Weekly discount

[Angela104]

Hi all!

I am wondering how you feel about weekly discounts?  I offer them, and recently had a guest book a week, when she was planning to stay less time, because she would save money at the weekly rate.  I felt annoyed, because, that while it saved her money, it took my rental off the market for those extra days.  My feeling was that if you book a week, you should stay a week, and that she was not actually eligible for the discount.

My husband, bless his heart, sided with her!  I guess it is not a black and white issue, and was wondering how other hosts felt about this. 

Many thanks,

Angela

[David126]

I am going with your husband, you could always reduce your weekly discount so it is less than the price of one day. They paid for it, if they did not use it all the time then it is a win for you anyway.

[Brittany1]

@Angela104 We don't offer any discounts and never have any issue getting longer term stays. I agree with you. That would have really bothered me. I would suggest lowering your discount (or removing it) so that doesn't ever happen again.

[Anna152]

Angela, your weekly price should never be lower than 6 - 6.5 days' price. If your full day is $50, the week's should be no less than 6X50 + say, $20. This way if someone wants to book for just 6 days they will never be tempted to book for 7, because it will still be more than 6. If you discount too much, of course people will book for a lesser price if they can get away with it. Think about it: If half a pound of apples cost more than a pound, would you not buy a pound and discard the apples you did not want to use?

[David126]

Just looked and saw your discounts are very high, as mentioned above reduce them, I see no harm offering discounts if that is the business you are seeking.

[Ramon419]

Thank you for the idea. I was a little lost about that question. 

What about 30-day discounts?

[Ann72]

@Ramon419  I think 30-day discounts are okay, but you have to think it through.  Let's say you charge $50 a night and normally book about 20 nights out of the month.  That means you would normally bring in $1,000 a month.  You would not want your 30-day discount to bring the price below that.

[Dede0]

@Angela104 As others have said, your weekly/monthly discounts are much too high! 43% off for a week and 61% for a month? Of course smart guests are going to do a little math and figure out, for example, that if they want to stay 4 or more nights, it's cheaper to book the week. Or if they want to stay even just two weeks, book the month. I don't mean to be harsh, but you have no one but yourself to blame for not thinking your discounts through.

A little math:

1 day is 14.3% of a week. So set a weekly discount to something 13% or less to avoid clever guests booking a full week when they only want 5 or 6 days. Likewise, make sure that your monthly discount doesn't give guests a better price than a 3-week booking at the weekly rate. So, don't set a monthly discount of 30% or higher. (I'm simplistically pretending that a month has exactly 4 weeks, but you get the idea.) Personally, if I limited my weekly discount to 12-13%, I wouldn't set my monthly discount any higher than 20% even I wanted a monthly discount. I don't actually allow guests to book for a full month, so I don't have a monthly discount.

[Clare0]

@Angela104 If this guest knowingly reserved for a week and only planned to stay for less time to get a lower daily rate, I would expect her to pay for the full week and I would not accept any changes to the reservation.  She's gaming the system and you.  As you said, your calendar was blocked for other reservations and you should be compensated for that.  Just sayin'. 

[Dede0]

@Clare0 I think the guest did pay the weekly rate, but @Angela104's issue was that a) that rate netted her less than 4-5 days would have, and b) she was left with blocked days (which, having paid the requested weekly rate, the guest had every right to use or not). Again, the real issue is that Angela's discount was so extreme that she put herself in a position where smart guests (not sneaky, not deceptive, just good-with-math) could find a "deal" by booking for a week intead of 4 days. That guest then *did* pay for the entire week at the asked-for weekly rate. Angela can avoid this in the future by setting better discounts.

[Enzo6]

If you are happy with your weekly price then why are you bothered? Seems unreasonable to me!

What do you want from your property? Make a profit or just cover costs? I start out thinking what is the minimum that I would expect to cover my costs plus a bit extra. I benefit from monthly or weekly rentals as there is less laundry etc. I would rather someone paid my weekly price and they got the feeling that they got a day or two free than possibly them going to a competitor. 

[Amaris0]

Hi, 

I'm with your husband on this one, the loop hole was of your making and she just used it to her advantage, she didn't do anything wrong. As the saying goes - you win some, you lose some; put it down to experience and review your discounts.

All the best,

Ama

[Cathy77]

Can any of you explain to me how to change my weekly rental rate?  I can't figure it out since Airbnb made changes in how pricing is handled.  I'm getting stung by my low rate for a weekly rental at this point....any tips out there? Thanks!

[Melodie-And-John0]

@Angela104 , I can understand what your saying but sometimes budgets are limited and your discount might have made staying at your place affordable to these particular guests.  I'm with your husband on this cause the customer should always get what they pay for- you set the terms, they pay the cost and as long as they don't damage your place or make a ruckus , they are 5*'s in my mind.  

I would also look at it as having a couple days paid for where nobody will use fuel, electricity, water and septic, the cup is half full when your place is being paid for and empty instead of empty without a reservation paying for it (besides, guests that are not in residence are about as low maintenance as a host can ever wish for).  If your not happy with your discount policy settings, its easy enough to change but the rule of unintended consequences is always at play.  Stay well, JR