RECENT CHANGE TO SPECIAL OFFERS IS A NIGHTMARE TO HOSTS, AIRBNB MANAGEMENT, IT, READ THIS

Keith6
Level 4
Daytona Beach, FL

RECENT CHANGE TO SPECIAL OFFERS IS A NIGHTMARE TO HOSTS, AIRBNB MANAGEMENT, IT, READ THIS

AIRBNB MANAGEMENT, IT PEOPLE, THIS IS A MUST READ  TO END TO REALIZE WHAT YOU HAVE DONE

I do not know exaclty what IT god woke up one morning, (about 3 days ago the change happened) and decided to change the Special Offer area without testing it to see how it would affect hosts, but you have taken away an  extremely important tool for hosts, taken hosts back to the stone age (or 1940's).   I have a very large airbnb house with 11 bedrooms.   If a group books and wants an extra bedroom, I would charge them a $25 xtra fee for cleaning of that bedroom.   If a group was booking for 14 guests and I wanted to drop their price down $500, that used to be a simple no brainer.     Some MIT IT dufus has gone in and removed an extremely important tool for me which there is no way possible NOW to do either one of those without playing around in the system sending about 15 special offers to see where the $ amounts come out.  

Here is why.

Prior to a few days ago when you clicked on Special Offer in a booking request, TWO boxes came up,  one right in the middle of the screen showed exactly what the host would receive, the other, (below and to the right a tad) showed exactly what a guest would pay.   You could adjust the amounts in either box and it would adjust the other box price wise accordingly.   So if you needed to add $25. to what the host would receive, you add the $25 and both boxes would adjust.  You could add to the host payout, or you could reduce the guest reservation amount via either box, simple, easy.

NOW, there is only ONE BOX that comes up when you click on Special Offer, it is to the left, and the amount field is empty.  So if I need to add $25, I have no idea what the guest is paying, so I cannot add $25 to that.  Above that box, it shows what the host receives, but does not show Airbnb fees or the taxes, so if you were to add $25 to what the host receives, you do not see how much Airbnb fees or taxes go up, you would be just guessing, so you cannot add an exact $25.  I had to send and remove 4 special offers to one guest just to try to add $25 and still could not get it to equal an exact $25.  Try doing that when you want to reduce a guest reservation request for 14 staying for a week by $800,  IT IS NOW ABSOLUTELY IMPOSSIBLE.  

Unless you were a host and did this in real life, you probably are confused and do not know what I am talking about, so do it in real life.  IT, use memy account as a guinea pig, use your own computer/phone, send me a request to stay, 2 nights, then log in as me and add the simple little amount to work with of $25 to your reservation... ah ha... you cannot do it, even your brainiac self cannot add $25 without sending multiple special offers to see you are close to adding the $25. Just not possible with the change that was made.   Now try to reduce a week long reservation request by $500.   you would have to send (and withdrawl) numerous special offers just to try to get near $500.      Then if in any way you could take the Special Offer change back to where it was a week ago, and see how simple, a no brainer, took seconds to do, you would understand how with this new change you have ripped this extremely important tool out of our tool box and make it impossible, absolutely inefficient, devastating to hosts to try to add or reduce guests reservation amounts now. 

15 Replies 15
Emiel1
Level 10
Leeuwarden, The Netherlands

@Keith6 

If a booking Request comes in, there is no "special offer" button at all !

You mention "Special Offer in a booking request", but that feature does not excist when it is a booking request (when it is an Inquiry, then the "special offer" feature is available).

So I am confused about your posting.

best regards,

Emiel

 

Emiel, I do not know if they have a different platform there in Netherlands, but here in Daytona Beach, FL, any thing in my inbox; booking request, inquiry, statement, (any combination of any letters)  I receive that has a date in it, whether it is just asking me how far the beach is, the color of the sky, availability of nights, # of bedrooms, if it has dates in the message from a potential guest, there is a special offer button, always has been, and I went back months looking at my inbox messages. Once they book,that special offer box does go away, but any type of message, request, inquiry, statement where they put dates in it that I receive in my inbox has a Special Offer box where you can send a special offer to that person.    I used the Special Offer 4 days ago last, and many many timer prior, it has always been different (easier to use just as stated in my original post) than it is now, the changed that happened 2-3 days ago.   

Keith6
Level 4
Daytona Beach, FL

Booking request/inquiry, same thing to me, it is in your Inbox, when you receive a message from a guest, you pull up that message and you can reply and/or send a special offer.  The Special Offer ability has changed over the last couple days.  It is something I use very often, now it has been completely changed, where before you can adjust host payout or guest payment amount individually, where it showed the exact amounts,  Now it is a blank box and you have to absolutely guess the numbers.   If it is something you never used before, you would not understand this rediculous, not necessary in any universe change.

Emiel1
Level 10
Leeuwarden, The Netherlands

@Keith6,

As we as Superhosts all know: a Request or an Inquiry are not the same thing.

But more important: at my side the special offer screen still looks the same as it used to be.

(BTW using a computer, not the app)

So maybe there is some local error or change on the platform a your side.

Best regards,

Emiel

I'm in Brazil, also a Superhost for 3 years, and understand there is a slight difference between inquiry and request to book. "Inquiry" when the customer merely sends a message (however to do so, they need to fill the dates and number of guests, which generates a price), and "request" when they actually request to book. Actually both appear in the message box and the "request" to book has only two options, accept or decline, whereas the "inquiry" has the special offer option.

But I reckon this is not the central point and I fully agree that the new SPECIAL OFFER really sucks. We are now deprived of essential information and it is not clear at all if the special offer I fill now is what I will get or what the host will pay. I think the purpose of the change was to hide the commission information from hosts, so that bad hosts would not be tempted to go around and try to book directly. But in my opinion, the effect is just the opposite.

AIRBNB changes the site TOO OFTEN. When we finally get used to the new design and features, here comes another one. I understand there is a need to evolve, but we should be made aware of the changes and maybe have the option to keep using the prior version. This last change to the Special Offer is terrible, they should go back to the previous version.

Susan151
Level 10
Somerville, MA

@Keith6 . My goodness. Use your return key. Paragraphs are your friend! Your post is simply impossible to read.

 

I have the special offer button where I expect it to be. I actually received an inquiry today, and there it was!

Inna22
Level 10
Chicago, IL

@Keith6  is actuall 100 percent correct 

Ben551
Level 10
Wellington, New Zealand

@Keith6  seems to be working fine for me.. weird, maybe it's a glitch in the app.  Have you tried using a PC to check?

This problem if guests shortening their stay is a problem. A current guest booked 19 nights as he was waiting for his apartment to be ready to move in. After barely 3 nights, he learns his apartment will be ready after his 6th night of 19 booked. He wants a full refund of the nights he won't need. We loose potential guests because he has the room booked. I don't believe we are obligated to refund the uneeded nights. Correct? What do you do in this situation? 

It will depend upon your refund policy if you don’t want to do anything. If you normally get bookings you can consider offering some nights back as a refund and some at the refund amount your policy states which is what I might do if it were me.  I might charge an additional 7 days at my policy - whatever it may be. And the guest has to live with that. Then allow the guest to cancel the rest id that is allowed with no penalty if there is indeed a way to do so.  If you ah e a strict policy you will be fully paid for an extra week and the other 6 days will not be paid for.  So it’s about 50/50. 

Sandy188
Level 3
Wilmington, NC

Ditto to Keith and Victor.  The new version of "special offer" is a nightmare and useless.  The digression is nonsensical.  It discourages me from sending a special offer because it's a pain to figure out an optimal compromise for host and guests.  

Another update that is maddening as well:  the temporary email and phone # are now on a separate screen from the message/conversation; also an unhelpful and problematic update for me. 

The digression is mind blowing!  If the "updates" were actual "improvements" that made the process glide;  i.e., by providing pertinent, NECESSARY information at our fingertips, wouldn't that be amazing?!!  The so-called improvements cause a simple process to be difficult and problematic.  

If I had a clue to understanding the reason for these "updates," I might be slightly less frustrated/discouraged/mind-boggled.  I've been a host for 6 years and I dread the updates.

Sandy188
Level 3
Wilmington, NC

I've sent my feedback to Airbnb for the first time ever.  I hope others who find these updates problematic also send feedback.

Michael407
Level 1
Los Angeles, CA

Removing the Special Offfer is totally screwed up. What were you thinking? Put it back asap!

Donna51
Level 7
Seattle, WA

Agree that the change is highly problematic.

AIRBNB Product Development folks -- Hosts need the ability to adjust CLEANING FEES (if not other things), to accommodate things like longer stays with either Reservation Requests or Pending Reservations. Right now, I can only adjust the total price (which adds taxes and takes out fees, etc.) OR wait til they arrive and 'Request Money'. Since this guest is perfectly willing at the outset to pay the extra cleaning fee to happen midway in his long stay, I should have an option to simply update that "cleaning fee" box and confirm (or revise) the reservation NOW, as he's booking it.

Seriously, HOW CAN WE GIVE YOU MORE INPUT BEFORE YOU MAKE CHANGES?!  Who do you give beta versions to?