Warning! Be careful when altering long-term reservations

[Huma0]

Back in September, a guest booked one of my rooms for a six-month stay. A couple of days ago, she asked if she could check in two days earlier. The room was available, so I sent an alteration request changing the check in from 6th to 4th January and she accepted straight away. Simple, right?

Wrong!

Airbnb adjusted the total price and charged her nearly £1,500 more. For two nights! 

Of course, I called up Customer Services and the rep told me that the average nightly price had changed and the new price had been applied to the entire stay. She asked me which was the correct average nightly price. Was there an error when the guest booked which meant she was undercharged, or is there an error now and she is being overcharged? Maybe neither price is correct and it should be somewhere in the middle.

Well, I have no way of knowing. I have Smart Pricing switched on and a weekend is usually more expensive than a week day, a date in June more expensive than one in February, there is a long-term discount, etc. etc. I have no way of knowing what the average of 175 nights was at the time of the booking three months ago. 

So, a case manager was assigned, but he just emailed me saying that if I had changed the nightly price by mistake, I should change it back. Not very helpful.

Anyway, after a lot of back and forth, the guest and I decided to change the dates back to the original ones at the original price and that she would book the extra two nights separately.

But, I did call Airbnb again to find out what had happened. I spoke to a different rep. He told me that, when you change the dates on a reservation, Airbnb needs to recalculate the total amount to work out the fees. However, when the system does this, it ignores any long-term discount that was in place, which is why the nightly rate became higher.

Obviously, because this booking was for six months, the difference in price was glaringly obvious. But, if you have a weekly discount for example, or even if a guest is staying a month, you could easily miss that the guest is being overcharged. Just something I thought people should be aware of. Guests thinking that a host has potentially ripped them off is not the best start to a stay!

[Huma0]

@Hasti1

@Susan151is right, you should contact Airbnb if the host is not being responsive and you are worrid about the booking. Also, you can check what the cancellation policy is on the listing. There are various cancellation policies hosts can select from, so it might be that you are still entitled to a full refund of accommodation fees. However, Airbnb will usually keep their fees, which can be a lot of a long-term booking. I would definitely call them to find out. Do not just hit 'cancel'!

[Huma0]

This problem with Airbnb incorrectly adjusting the price needs to be corrected. It is unfair to guests, but also unfair to hosts as it can leave the guest with a bad taste in their mouths.

I just hosted a very lovely lady for one month. I believe that everything went well and she left me a lovely review. However, right at the end of her stay, I was telling her about the problem I had with the billing for the guest I mentioned in my original post. She said that she was sure something similar had happened to her, as she had extended her stay by a day or two, but the total cost was more than expected so she thinks that she was not given the long-term discount for the additional nights.

I had accepted the request to extend the stay well before I became aware of this glitch and it seemed too complicated to work out the difference. She had a friend coming to stay for three nights, so I offered to waive the extra person charge. She insisted on paying it, saying that she could see that I kept the space "spick and span", what hard work that must be and that I deserved to be rewarded for it. I suggested I only charge half the rate for the additional person and she accepted this.

So, I though everything was fine, but she marked me down on value. Given that she seemed delighted with her stay and gave me 5 stars for everything else, I am sure that this rating was due to the mentioned glitch.  Her private feedback was the same as the public review, which reinforces my feeling that sometimes guests don't realise that they are supposed to be rating the host/listing, NOT their experience with Airbnb and its fees.

[Allan142]

@Huma0

I am encountering this issue too right now, but as a guest. I would actually be paying more than the re-modified price for 1 month less of stay.

Would it have been possible for you as the host to cancel the reservation, and let the guest re-book with the new dates? Of course, with the understanding that the guest will rebook for sure. Thanks!

[Huma0]

Hi @Allan142 

With the guest I originally posted about, we found a solution by keeping the reservation with the original dates and then she booked the two extra nights as a separate booking. That way, whe was not losing the long-term discount on the six-month stay she had originally booked.

With the guest mentioned above, she had requested an alteration to her stay well before I became aware of this problem and she never mentioned it at the time, so I wasn't aware that she might have been charged an incorrect price. Unlike the guest staying six months, the price difference wasn't that noticable. She only mentioned it to me in passing a couple of days before she left. I offered her a discount, which she turned down, saying that it was not a problem. I then offered her a smaller discount, which she accepted. BUT, she still marked me down on value.

I think the problem is that, even when the guest knows it is Airbnb's fault and not the host's, they often mark down on value, thinking that the value = the total price of their trip, including Airbnb fees. They do not realise that they are NOT rating Airbnb in the review process and only the host will be affected by any negative ratings.

[Allan142]

@Huma0 

I understand what you mean, and it's ridiculous that Airbnb has not fixed this. Thank you.

But since you and the guest both have an agreement about the situation, could you have canceled the guest's reservation, and let the guest rebook his/her reservation with the modified date? Would you as the host have been penalized? Or would there have been any penalty on the guest?

[Huma0]

Hi @Allan142 

There are many penalties for cancelling a guest reservation (including fines, loss of Superhost status for one year, a notice in your reviews that you cancelled a guest's reservation, etc. etc.) so I would never do this.

If the guest cancelled from their end, they would be charged a percentage of the accommodation costs according to the cancellation policy. As this was a long-term guest, she would have been charged in full for the first month. Even if I had then refunded her this, I could not have refunded the Airbnb fees, which were substantial.

So, no, cancelling and rebooking is not an option unless you get Airbnb to do this for you with no penalties to host or guest. However, both the guest and I contacted Airbnb several times and they were not particularly helpful. It was only the third rep I spoke to who told me the reason for the price difference was that the long-term discount disappears when the new price is calculated. However, he didn't really offer me any straightforward solution.

It was the guest's idea to change the reservation back to the original dates and book the extra two nights separately, and this seemed like the simplest way to proceeed.

[Siew6]

Air B n B should not be doing this as making ammendment to travel plan is unavoidable. I am shocked by the amount I was charged after I made  come movemnet of dates. Cleaning fees are the same. Its not cancellation. I hope the Aid B n B will look into this if not I will need to highlight this using Facebook. How can when I want to add days I get charged more than the per day rate that was charged. I also wonder if the hosts are aware of it?  

[Paul1826]

I have had a similar issue and cannot get it resolved. 
My guest was a long-time guest. He booked for 11 months (original dates July 7, 2019 to June 10, 2020) but asked to check out 9 days early on June 1.
I had received NO June pay out. My last pay out was May 8, 2020.
My nightly rate is $75.
I was charged an adjustment of $1,585.77 for 9 days. This is nearly my monthly rate! My rate for 9 days is aprox $611 with my weekly discount or $675 with no discount.
If I was not issued the June payout for this extended stay, how do I owe an adjustment at all much less such a hefty one? 
Trying to come back from the pandemic cancellations this is hitting hard.  Current guests are staying for "free" until the balance is paid off. 
AirBnB support makes all the sympathetic noises and refers me to a case manager who hasn't contacted me since I called 4 days ago.