Air bnb is forcing me to do a Special Offer

[Isis14]

Hi All,

Because I didn't repsond in 24 hours, which is rare, air bnb only allows me to respond with a special offer, which I don't think is necessary. How do I respond to the client without offer them a discount? My place is cheap enough and I should be charging more...but I would like to have the option to remove this special offer and still respond without feeling punished. 

Any suggestions appreciated.

Thanks,

Isis

[David126]

Special Offer does not have to be for less, could be any amount.

[Isis14]

 when I click on special offer there is no way to know. i have sent 2 screen shots. one before and one after to see there's no place to click and when I do the dates are blocked out and it's forcing me to choose other dates for the special which I don't want to do..

[Isis14]

here's the other screen shot. it's saying that I can't book him for the dates he has chosen. Should I tell the guest to decline and rebook? Or will this complicate the situation? 

[Edwin57]

You have to answer within 24 hours  tours your guests,now is up to the guest to confrim for your booking they also have 24 hours if you don't hear from guest within the 24 hours, then Airbnb declines the guest,in my experience I do answer the guest with in the time frame sometime guest don't replay back when they do replay back is to late

[Quincy]

Hello @Isis14,

Welcome to the Community Center!

I was wondering how it went with your booking. 

Please let me know. 

[Isis14]

Thanks for asking and I appreciate the opportunnity that airbnb is giving me. However,  I ended up loosing the booking and it was for 3 months! 

The reason was because I didn't respond in 24 hours but instead between 24 and 48 hours.  So the client was declined. The client contacted me right away and wanted to book anyways. I was unable to do anything as the dates were blocked and I was forced to change them and give him a special offer, which was illogical and I refused to do, since my pricing is very fair if not below market value, and the client doesn't want to book other days...

I explained to him why I responded late: I had another offer for a long term rental from another site that I use. And  because they didn't respond in 24  hours, I wanted to offer it to him. He was totally understanding and really liked my place! But because the situation frustrated us, darkening the situation, I told him that unfortunately, airbnb was blocking us from making the booking and that he would have to make a booking with someone else.

He was very disappointed and so was I. 

Why is airbnb meddling? Is it really necessary to punish the renter or the rentee for being a little late? Jeez, if I'm giving the client 48 hours flexible response time, shouldn't I also be allowed this flexibility too? I'm giving a good price for my place and I am human being, not a robot. 

Now I have a 71% response rate, which will certainly stain my reputation. 

A  24 hour response can be difficult to live up to, because lots of things can happen:

1. Technical Difficulties. Wifi goes down in your house or neighborhood. Or your computer or phone dies. 

2. Client books late on a Saturday night. I want to take a break on a Sunday to relax with my family and decide to check my emails on Monday. I have a right to do that.

3. A smart landlord will not depend on airbnb for their clients. They will use craigslist, real estate agents, word of mouth, etc because sometimes it's easier, not so many rules and expetations to live up to.