I have two accounts and get different prices for reservations depending on which account I'm using!?

[Suzy86]

This should be illegal. I'm trying to book a vacation rental and I'm getting two different prices per night depending which account I am logged into! This isn't an issue with searching with dates selected. It is jacking up prices on me and offering the same houses at different prices depending on what account I'm logged into! My never used account get's cheaper rates than my account I book reservation with by $50 a night! That is a huge price increase! I am pissed. Are there laws against this? Are people aware that this is happening? I canceled a booking over this and am trying to go direct now with the host, super annoying. The pricing discriminates depending on your booking history, I'm getting robbed! 

[Ann72]

@Suzy86 It's well known that guests with less than stellar reviews are charged more.  It's not illegal if it's in Airbnb's terms of service.  You can contact Airbnb help (see first page of this "Help" section for all the contact info) and ask them.

FYI, the hosts don't charge more for one account than another.  We have no way of knowing what your history is before you've booked.

[Susan151]

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@Ann72 wrote:

@Suzy86 It's well known that guests with less than stellar reviews are charged more. 

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Really? Tell me more Obi.

[Ann72]

@Susan151 Someone told me this years ago!  And since I'm Obi, I generalized to "it is well known."  

I have heard this from more than one person, though.  I just don't know where the price hike occurs.  This is from Help:  "The guest service fee for homes ranges between 0% and 20% of the booking subtotal and is calculated using a variety of factors—these include the reservation subtotal, the length of the stay, and characteristics of the listing." 

Note the wide percentage range and the "variety of factors."  When they write "these include," there's an implied "but are not limited to."  In other words, they're leaving their options open.

What do you think?

[Susan151]

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@Ann72 wrote:

@Susan151 

What do you think?

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I don't like it at all, to be honest. However, I suppose if a guest has received repeated refunds and credits from AirBNB and used lots of CS time, it makes sense that AirBNB would charge more knowing that this particular guest is a riskier proposition.

In my business, I have been known to have a PITA surcharge for clients that just annoy me one too many times. [Then they are fired.]

[Ann72]

@Susan151 I started to type "What is a PITA surcharge," then it came to me.  *dying

Yeah - 0% to 20% is a pretty wide range!  And then there's "characteristics of the listing."  That could mean anything and everything.

This is why I hate Terms of Service, EULAs and all the rest.  A big part of my job is negotiating contracts and I would never let things like that stand undefined.  And yet here I am, agreeing to all of it by using the platform.

[Emilia42]

@Suzy86, can you take a picutre of each screen where the prices are different and post them here?

[Suzy86]

Yes I have screenshots, how do you upload? I'm clicking the camra icon but its not allowing me to attach any file. I tried dropping the photo onto the message to add it and that's not working either. I am not able to upload them. I can email them directly to your email if you'd like? Let me know. Thanks

[Alex-and-Vaughan0]

> I canceled a booking over this and am trying to go direct now with the host...

Don't try to take the booking out of the Airbnb system.

Regarding the two accounts, are the local currencies set to the same -- that is, maybe one is US and the other Canadian dollars?

[Suzy86]

That's not what I did, I contacted the host so he could directly offer me at the price I should be getting the place for. It's through Airbnb. 

[Emiel1]

@Suzy86 

The pricing of a listing is used to calculate a booking, so i can not imagine why another account gets different price if same parameters are involved (moment of booking, dates, currency, amount of guests etc..). What can differ is the Airbnb Service Fee applied. BTW listings which are using Smart Pricing can show different prices on different moments, as pricing can change dynamically.

So was the price difference in the Airbnb Service Fee and was it all in the booking form ?

Please try (again) to upload the screenshots (click on the camera icon and an upload screen should appear).

Best regards,

Emiel

[Jessica1948]

I want to know why I am being quoted prices for properties to stay at that are significantly higher that others I know who have fewer trips, and my reviews are the best. A typical example is a particular selfcontained beachside property. For exactly the same period, same number of guests, same filters, an absolutely identical booking apart from two different accounts, I am being asked to pay Aus $1132 while the other is being asked to pay Aus $792. I have excellent reviews, no black marks against me, and a longer trackrecord,/more trips.

Entire studio apartment 
4 guests · Studio · 2 beds · 1 bath
Indoor fireplace · Heating · Kitchen · Wi-Fi
Rating 4.94 out of 5;  4.94103 reviews (103)
Price:$ 792 to the other person
$1132 for me

[Susan1188]

I have noticed too that the service fee can vary a lot!

I imagine the algorithm is also extremely sophisticated to maximise it.

Perhaps the system is looking at the past searches done with your userid, or at the other properties you clicked on, or even observing your eye movements through the camera (I'm an internet marketing specialist, and I'm not kidding).

First of all - the HOST has absolutely no control over that, we set our price for each calendar day and we can give long term discounts and early bird discounts and last minute discounts ... but we can't change the price for different users!

Whether it is legal or not.... it's certainly unpleasant - but why would it be illegal?

[Brooke365]

I just google searched why does Airbnb do this because … when I was on a new device I was quoted $279 per night. Once I was logged in it jumped to $429. I don’t have any marks against me and I use Airbnb regularly. When I went back to an unknown device I was able to go all the way through and book at the lower price so I know the higher quote wasn’t about the price I have to pay in my region. 

[Huma0]

@Brooke365 

I've seen other discussion here on the CC about this in the past, and the conclusion was that Airbnb system hikes up its service fees (the host isn't changing their accommodation rates for each user, obviously), when it thinks the user is already a customer or regular customer and reduces these for what it thinks of as new customers, i.e. to incentivise them to book.

This sounds like price gauging and I am not sure it's actually legal in a lot of places, but no doubt Airbnb's lawyers have figured out how this can be done without getting into trouble.

It would certainly explain why guest fees are so variable, but hosts fees are set in stone. It gives Airbnb the leeway to charge guests whatever they like, but probably most guests never realise they are paying a higher total than others. I wonder if my repeat guests get charged more every time they book. No one has ever mentioned it to me though.

I had one guest who said the price I was charging in my alteration request (she wanted to change to a bigger room) was more than if she searched for it as a new booking. Airbnb told me the price I was charging was correct, but couldn't give me an explanation why she was seeing it cheaper via the search...