Price and Calendar

[Michael6333]

Hey all

How can I hedge against people leveraging the monthly discount just to cancel before the 30 days. As people know the monthly discount tends to be cheaper than the weekly discount, and there is an opportunity cost associated with the longer booking too.

[Karla533]

I have eliminated my monthly and weekly discounts. I did the math, and because I need to schedule maid service for longer stays (more than 5 nights) I actually make less money on these longer bookings than on my usual bookings of 4-5 days. (My place has a 3 night minimum.)

Also, as someone in the Community Center said, guests who stay 30+ days tend to be more troublesome, especially for those of us who are relatively new to short term rental. This is exactly my experience.

[Linda108]

What do you mean by leveraging the monthly discount?  The guest pays a full month in advance whether they stay that long or not.  If they leave early, unless you agree to a refund, they won't get a refund.  You get paid as agreed and your place is blocked for the month.  Now, if you agree to a refund for a shortened stay, you can recalculate the nightly rate without the discount and provide the refund then.  Does that make sense to you?

[Robin4]

@Michael6333 

Michael, I state in my listing description that I don't offer upfront discounts. I find that the guests who shop for discounts tend to be those guests you would not want to host again.

Now that is not to say I don't offer a long term discount.....I do but, I wait until the end of the stay when I can assess what discount might be appropriate, and I issue that discount in the form of a refund.

Michael, Airbnb are going to encourage you to set outrageous extended stay discounts of anything up to 30%! Now realistically the host (in many instances) does not make 30% in profit let alone be in a position to give it away. But that is not Airbnb's problem....they just want to make sure the booking does not escape to another STR platform......give the guest an offer they can't refuse!

It is a well known ruse that a guest will book a two week stay for a 15% discount with every intention of cancelled the remainder of the stay after 6 nights. The guest gets refunded at the pro-rata rate and the host gets stiffed into providing a 6 night stay for a 15% discount.

Michael, don't offer up-front discounts, we have all been caught!

Cheers.........Rob