New to hosting.

[Jake-And-Ashlee0]

Jake here. I'm new to hosting. I just listed a limestone home in our small town this week.

So, I already have a question. I have several people who have booked and I am grateful for that. I have one lady who has asked for a discount for a longer stay. I have given her 3 special offers so far and she hasn't booked. Every time it's for less days. How should I respond if she doesn't take the offer.

[Emiel1]

@Jake-And-Ashlee0 

If you sent special offer by "special offer" button, let her know the offer will expire (or be retracted by you) within xx hours.

If the offer was only communicated in the message system,just stop communication.

[Sarah977]

@Jake-And-Ashlee0  Something you should know is that guests who start out asking for discounts are giant red flags who often turn out to be very problematic guests. And that bad guests target new listings, assuming you will not be hip to a lot of things.

Also, I'm not sure what you mean by "longer term" in this case, but taking long term bookings through Airbnb is not a good thing to do- there are no protections for you and after 28 days or a month, the guest becomes a tenant in most jurisdictions, subject to landlord/tenant laws. Stick with short term bookings for now. You also need to build up reviews, and long term bookings won't accomplish that.

Your place is really cool. I love how the interior walls are decor in itself.  I would dress up the bedroom walls a bit with some artwork, as it looks a bit barren there and maybe I just can't see it in the photos, but it seems like one of the bedroom windows and all of the living room windows have no curtains. Guests like to be able to close curtains at night,  so they don't feel they're living in a fishbowl, and many hate getting woken up early by light streaming in the bedroom windows.

[Dave1074]

Be wary of people asking for discounts.  I would cancel the special offer for that lady and move on.  She is not serious. 

For a short time, maybe a month, have reasonable rates and set maximum days to about 5, so you get a bunch of stays and build up reviews.  Instant book helps a lot to get more viewings and bookings.  Please use the "recommended by other hosts" to protect yourself from guests with bad reviews.  And get "airreview" so you can research your guests. 

[Fred13]

@Jake-And-Ashlee0 Sounds like she has started the process of a discount game - if she stays 'X' amount of days to get a discount, but then starts to lessen  the days to the true intent and even gets a better discount in the process. One wonders what is the bottom line, a monthly rate for a 1-day stay? The word hustler comes to mind.

[Charles224]

@Jake-And-Ashlee0 

Like the previous @Fred13 , @Dave1074 , @Sarah977 , @Emiel1 suggest; watch out and see people like this as best avoided. 

Your place, your rules.

Good luck  !

[Laura2592]

@Jake-And-Ashlee0  you said "stone home" so I had to look as we have a native stone schoolhouse. I am in LOVE! And feel strongly that you need to keep this lady far away from your cute place. 

A couple of suggestions off the bat-- lower your guest counts to 4 and raise your prices. We have the exact same set up with 2 beds 2 baths and 4 is perfect. If you start adding sofas, air mattresses, cots etc four guests easily turns into 6 or 8. So just stop the madness at 4. Guests will try to sneak others in as well. 

As others have said discounts are a big red flag especially to a new host. Here is a thread that may help you:

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Hosting/Tips-for-new-hosts/m-p/1257038

[Robin4]

@Jake-And-Ashlee0 

Jake, there is a golden rule in hosting.....don't rent to hagglers, with each question they ask they require you to give more ground until you will give in to anything just to get them out of your life.

When a prospective guest starts to ask for special consideration suggest to them that your listing might not be a good fit for them and suggest they look to others in your area. That will tell them immediately that you are not to be influenced by their requests.

I have found in my hosting that bargain hunters invariably turn out to be the worst guests. They will mark you down for value, location, cleanliness....there will always be something that was not to their liking.

Guest requests fall into 2 categories.....

Passive/complimentary:  They have seen and liked your description and just want to stay.

Aggressive/demanding:   They have a number of questions they want answered before they book, most of which would have been in the listing description had they read it properly.

After a while you will get quite proficient at picking them Jake.

As far as discounts go, I do not offer upfront discounts. I will negotiate a refund at the end of the stay when I can access what discount is appropriate. I say that Jake because a guest will book a 14 night stay for a 15-20% discount and 6 days into the stay cancel the remainder of the stay. Airbnb will refund them for the remaining portion of the stay on a pro-rata basis less one night, and the host will be stiffed into supplying a 6 night stay for a 15-20% discount!

All the best with your hosting Jake and Ashlee, I wish you every success.

Cheers........Rob

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Jake-And-Ashlee0 

For that one lady in particular, I'd do as the other hosts suggest - withdraw any open special offers and avoid hosting her.

FYI, I tend to prefer longer stays therefore I've done the math to make sure that AFTER a weekly/monthly discount is applied, the per night rate is what I need/want it do be. This also means that shorter stays are more expensive - which is intentional. (I do not charge a cleaning fee, and have built it into my nightly rates. Shorter stays require more turnovers, longer stays are less work for me. I prefer longer stays but if I do get shorter staying guests, I want to make sure the extra work is worth it.) 

I've seen posts where hosts think only about the one large payout at the end of a long stay  - they forget to think about the fact that you need to be charging the equivalent of what it would cost to rent a fully furnished home, with bedding, towels, dishes, pots & pans, and all the utilities - maybe some or all amenities and even mid-stay cleaning and laundry, and then a deep-clean afterwards. So definitely WAAAAAY MORE than what rent would be for a similar home under a 1-year lease.