Guests Who Request to Rent Outside of AirBnB

[Maria730]

We recently had an elderly couple rent our beach home. They initially stated that they could not open the directions emailed to them through the AirBnB

website. We ended up having to email from our personal email before they could open the attachment. They were very complementary about the accomodations when they arrived, left things tidy, overall ideal guests. Then, the evening of the day they checked out, they contacted us by email stating they were having trouble booking another stay through the website. The next day, I sent a "Special Offer" through AirBnB with the dates they requested. Today, they responded with a request to rent our home on a consistent basis, one week every other month. However, they do NOT want to rent through AirBnB, but us directly, as it would be "more convenient". Of course it's appealing to have a consistent renter throughout the year, who was gentle on your home, but it feels very odd that they would approach things this way. Obviously, AirBnB wasn't so inconvenient that they couldn't rent previously. They have good feedback with other properties on AirBnB. It just doesn't sit well with us...why would they want to bypass AirBnB? They even mentioned offering the rental full price, including all the taxes &  AirBnB fees to compensate for our "extra trouble." Has anyone else dealt with this? 

[Fred13]

Hahaha. Good one @Helen350  😉

[Kristin1416]

As someone who wants a beach rental, it looks to me like Airbnb has increased their service fees.  If I can book outside of Airbnb and save on some fees, I am willing to do that.  But, I also wouldn't be offering you the full price, hence, why I am trying to save on service fees.  

[Marie8425]

My location is not touristy haha, so I do mostly contract workers that stay 1 -4 months. If they contact me on Airbnb, my usual requirement is I will  do the first 30 days on Airbnb. Airbnb gets their fees and both myself and the guest are offered some protection.  In reality anyone w[lling to give me $1,000 not knowing if I am legit to me is a red flag.

I tell them if we are both comfortable at week 3 then I will negotiate a longer stay outside Airbnb.

So Airbnb rightfully gets paid for bringing me the lead and both I  and the guest have paid Airbnb fees for protection.  I don't commit to long term pricing until I see what I am dealing with on a daily basis.