Special rate and reservation for a friend

[Mike1933]

I have some family friends that want to stay in my home.  I have taken the dates off the calendar so I can reserve them for my friend.  I want to offer a special rate for my friend (50% discount).  How do I allow my friend to reserve these dates and give them the special rate...

Alternately - 

In the future, how do I offer a "special rate" (possibly a negotiated rate for a long term stay) and make the dates on the calendar for people in such situations?

Thanks for your help and advice! 

Mike & Ayay

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

@Mike1933  If the guests are people you already know and trust, you're of course allowed to conduct the transaction outside of Airbnb, and save both of you the service fees.

But if you prefer to run it through the system without opening the calendar dates, you can use the Special Offer function. Just have the guests go to your listing, click "Contact Host," and send you a message using whatever dates are open as a reference. You can then extend a Special Offer for the dates and price of your choice (Airbnb will add its fees on top of the price you choose, so the guest will pay more than what you select). 

[Ute42]

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@Anonymous 

If the guests are people you already know and trust, you're of course allowed to conduct the transaction outside of Airbnb.

I did this in the past and it happened not only once, that these guests cancelled with pretty short notice, and didn't want to pay anything because "we are friends".  The friendship got sour over this.

[Emilia42]

@Ute42 If your "friends" had booked through Airbnb they would have also been sour when they were hit with the cancellation policy. Moral of the story here is : Friends should book a hotel 🙂

[Mike1933]

Thanks for your input... 

It would be nice if my friends were able to book via the regular channels and leave a review for the property since we are just getting started... 

[Sarah977]

@Mike1933  If they are your friends, they could just book at the normal rate and you simply reimburse them privately. I have a friend who is also a host and we do this when we come to visit each other. So we each get the review and ratings, and it ups the guest count for Superhost status, which doesn't really matter to her, as she gets lots of one and two nighter bookings year-round, whereas I'm in a market that tends to get 10 day-2 week bookings and is quite seasonal.

The difference in them booking at the normal price or a discounted rate would be that they might be charged a higher service fee- but not necessarily that big a difference, because Airbnb tends to up their service charge as a host discounts the rate.

[Renee291]

Are there any limitations as to how large of a discount you can allow?  Can you offer it for free through the platform to someone in need?  My reassoning for going through the platform is to help maintain super host status and to get reviews.

[Helen3]

Yes you can sign up to Airbnb's programme for frontline health workers and offer it for free through the programme @Renee291 

[Renee291]

 I want to offer it for free to someone who has been ordered to work from home but whose household is not conducive to that - this situation would not fit under that program.

[Jim1461]

@Renee291  Try sending her a special offer for $1.

[Alison921]

How do you send a special offer? 

[Emiel1]

@Alison921 

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/35/sending-special-offers