"Do I really have to pay this much?"

[Laura2592]

Yesterday's inquiry:

Guest "hi traveling with my adult daughter who may stay for one night. what is the total cost for that?" 

Me: "Thanks for checking out our cottage! If you have 3 guests there is an additional nightly fee for the third for $25 per person per night. I don't think there is a way to make the distinction for 3 guests on one night and 2 on another on a 2 night reservation. You should be able to see the totals when you plug in 3 guests prior to booking those dates. Let me know if you need help on how to do that. Thanks again!"

Guest: "could you except one night? do I really have to pay the extra?"

Me: "unfortunately we can't offer any discounts. I wish you the best in finding a great place to stay!"

Guest: "don't want a discount just 1 extra ppl for 1 night. why do you charge forthat?"

Me: "Our fee structure is based on a number of carefully considered factors. I am happy to send you some listings that may be a better fit for your budget. Best of luck in your search."

Guest "ive never heard of extra $$. so you won't comp me?"

Me: (silence)

Guest: "i still want to book."

No more responses from me.

This person has 5  five star reviews from other hosts....

Its always a huge red flag to me if an inquiry starts with push back on pricing. Why do people do this? You can't see the totals or the nightly price for some reason? They are clearly posted. I do not want to host this person.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Laura2592 I have some sympathy for the guest as we don't charge based on the number of people coming. Perhaps you could explain to the guest that the 2 person rate is actually a discount on the full occupancy rate but the Airbnb platform only allows a 2 person rate plus an additional guest fee rather than a 3 person rate and a lower guest count discount. 

[Laura2592]

@Mike-And-Jane0 I don't have sympathy.  We have a nominal cleaning fee listed and the additional per person fee is a fraction of our $170 something nightly rate. Airbnb does not allow sliding scale cleaning for people arriving with pets or using extra beds. Until they do we have the choice of scaring away couples (our bread and butter) by raising the fee to $200 a night or more for any combination of 1 to 4 people, or scaring away the occasional bargain hunter who balk st an extra nightly charge for a rotation of extra guests during  various parts of their stay. 

I have stayed plenty of places that charged an additional fee per person.  It really comes do to if I can afford that spot or not. I don't try to beg a discount or question the host on their prices. If its too much, I move on. 

[Gillian166]

you are 100% right Laura, i'm in the same boat. I charge $170/night for our cottage, for 2 people. extra guests pay more. plenty of times those 2 guests still use 2 beds which is annoying but we shrug it off. 

We have another 3 room listing and I made a specific listing attached to that one that is just for one bedroom, one bathroom only. (no bookings yet, it's quite new) I made the price low enough to direct people to that option. 

As for the extra night, extra guest thing, i've done it twice for a guest, they simply made a sep reservation for the other night with the extra guest, and i had to manually adjust the price to get the cleaning fee off. it's really clumsy and I wish we had the facility to charge by room rather than people, or both. 

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Laura2592 Unless you lock additional bedrooms a couple could easily expect to sleep in all the beds and use all the rooms. I agree with your characterisation of being competitive for couples hence my suggestion to explain that the 2 person rate is discounted.

[Laura2592]

@Mike-And-Jane0 they certainly can sleep in all the beds. But thats just one way to add extra cleaning time. 

I prefer not to use the word "discount" at all. Keep that idea far away from my listing!

[Gillian166]

i've thought about this, but then i have to start prying into the personal lives of my guests. Are they a couple? Are they married? etc.

We once had 2 grannies book and stay with their granddaughter (so sweet!), but they shared a bed.... so not sure if they were both the grannies or what, and I didn't need to pry. I've had a married couple still want to sleep in sep rooms.... all sorts of things. And maybe that's why they book my listing. It is annoying to have to do the extra cleaning but we take in our stride, and probably why i keep the price where it is. 

 

[Sarah977]

@Gillian166  The most loving couple I know sleep in separate rooms. He snores like  a freight train. They have come to stay with me and his snoring woke me up out of a deep sleep every night, through 2 doors and a bathroom. 

[Gillian166]

yes, snoring is def another reason for sep rooms!  

[Huma0]

@Laura2592 

I've often had guests who ask if an additional person can stay for part of their stay. It's annoying that Airbnb doesn't have a simple way to do this via the booking, so I just send them a request for the extra person fee as 'additional services'. That way I can still get paid without having to take money off platform.

I don't think the guest was wrong to ask as they might not see it as fair to pay an extra person fee for when that extra person isn't there. It's not the same as asking for a discount.

I do agree though that guests who keep pushing when you have told them no are annoying and I've never understood those that think that the price should be the same for one person or two. Two people obviously use more facilities, utilities and amenities and create more cleaning and laundry than one.

[Laura2592]

@Huma0 asking and closing the inquiry is fine. Complaints that they may have to pay an extra $25 for another person  (who, let's face it, very possibly would end up staying both nights)  in a red flag. If there one thing thats clear about our listing it's that we are very mindful of capacity and want guests to be as well. We are not the place you can bring your extended family and host a holiday meal.  Others may be happy to offer that but we are not those hosts. 

I think pricing is very clear once dates are punched in. Any arguments or negotiations after that falls o to the category of "asking for a discount" and that's sure to filter one out of my hosting pool. 

[Huma0]

@Laura2592 

For a situation where there will be an additional guest for only part of a stay, I don't think that the pricing is that obvious as there is no way for the guest to enter that scenario into the search, nor for the host to configure the pricing to accommodate that. They can only see what it's going to cost for the extra person to be there for the whole stay. Although we can see the extra person fee from our end, it's not displayed on the listing. So, I don't mind them asking and that's also why I charge the extra person fee separately. 

What I do mind is when they expect the extra person to stay for free or complain that it's too expensive. In that case, they can look for somewhere they think is better value and good luck with that! 

My situation is different from yours though because the booking guest is usually staying for some time, rather than a couple of nights, and the extra person staying for a small portion of that, so paying the fee for two people for the entire stay wouldn't make any sense. If it's only for a couple of days, I agree it shouldn't be such a big deal to just pay the fee for both nights.

[Pat271]

@Laura2592  Since I charge the same rate for 1 person as for 4 people, I’ll refrain from commenting due to my lack of experience with guest count permutations. It’s useful to see what other hosts do, though.

I will say that I wouldn’t even think of hosting this guest, or of wasting more than 2 lines of chat with her. Her attitude sucks, if I may put it bluntly.

I’m getting very adamant about only accepting guests who are cordial, enthusiastic, and thrilled to have found my place, even if it means sacrificing a bit of profit as a result.

[Laura2592]

@Pat271 yes to this 1000%

I’m getting very adamant about only accepting guests who are cordial, enthusiastic, and thrilled to have found my place, even if it means sacrificing a bit of profit as a result.

I think the stages of hosting are much like the stages of grief lol. You start out in a place where you are super enthusiastic-- what a great way to make money and meet interesting people! Then you quickly go through:

Denial- these people must have read the listing incorrectly? Maybe they meant well?

Anger- what the everloving heck did they do to my place? I can't believe they left it like this!! They need to pay! NOW!

Bargaining- well maybe if I raise my prices it will work. How about if I limit pets or number of people? How about if I only host stays of a certain duration? Take off Instant Book? Turn on Instant Book? Do new pictures? Take all my inquiries? Call ABB? Let's see what I can change.

Depression- I can't believe I work so hard and have had multiple guests in a row who have been really difficult and unappreciative. And the reviews....wow. I don't even want to look at another inquiry. I am just so blah on this whole thing. I have lost my mojo.

Acceptance- this is the way it is. I have to either get out or continue to expect the same.

[Pat271]

Excellent, @Laura2592; the stages of grief fit perfectly!