Alert- Airbnb algorithm failure

[T’Jon0]

Recently I have noticed guests have been booking my properties for 30-50% discounts when the only discount I offer is the “Top Rated Guest” discount of 15%. I have Smart Pricing minimums set but Smart Pricing has been overriding the settings and applying random large discounts. The discrepancy does not appear until after the guest books and then it is too late. You are stuck with the high discount. This has resulted in significant revenue losses. Airbnb has acknowledged and is aware of the glitch with no explanation and yet will not fix it or even investigate it. They offer no compensation and have an “oops, sorry but deal with it” attitude. I have not tried to cancel any reservations that have this discrepancy yet, as I have just discovered it. However, I fear Airbnb will assess penalties for the cancellation even though the charged amount reflects an unauthorized large discount as a result of their failed algorithm. I will monitor and try it on the next incident and report back their response. 

I ask all hosts to monitor your payouts and make sure this isn’t a systemic issue affecting all Hosts. If you find it is occurring on your listings I encourage you to report it immediately and make it known to the Host community. You can also respond on this thread. 

Thank you

[Shelley159]

Do you have any custom promotions running @T’Jon0 ?

[T’Jon0]

I don’t 

[Claudia4727]

Interesting. I experienced something similar, although not with such significant amounts. In my case, the difference ranged from 6% to 10%. I only noticed it when I received the reservation. This started happening after I opted into the new pricing model, where the Airbnb service fee is included in my payout.

When I contacted Support, I realized that the information I received was different from what I had understood when I opted into the new pricing model. That’s why I wanted to share my experience.

It’s worth double-checking your prices before a reservation is confirmed. We all know that pricing discrepancies can create problems, and if you end up having to request a cancellation because of them, it may negatively affect you as a host on the platform.

[Frances3408]

@T’Jon0 . Thanks for the heads up . Are you currently on Instant Book? I am wondering if until they fix it you would be better off switching off IB so you can review every request's pricing? I am seeing other posts here about discounts on discounts so maybe turn off top rated guest discount for now as well?. 

Personally I prefer to apply my own time sensitive discounts via direct pricing adjustments so I do not use Smart Pricing. I know deep discounts will usually attract a booker even without special offers so in monitoring local demand I can determine what other hosts are offering, including last minute discounts and whether that works (or not).

[T’Jon0]

Thank you for your advice. Currently I don’t have any discounts and I removed Smart pricing. But I do have instant book still active. I haven’t had any issues since removing the smart pricing. So far anyway