Guest frustrated because terms of discount not shown on booking page

Gavin52
Level 2
London, United Kingdom

Guest frustrated because terms of discount not shown on booking page

 

I recently had a guest who contacted me to understand why the price of my listing suddenly when up within the hour they were looking at the listing. I recently set my property live and there was a discount to the first three guests that made a booking. Unfortunately when this guest came to book the discount was already offered to three other guests. I can understand this person's frustration and concern because when you look at a listing with a limited time discount applied it only tells you the terms of the discount when you scroll down the page. But if you don't scroll down the page it does not display the terms of the discount. Therefore as a guest you would have not idea that the discount was for a limited time or number of guests.

 

I contacted Airbnb, but seem to have completely missed the point I was trying to address. While appreciate they were offering some sympathy to my situation they acknowledge that it was the guest that suffered the most. I have since replied to Airbnb asking them to address my points.

 

I feel this is an important matter of consumer rights and one that I feel could be breaking the law in the UK not to advertise the terms of discount at the point of sale and it should be treated with seriousness.

9 Replies 9
Emiel1
Level 10
Leeuwarden, The Netherlands

Hello @Gavin ,

As far as i know the special discounts are displayed below the booking form, which i think is a correct place, allthough it maybe needs some scrolling on certain devices. They are IMHO clearly phrased like: "the first 3 guest booking etc..". And if your guest is waiting to long to book, then offcourse the offer is gone.BTW I would have giving this guest also the discount manually, to keep everybody happy.

I know consumer rights a rather strict in the UK, but sometimes it's simply bad luck not being one of the first three guests to book. I is my experience guests are generaly not reading very well what's on there screen at all, including what is mentioned in the listing.

 

Best regards, Emiel

 

 

David126
Level 10
Como, CO

I had a similar situation with a 10% discount voucher from Home Depot, missed the cut off date, happens.

David
Fred13
Level 10
Placencia, Belize

It is the 4th guest that missed the cutoff, but it is Airbnb that is somehow the culprit? How exactly are they responsible for the outcome of the 'lottery'? I would have given the 4th guest a discount also and save every's time and let good-will rule the day.

Gavin52
Level 2
London, United Kingdom

@Emiel1 Thank you for your reply. I agree with a lot of what you have said although when I looked the the discount is advertised on the listing but not the terms, I can't remember if you have to scroll for the terms to appear, but either way it's not transparent enough. UK/EU regulations state that when an offer is advertised the terms of the offer need to be explained with it.

 

@Fred13 No Airbnb isn't a culprit but they aren't following the law. It's as simple as that.

 

No one has to convince me that loosing out on a discount is just the way it is. I'm not affected as host or a business, I still had enough bookings regardless, but from a consumers point of view it's not a) an experience that could be improves b) breaking the law. Airbnb have already been done for various regulations their not adhearing to, you can't just turn a blind eye to these things. They're there for a reason.

@Gavin52 you originally wrote: "I feel this is an important matter of consumer rights and one that I feel could be breaking the law in the UK not to advertise the terms of discount at the point of sale and it should be treated with seriousness."

     

  You offered a 'first-3 guest' discount, but the placement of it was not right with the offer itself in proximity but at the very bottom of the page, thus not adhering exactly with 'discount law'. 

   Again, I would have given him the discount also and moved on and not wasted a nano-second.  That is what this host would have done, and if your originally intent was to extract other host's opinion, you got mine.

   Yes, all things are subject to improvement; perhaps you should write to Airbnb direct (via feedback) and maybe they will be in agreement and make the change. Nothing to loose.

 

Gavin52
Level 2
London, United Kingdom

@Fred13 I'm grateful for your view and especially based on your experience that it is not worth worrying too much about. I did resolve this with the guest, but I'd I'm also strongly believe it's not a good experience for guests.

Nothing wrong with improvement really; personally I am a big fan of 'keeping everything in front' of the reader, and thus lessen the need to cross-reference. I used to write technical books and always battled with publishers to please include a chart in the same 2-page spread when the chart is referenced, just plain easier to follow.

Alexandra316
Level 10
Lincoln, Canada

@Gavin52 Do you have a screenshot of this, or just a description from the guest? Because honestly, some guests seem to have issues with reading and interpreting listings at the best of times.

 

I agree with @Fred13: I would just manually apply the discount and move on. I've seen these types of discounts on listings, and I've never noticed that you have to scroll to see the terms before.

@Alexandra316 yeah I can sympathise with that, however I have seen it for myself. The discount is shown above the booking button and then when you scroll down the page a thing animates into view below the button that says someything like "This host is offering a discount to the first three guests which book", similar to how it says "This is a rare find". I have searched and searched to see if I can find a listing with a special discount to show you this but I couldn't find any.