Long-term stays

[Sammy-L-0]

We just opened our listing and had our first guest November 27. Even with it being our first month, we have had around 50 percent occupancy, and done much better financially than anticipated.

Yesterday, we got an inquiry from a traveling nurse about a 3- month stay. At first I was inclined to pre-approve it because she had good reviews and we could use the guaranteed income to pay some if the bills from renovating. Then I looked at the amount AurBnB would be charging her and our payout. I nearly had a heart attack. It wouldn't even cover the mortgage and utilities, much less pay renovation bills 

I had set a 26-percent discount for a month-long stay, but AirBnB was giving her a 66 percent discount. That's before the platform's own 15-percent cut.

Needless to say, I decline the reservation and changed our maximum stay to 28 days.

Has anyone else had this kind of problem? I'm considering just setting a price and turning off automatic pricing.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Sammy-L-0 Smart pricing should really be named Dumb pricing. Either switch it off or do as we do and set the minimum price per night at a level you are happy with. That way there is some upside and little downside.

[Sammy-L-0]

I set the low end at what we could live with and they still undershot that by 66 percent. I think I'll just turn it off entirely.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Sammy-L-0 ah then you may have a different problem. We found a weekly price applied to our listing that was less than the nighty price. You may have a similar issue with a monthly price. 

Go to your pricing part of the listing and edit the monthly or weekly stay prices. Do let me know if you find one.

[Sammy-L-0]

I took out weekly and monthly prices since ABnB seems to ignore them anyway.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Sammy-L-0 so did you have a monthly price set? Why do you think ABB ignores them?

[Pat271]

Also, make sure you don’t have another discount set somewhere in the settings. Airbnb accumulates these discounts, rather than taking the largest one. For instance, if you have a 26% monthly discount set, and a 20% discount set somewhere else in the listing, Airbnb will calculate one on top of the other, rather than simply applying the largest available discount.

Also, in general, Airbnb really wasn’t designed for and isn’t set up for stays of 28-30 days or longer. In most places, at least in the US, a guest becomes a tenant for stays of 30 days or longer, with associated tenants rights. For instance, if you have squatters on your hands with a shorter-term stay, they are considered trespassers, and the police will normally help you get them out. Not so with a longer term stay, where the courts have to get involved and the process of getting them out can be very time consuming.

If you are going to host a longer-term guest, you really should have an associated written, locale-specific rental agreement, and a “real” security deposit (not the lip-service deposit you put in the Airbnb settings, which isn’t a real deposit at all).

[Sammy-L-0]

That's good to know. We had a five-day and a 7-day discount set as well. I had assumed that was not cumulative.

[Pat271]

@Sammy-L-0  I think they will apply the time-based discounts in the same category correctly. I’m talking about another discount set somewhere else in the listing, for instance a custom discount set directly on the date range.

You should go through it and figure out exactly how they came up with the total payout, to insure there isn’t some wayward discount set somewhere. It could be just a function of the rock-bottom daily rates that Airbnb considers as “Smart Pricing”. You can see those nightly rates on the calendar.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Sammy-L-0 these discounts should not accumulate. Do you have the 'first three bookings' 20% off discount set? this would give a 46% discount in your case.

[Sammy-L-0]

I do, but we have already had six

bookings.

[Susan990]

@Sammy-L-0  Leason to learn is Never click automatic pricing!!! Stay in control of your property and profits. Instant book is fine when you set up the criteria for full documentation plus previous Reviews, which eliminates the newbys- they have to submit an request/inquiry.  The travel nurses are a good clientele I know but your mistake was clicking that AI thing which destroyed your business goals.

[Susan990]

@Sammy-L-0  Honestly, from many years experience I can state with authority that 1. guests do not read 2. guests do not do math.  All they truly process is the stated nightly price and the photos. All that weekly discount and monthly discount does not compute i.e. is not appreciated. They do register the cleaning fee and the service fee which ABB is the cheapest in my area at 10.5%. I suggest you set a good looking price nightly and no more than 15% monthly.  If someone needs a monthly rental they will not be calculating the 15% ones with the 25% ones. It simply does not compute nor translate to serving their lodging needs.  The services provided for long term however are crucial. Those things must be served and very thoughtfully. 

[Huma0]

@Sammy-L-0 

I am pretty sure there must be something going on here with multiple discounts, as others have suggested.

I have been hosting long term guests for years and have never experienced a problem like this, but I don't have any discounts set, other than my long term one.

I do use Smart Pricing, but make sure my minimum nightly rate, taking into account the long term discount, is something I am happy with. When I was hosting short term guests, I also used to tweak the prices to reflect holidays, seasonal changes, demand etc.

I set my long term discounts to 10% for weekly and 15% for monthly. I don't think they need to be higher than that.

Another thing to consider when you host long term is what process to have in place for cleaning.

I have generally had very good experiences with medical professionals booking long stays.

However, as others have mentioned, it's really important to know the laws in your local area regarding tenants' rights so you're not caught out if someone doesn't want to leave.