@Wade32
Wade, I assess every situation on its merits, I will not have a guest ask me for a discount.....if there is going to be a discount involved, I will offer it, not be asked for it!
If I have had a 7-8 or 14 night stay and the guest has been pleasant and cooperative, I will, at the conclusion of their stay, tell them I will be refunding 10% on what I have been paid for the duration of their stay and that amount will be refunded to their Airbnb payment method. Any discount I offer does not include Airbnb service fees or any taxes involved......it relates to what I have been paid.
In general Guests are delighted with this because they were not expecting it.
I do not offer anything above a 10% refund. I go out of my way to provide good value with my hosting and I run a spreadsheet relating to the cost of hosting guests on my property. To take any notice of Airbnb prompts to offer up to a 35% discount for extended stays is simply ridiculous, a shortcut to financial ruin. You are running your hosting business, not Airbnb, you set the financial return you require, and stick to it.
Wade, experience teaches us that guests who actively chase discounts, in general, turn out to be less than satisfactory guests to host. They are the guests that will mark you down for value and take whatever they can with them when they leave....their way of getting that discount they were chasing!
If a guest tries to potentially put me in that situation I suggest that my listing might not be a good fit for them and suggest they look for other listings in my area! Doing that firmly sets the grounds rules, the guest either says " Fine with that, just thought there was no harm in asking"......or, I won't hear anything back from them and they will go somewhere else.
Either way, they have not compromised what I do here!
Wade you have to all the time remain in control, not hand it to Airbnb or the guest!
Cheers.........Rob