Guests bargain like my apartment worths nothing

[Cheng-Hsuan1]

Excuse me hosts, I am quite new to business and would like to ask for suggestions.

I have a guest asking check in at 7am and check out at night time.

she asks for discount immediately as she states, ‘I don’t stay for that 2 nights and I am paying for it.’

I offered: free airport pick up and drop off 

OK, not enough for her.

she is not happy.

Then I offered check out day for free 

means: she would need to book 11 nights instead of 12 nights.

OK, not enough.

she get back and ask they are 8 ppl and only want to pay 6 ppl.

PS: she is a host herself 

I personally feel very uncomfortable and not sure what to do.

thank you and welcome all suggestions

[Joelle43]

Oh my @Cheng-Hsuan1 - you are having a rough start to hosting and I'm sorry about that.  I've lost sight of the number of red flags that this "guest" is throwing up.  Coming from a host that is particularly harsh as they know only too well that you need good reviews.

Have you confirmed this reservation or is it maybe just an enquiry?  Hopefully it's just an enquiry and we can help you reply to this person.  It's an enquiry if you see a "pre-approval" sign.

I can quite understand why you are feeling uncomfortable as you're probably feeling that this guest is probably not a good fit for your place.  

If they have stated that there are 8 people but only want to declare/pay for 6 this is breaking your house rules and Airbnb rules so this alone is grounds for not accepting this reservation.  Is there a tourist tax to pay?

[Cheng-Hsuan1]

Thank you @Joelle43 that was an enquiry. We cannot agree on the last thing, paying 6 ppl instead of 8 ppl, the conversation is freezed.

I am not sure if this is normal in Airbnb for guests to ask for freebie like this? so I ask for some suggestions. 
Thank you for supporting me!

[Joelle43 · Accepted solution]

Hi again @Cheng-Hsuan1 

Ok that's good that it's only an enquiry and if I were faced with this situation I would push that refuse button with no hesitation.  I don't usually do that unless I'm feeling uncomfortable with a potential guest and by using that refuse/deny button, this stops them then putting in a reservation request.  Refusing an enquiry is no big deal but refusing too many booking requests can be if too many.

If you decide to refuse them, Airbnb will ask you to explain why.  Say you are not comfortable with this enquiry or even that you believe that they are going to break your house rules - 8 people arriving but only 6 people paying.  

I've just been onto your listing and can see that the price changes after 6 people and that there is also a tourist tax to pay so they are breaking the law here too.

Have a read of this guide that explains the difference between an enquiry and a booking request:

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Community-Guides/GUIDE-Handling-Enquiries-and-Bookings/td-p/1895...

And to answer your question is this normal behaviour?  You are a new host and unfortunately as newbies we are targeted by guests who know that at the beginning of our hosting life, we are vulnerable and don't always know how to respond and will ask for ridiculous things - like big discounts, go off platform etc.

With time, you will learn to become more confident and the more you learn here about hosting, the easier it will be to reply to these type of guests.

I think you have good instincts already and someone who is already being very hard to please, has every chance of being a bad hosting experience for you.  It's very important that you have guests that are going to be a good fit for your place so make sure your house rules/info contains the things you don't want too.

Keep us updated and good luck
Joëlle

[Cheng-Hsuan1]

Update: ahhhh She got her friend trying to request booking for 6 people. I declined without even thinking.

wow

I learn something today:)

Thank you @Joelle43 for all your support!