A potential guest contacted me yesterday asking if a 20% special offer that showed up on the Request to Book page was reflected in the quoted price. I don't have any promotions in place. I searched my listing as a potential guest and saw the promotion: "Book now and save 20%. Book within the next 30 hours to get this special offer," but the quoted price did not reflect the discount. I called Airbnb customer service about it and have so far gotten nowhere--the representative that I spoke with said that Airbnb does not issue special offers, only hosts do. It makes no sense for this offer to appear on the Request to Book page since at that point the guest has seen the total cost (with Airbnb service fees and lodging tax included) and is likely to book without the additional discount as an incentive. Supposedly Airbnb technical support is looking into the matter, but no one has yet reported back to me.
This same situation happened to me last November when a different guest inquired about the "Book now and save 20%" offer that she saw at the same point in the booking process. I called customer service, and the representative told me to ask the guest for a screenshot, which she wasn't able to send because she hadn't yet booked my property. I managed to send the potential guest my email address through the Airbnb firewall, and she emailed a screenshot of the promotion which I forwarded to customer service. 48 hours passed with no response, so I called Airbnb again. The customer service representative that I spoke to the second time told me that the promotion was a scam and that I shouldn't rent my house to the potential guest (despite the fact that she had numerous 5-star reviews). The rep was very evasive but adamant that I wouldn't want this guest in my house. He told me that he couldn't divulge why but that that I shouldn't worry because the guest wouldn't rent my house if I didn't offer the 20% discount. The whole exchange was so odd, but I took his advice and told the guest that I wouldn't be able to offer a discount, and she didn't end up renting my house.
I am completely mystified and disturbed by this matter. All of the Airbnb customer service people that I have spoken to have said that Airbnb would not honor this 20% discount. It puts me in a terrible position as a host--I don't want to take the hit for the 20% off, but guests seeing this strange promotion are not likely to rent my house if they have been promised a discount and don't received it.
Are any other hosts experiencing this issue?