how to word or change listing

[Jenny68]

I have a 2 bedroom  / 2 bathroom listing > i  though i had thought  of most of the  issues. So when i listed  assuming most  2 persons would be sharing the  1 bedroom with the qs bed. I listed a nominated price  +   $45 for  a 3 person.. I now have someone booking with  2 people .. but  utlising both bathrooms and both bedrooms  / how do i change the listing to reflect  the second bathroom and 2 bedroom   is where the extra charge is for  rarther than  saying 3rd person ? AS the nominate fee isn't enough to cover 2 beds and 2 bathroom  cleans ?

[Christine1]

@Jenny68, Golly gosh, It's all clear in our minds, and then hey presto, our visitors help us to realise the 20 different ways our information can be interpreted. 

https://www.airbnb.com.au/help/article/473/how-do-i-edit-my-listing

I am not quite sure of the situation you are describing, but I won't let that stop me from attempting a response!! lol.

In the short term you could immediately write back to this guest, and make it known to them that your intention was if it was up to 2 people, then the assumption was they would share a room. However the 2nd room would be available if there was 3 in their group. So there is no extra charge if only one room is used and these 2 guests are sharing the bed and one bathroom.

Inform them that your intention was for the extra charge as shown for the third person being because this is to cover the use of the second room and bathroom. "Would they like to have separate rooms" if so no worries, there is just a slight extra charge as shown.

If this explanation is sent, will you then be in a position to offer the guests the option to "reserve" the 2nd bathroom and bedroom as long as they are willing pay the tariff that would apply, ie the 3 person allowable tariff?

Keep in mind if they choose this offer, they may decide to nominate a 3rd person to join them.

You can facilitate the paperwork/admin on these adjustments via the "my reservations" send an alteration to suit the circumstances and get their approval.

Other models of management are possible, but this is just a quick answer for dealing with your current situation.

Once all this is sorted, go into "manage my listings' and set up the second room as a second listing. Set the tariffs you believe will work for you and future guests and adjust all the descriptions to reflect the circumstances.

If you get requests for three you can just manage them as two bookings or send a special offer.

if it is all too awkward to change this booking without grief for all concerned, including you, then take it on the chin for this booking, Be super generous in spirit and share in their delight at such a bargain!

Then get busy altering/updating your listings to prevent this dilemma in future.

I sincerely hope it is helpful. Write back and let us know what you managed to do.

best regards, and happy hosting.

Christine.

[Jude7]

I, too, have recently had a similar situation. I have a two bedroom unit with additional money charged for a third guest. Just like you, my thinking was that two people would be a couple sharing one bed.  I quickly realized that two people can just as easily mean two beds, which translates into extra cleaning and laundry - in other words, more work!

I don't charge a cleaning fee.  Wondering if I should just charge extra for every person after the first? Of course,what would still be very reasonable for two individuals splitting the fee would now be higher for that couple that WAS using just one bed.

At the moment I am more interested in volume than income and will probably add this situation to my learning curve and keep things the same, but curious what others do about charging for additional guests, which I believe is what the original posting is also asking.

[Christine1]

@Jude7and @Jenny68, 

An easy way to get a feel for how you can structure things is byviewing other Airbnb listings and see how other hosts set them up. For the purpose of your research, put very particular details in your search parameters and then you will screen for the set-ups that you are curious about. eg 2 people 2 bedrooms 2 bathrooms private room etc. This exercise is more helpful than you might realise.

Additionally, research what's going on in your district. This will assist you to guage what may be the gap that you can fill. So if there is not a lot for single travellers, perhaps that's a target market which you can pitch yourself to through the way that you structure your booking preferences and tariffs.

I notice that many hosts in similar situations will have 2 or 3 listings for the two rooms, this allows for each room to be booked independently and also for a group of 3-4 people to make one booking which will secure both rooms. You will need to sinc or manually update availability to ensure that you do not incur double bookings if you have the third listing across the two rooms. This is because a booking on one listing will not automatically show unavailability on the calendar of your other listing. It's an option, but proceed with caution.

1 x separate listing for each room is safer when starting out, until you become accustomed to managing the volume. If a potential guest has 3-4 people and wants to secure both rooms you can offer a discount on one of the confirmed bookings/or a rebate afterwards via the resolution centre, if you want to give them a thankyou gift. But only if it suits you.

I hope this information is helpful to you both and hopefully to others.

Feel free to add your feedback and updates about how it's going for you.

Regards, Christine.

[Jude7]

Thank you, @Christine0, for that thoughtful response.  As a new host, I suspect there's a bit of a learning curve as one feels out their market.  At the moment, rather than focusing on the money I'm not earning, or the extra work I may inadvertently incur, I'm having a wonderful time meeting and interacting with many different people, making a few dollars, and learning how to get my "sea legs" in order!

I'm rapidly gaining confidence in that I've had 4 parties in two weeks and 11 bookings! I'm priced at the low end of a rather pricey market.  As this weekend's guest told me - I'm the best, lowest priced listing he could find in my area, as there are many larger and much more expensive places to be found. In addition to checking out what others are doing, I suspect it's a game of finding that perfect balance between wisdom and greed!

Thanks again for taking the time to respond!

Jude

[Jenny68]

that was really helpful > just gototo work out the mind field how best to  change it seems hard !