Do your guests ask to negotiate the price?

[Quincy]

Negotiations.

A word that we have probably all encountered many times in our lives, and perhaps an action that we may have practised ourselves at one point. Negotiations when buying a car, negotiations when buying a property, the list goes on. 

Treading very carefully here, I am aware that in some regions negotiating the price is not common practice. However, since everyone has a different style of Hosting, how do you view guests who try to negotiate the price with you? Have you perhaps ever negotiated your asking price, and what advice would you give to other Hosts?

I look forward to reading your answers (please go easy on me 🙂). 

Thank you,

Quincy

[Katrina79]

@Quincy I would entertain anybody with  at least a response! I negotiate if the offer comes with a benefit offered by the guest. Ha! I like to think if Airbnb as a win/win for hosts and guests alike. Usually guests offer to book multiple weeks over a six month period or something like that and they are looking for a monthly discount to apply to weekly stays. I’m all for it during slow season but my monthly discount is small, so I’ve yet to have a guest book under their * beneficial offer*. 

[Quincy]

Thanks for sharing this @Katrina79! Always interesting to hear this from other perspectives! 

[Helen427]

@Quincy @Stephanie 

Are you able to explore further what timeframes these lookers were searching?

Is there a pattern from any particular part of the world?

Or if they are specifically searching for Holidays, work or simply a roof over their heads?

Was there anything major happening in those areas that may have impacted on needing a place to stay, and that perhaps saw a spike in there been a number of people at once using such keywords?

Was it a balanced mix of whole properties and private rooms they were searching for to negotiate?

I've found from personal feedback that guests traveling on their own tend to get tetchy about the overall price and probably are not aware of how much in fees Hosts pay to use the platform. perhaps there needs to be some education there to create better awareness.

Or alternatively to boost bookings a promotion where there's a discount offered to Hosts on overall fees to spark a little more confidence to travel again for whatever reason using ABB.

I guess because many people have lost income from loses of jobs those things may also be why people are looking up how to negotiate a different deal.

Maybe establish if it was an Academic experiment - I'm sure can tell if it was from IP addresses used in your data base 😉

Some of that info should help better with ABB Admin side of things to.

[Helen744]

Helen@744 I give varying discounts for weekly or monthly stays . I apply these because we see our work load as being less over these longer periods . This is generally due to workers travelling in groups.There is at times lots of these groups. This discount is standard . We will reduce our price over a week not the weekend if we want to attract a booking  but like others sometimes our workload requires a little down time.People requesting other discounts are rare but one that we had tried to by pass a 20 percent monthly discount and suggested we align with standard rental prices. We replied that we are neither a real estate agency or studen t accomodation and maybe those places would be a better fit . Hope that helps but I find those types of requests offensive as they generally apply to caravan parks here in Australia and for long distance travellers who share camping facilities. those places are often wanting to fill all cabins and will discount for a day just to increase bulk listings. there is a place for discounting but not during peak timesor as a general thing.H.

[Gillian166]

I've had a few people ask for discounts, and a few complain about the high price (I refrain from suggesting they find another house on a farm, with a pool, where they can bring their pet, but some of the spicy responses shared here did make me wish I would do it, lol). But they get a 10% discount for booking and taking the 5 day cancellation policy, so I just mention that instead. 

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Quincy 

I've had a few potential guests ask about a discount, some were really "just asking" and I explained nicely that weekly and monthly discounts were already reflected so if they put in dates, then they would see the discounts. I also had a few guests ask about booking direct in order to avoid the fees claiming that my rates were within the budget the fees made it go over - I simply declined. I also had one particular guest gush over my listing, telling me it's exactly what she was looking for, how she'd be the perfect guest, and she was sure she'd be a good fit with us and because of all this she'd like a discount and was sure we'd agree because we seemed like good, kind people. I just said "No thanks! Good luck finding a place to stay that better suits your budget~" 

My target guest group used to be exchange student guests, so if any of them tried to haggle after I already said no, I told them to look into the international dorm or a gosiwon type place and leave it at that.

I actually had a lot of experience with hagglers for my job as an interpreter/translator. People tend to think that because I'm bilingual and fluent, translating is "not a big deal" and I should do it for free. I've met so many people who'd offer to "buy me a really nice lunch" in exchange for translating a document. Whenever I show them the going rates for a professionally trained translator/interpreter they get all upset and treat me like I'm ripping them off for even thinking of charging then for a "simple, couple pages of really easy translation". I've also had people offer me a $100 gift certificate and/or a "meal for 2 coupon" at the buffet restaurant in the local Marriot/Hilton in exchange for an entire day of interpretation for a shareholder's meeting or corporate event. This has happened to me so much that I don't even get upset anymore. I usually say something along the lines of "I heard Mr. 000's kid who attends XX state university in the U.S. is in Korea for summer vacay, I'm sure (S)HE would love that gift certificate/meal coupon."

[Dora486]

@Fred13 my husband and I were discussing exactly the same thing last night.   We’ve decided to price to attract a better level of travellers and if we have vacancies so be it.  The only time we’ve had niggly guests is when they’ve stayed at a lower rate.  I want to, and do, enjoy my hosting experience.  It’s an early retirement project for us and not purely money driven.

[Fred13]

@Dora486 We were also just analyzing this approach ourselves the other day after a full year since Covid. What a 'perfect price point' we finally have hit upon on because every group of guests now has been a delight and fits our place so well. They are 'doers' at heart and nothing is a problem (like us) and do not hesitate to spend whatever it takes to have a great time. We changed from a maximum of 4 guests to 8 (can now accommodate families/groups of friends) , and removed the 5-day limit; no discounters allowed.

[Christine615]

I try to be considerate, but normally, if the guest is asking me to modify my terms (bring more people than I allow) or asking for discounts, my answer is a firm "no."

Think about it. What I charge for 2 people is less than the cost of a hotel room even with Airbnb fees and taxes. And I charge for each person over 2 people ($25/person/night) and it's still a bargain. So I'm polite, but I decline.

I think the only time I felt bad was a family of 6 that wanted to book and said they could "make it work." I think that might have been true but their inquiry was for 1 person and I pointed out that even if they put in the max number of 5 they would be looking a $75/per night more. They didn't continue. I'm sure it was partially due to budget. But also because 3-bedrooms is hard to find.

I think part of the problem is that people still buy into the "Air mattress" pricing or the days when you could rent a "room" for less than $99. But I'm renting a whole apartment with 9 rooms and 1500 square feet. Larger than many condos. So I think Airbnb could help with setting better expectations for guests.

Either way, I suppose there is no harm in asking about discounts. There are Youtube videos coaching people to wait until the last minute and asking for a discount to fill the space. I just decline. Asking when the price is already a bargain sets the wrong tone for me at least.

[Ted307]

@Christine615 The time I took a family of four in our place with a foam mat on the floor -- which they asked for in our place which we take 3 -- they rated us lower for our trouble. One of the few "4" ratings we have had. In our area, a motel room rents for what we charge for our bunkhouse, ~720 square feet.

[J-Renato0]

Yes @Quincy ! It is not infrequently to receive a message asking for a discount or to negotiate.

My modus operandi is not to give a discount. I set my price based or careful calculations.

However I am not a robot that can not think and distinguish that in some situations it is feasible to negotiate, when I still can have a good deal. Meaning, good to me and good to the guest. It has done me no harm a bit of flexibility in some situations.

[Max144]

I recently had request from a 19 year old para medic student doing training on the island for discount so instead of $84 a night offered $50 a night and never heard from her again so presume some one offered cheaper rate, but luckily cant recall any other instances and would be very wary as other Hosts have mentioned.