Guest wants to cancel and rebook

[Karl92]

I had someone book for two guests. A few days later, he asked if a third person could stay, and I would be payed outside Airbnb. I replied that I would only go through Airbnb. He said no problem.

i changed the reservation to three guests which increased the total about $160 (Approximately $27 per day.) I have Smart Pricing set, and I don’t understand why it doesn’t add just the $10 for persons over two, but that’s what it calculated. Airbnb said it was because of how Smart Pricing works overall, not just that a third person is being added.

The guest said that if he cancels, then adds a third person his cost be $60 less. I don’t know how he arrived at that because, if the room is already booked for those dates, how could he check pricing fot three days? Also, why would Smart Pricing calculate differently if rebooking?

 I feel as if the increased price is still a reasonable price since it already includes a discount for weekly stay. I just wanted some feedback.

By the way, I told him to decide how he wants to proceed since I know there could be repercussions if I cancel.

[Linda108]

@Karl92  I am not knowledgeable about how Smart Pricing works but it is wise of you to have the guest work out his issue on his own or with Air BNB help.  You cannot help and it can only hurt you to cancel.  

[Karl92]

I sent him a message. He didn’t say how he came to $60 less by rebooking, but I can only assume it was because he used $10 per extra guest X 7. I had a range of $62 - 89 set up in Smart Pricing, so maybe it takes 3 people into account versus 2 when setting the price. 

I suggested he contact Airbnb for his concerns and help with changing the reservation.

[Letti0]

@Karl92   Turn off the Smart Pricing it's not very smart. What your guest is telling you is your price adjusts daily with Smart Pricing and it's pricing you lower now then when he booked. So if he cancels and rebooks with the current prices Smart pricing is offering he will get all 3 people booked for $60 less then the price he booked at for 2. Look around your area and see what comparable properties are charging and set a base price at $80 that's what your competition is at $80-$125. Up your weekend price by $10. 

[Christine615]

What I do is I put in a change reservation request (or have the guest do it), then manually adjust the price (make sure it includes the cleaning fee and the additional guest fee) because sometimes Airbnb doesn't get it right.

[Roberta2]

@Karl92

Remeber that the Airbnb own fee will also be added on top of the extra guest, so this will also increase overal extra total (so it will not be only $10 x number of nights, it will be $10 x number of nights + airbnb fee of X% - I am still unclear of how much their fee is, even after over 3 years of hosting 🙂 )

[Louise231]

Hi @Karl92

be wary of this, your price for the room now, and the price after a guest cancels might be completely different.

I've almost been stung by this a few times, airbnb calculates the new price and can slash the price heavily to 'help' you get rebooked. for me It's set prices lower than my smart price minimum , (even when i've had smart prices switched off?!) .

If i ever get a cancelation i'm massivly concerned, not becuase i'm worried the days won't re-book, because i'm scared it will suddenly be priced lower than i'm happy to host at. (it becomes a race for me to log-on and change the prices before someone can book them at 'bargain' price)

From a guest point of view, sometimes dates have half price booking fees if they are dates that were previously cancelled by another guest, but i don't know how that'd work with the same guest re-booking the dates.

If the dates are showing quiet a high price when you amend for the extra person (ie more than your $10). Maybe just send a special request price that you are both happy with?

[Cormac0]

@Karl92

Or maybe the third person is a phantom and your guest just wants the $60 reduction as a new booking!

This is the nonsense that is smart pricing…

In previous posts, Hosts have pointed out that they were getting a request to reduce prices from the smart pricing system, even though they were fully booked out for an extended period.

One can only conclude, that the smart prices algorithm was using booked and unbooked listings as the bases for generating their price suggestions, which is obviously complete tosh, as it was not factoring in the supply and demand parameter.