike-And-Jane0 @Colleen253 

I would be surprised if the new and improved OCS (offshore customer servants) have the ability to do much of anything about technical difficulties.

They probably have the same access to the tech wallahs that we do. Which is to say, “None, never, nohow.”

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Nick To be fair to Airbnb Thiago from Customer Support appears to have come good for me as he (she?)  has passed the issue to 'engineering' and tells me they will get in touch in due course.

Strange that this originally couldn't happen (and I guess it may still not happen) but it is at least possible things are moving forward correctly.

[Jenny349]

@Mike-And-Jane0 @Nick @Brian2036 @Colleen253 

Hi all, just catching up with the outcome of this thread - glad you got it sorted with your guest, and with ABB, or at least on the right route! 👍

[Mike-And-Jane0]

Aargh!!!!!!!!!

@Nick @Jenny349 @Brian2036 @Colleen253 It has happened again. Same listing, same issue with 5 nights booked for a total of £50 over Christmas. So I guess it wasn't Smart Pricing at fault as we have switched it off but of course I AM NO FURTHER FORWARD in. sorting it out.

I will call Customer non-support in the morning and get them to cancel the reservation and HOPE that they will actually get someone to look into the root cause of the issue. You never know - perhaps they have been looking into it since the last occurrence.

Frustrated of Derbyshire's rant is no over.

[Colleen253]

@Mike-And-Jane0What the heck? Yours is certainly not even the only post on here about mysterious pricing glitches. This platform is glitched right out. It sure would be nice if Airbnb could get it under control. Feeling your frustration. 

[Brian2036]

@Mike-And-Jane0 

Incredible. I seriously doubt that you’re the only ones with this problem.

 I wonder how long it would take to fix it if Airbnb’s fees somehow got reset from 20% to 2%?

[Mike-And-Jane0]

So the latest guest has kindly cancelled his £17 per night booking so I am talking with Customer Support AGAIN now that I can see the problem in real time.

Strangely my calendar shows the correct price per night but when you highlight the Christmas  week and then check what a guest would pay it shows as a third the price.

So just checking the price per night in the calendar is not enough to solve this problem.

I think I will have to modify the description to warn people before Airbnb waste's their time!

[Emilia42]

@Mike-And-Jane0 Weird. I hope you get somewhere with Airbnb. What happens if you make your prices that week $200. I wonder if that would increase the price on the guest's end?

[Brian2036]

@Mike-And-Jane0 

That is a good idea.

There may be something buried somewhere in the legal arcana that disclaims any obligation to honor erroneous price quotes but it is unlikely that anyone reads it.

Pointing out that mistakes can happen should help to head off trouble.

[Brian2036]

@Mike-And-Jane0 

I have been somewhat uneasy about this note under “pricing and availability:”

You are responsible for choosing the listing price.

Smart Pricing

Smart Pricing lets you set your prices to automatically go up or down based on changes in demand for listings like yours.

You are always responsible for your price, so Smart Pricing is controlled by other pricing settings you choose, and you can adjust nightly prices any time. Smart Pricing is based on the type and location of your listing, the season, demand, and other factors.

Price tips

Price tips are automated nightly price recommendations that you can choose to save. They are based on the type and location of your listing, the season, demand, and other factors. Even if you use price tips, you always control your price and can override the tips at any time.

This would seem to be a disclaimer of Airbnb’s liability for any confusion resulting from incidents related to improper pricing.

It twice notes that pricing is the host’s responsibility.

I don’t have any legal precedent handy but I believe that if any advertised price is clearly wrong the seller can refuse to honor it.

For example, if a newspaper advertisement says that a new car is for sale at $3.35 rather than $$33,500,  I doubt that the dealer would be obligated to sell it for that price.

I suppose that if the website continues to malfunction this way, eventually some guest will try to force the host to honor the ridiculously low price, however.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Brian2036 The second guest to book a low priced Christmas week claimed that as he had made a contract with me that it had to be honoured. I suggested he read the Airbnb T&Cs and also standard UK contract law means this is not the case. Thankfully, at this point, he backed off and cancelled the booking himself.

I am also protected in that we have Instant Book enabled and so get three 'I am not comfortable with this booking' free of penalty cancellations of which I haven't had to use any so far.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Brian2036 @Emilia42 I've added a new rule to the listing that basically says Airbnb have a fault in their software and if they get a very low price for the Christmas week I am afraid the stay will be cancelled. I know people don't read the rules but it will at least allow me to argue a cancellation with Airbnb.