Changing a price before confirming a booking - impact on rating?

[Marie-and-Philippe0]

Hello, 

I realized that my pricing was not updated for next year and I already received a booking request that was at a lower rate that we would normally offer (our place is in a ski resort so we have seasonal pricing). The difference is substantial so I would like to send a modify quote to the guest. However, do you know if this will impact my rating? I feel bad for the guest but we are usually fully booked at that period with a much higher rate. It seems like people book earlier and earlier and we need to do a bit more planning. Thanks for your help!

[Asia19]

Maybe you could honor the rate that they booked, but change the rate in time so that it is accurate for all future bookings?  That way, you still get a good rating, and your listing will have the correct price for future guests.

[Susan151]

If they have already booked or requsted to book, I think you have to honor the price. This is the ethically correct thing to do. Your oversight, or mistake, isn't their mistake. 

Your question was about rating. I don't know. I suspect that if AirBNB was alerted by this guest that you were trying to change the rate after the fact, that they might block those dates. But, I don't know that, of course, since each AirBNB rep has a different idea of what is acceptable.

[Ange2]

@Marie-and-Philippe0   If it is a request alone (i.e. not a confirmed booking)  you can change the price, alert the guest and explain why.   If it is a confirmed booking it may be best to honor it for many reasons. If a  confirmed booking and you try to change the price the guests could report you for bait and switch, no idea how Airbnb deal with that, could be draconian.

[Letti0]

@Marie-and-Philippe0  Per AirBnB TOS you must honor the rate they booked at. It was your error, so you're going to have to eat this one. 

[Barry-and-Lera0]

@Marie-and-Philippe0: Happens to everyone I think. We got hit for a 2 week stay that was well under our rate for prime season a few years back. It was a learning experience and the guests came back at the regular rate the following year. After that we changed our booking window to "6 months" and then made sure we edited our calendar for the remainder of the year. As dates opened up the new rates were already loaded.

[Marie-and-Philippe0]

Thanks everyone for the feedback. This group is very resourceful. We decided to honor the rates they have booked at and updated all our rates right the way until 2019. Lesson learned...

[Fabian152]

I have just the opposite situation. I want to REDUCE the price before I accept the booking. Normally when I get an inquiry I can send back an offer, but I don't see a way to adjust the price downward to accept the booking. This is a situation where a property was double-booked on two different systems, and he has accepted a higher priced property at teh same rate. I don't want to click the ACCEPT button and lock in the higher price.

Thanks in advance.

[Susan151]

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@Fabian152 wrote:

I have just the opposite situation. I want to REDUCE the price before I accept the booking. Normally when I get an inquiry I can send back an offer, but I don't see a way to adjust the price downward to accept the booking. This is a situation where a property was double-booked on two different systems, and he has accepted a higher priced property at teh same rate. I don't want to click the ACCEPT button and lock in the higher price.

Thanks in advance.

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In this case, I would send them a message explaining that you will approve their booking, and that they should expect a SPECIAL OFFER at <this price.> Further state that once they accept the special offer, their rate will be reduced. Once you have sent the message, approve the booking and send the offer. I can't imagine that they won't accept the modification!