Wrong fees when guests attempt to extend their stays

[Ramses16]

Folks, my wife and I have maintained our superhost status for a long time since we opened our Airbnb site 2 years ago. We have been noticing an issue with the last two guests, when they attempt to extend their stays, there is a fee reduction of $10. We called Airbnb support and NADA… nothing was resolved, tonight we are having the same issue and I am starting to suspect that guests are becoming aware of this bug with the extension as we have never in the past have had extensions requested back to back. So they may be catching on that there is a bug and they are requesting extensions. When I told my guest there was an issue with the extensions and to please book another stay and we would wave the cleaning fee, he mentioned that the rates were higher than the extension, this is putting us in an award position. I had to let him know there is an issue with the software. As much as we love our customers, we are not going to give away our product for an issue that is not ours. In that case maybe closing until fixed would be a good solution. Anybody else experiencing the same issue?

[Paula]

Hi @Ramses16 I'm sorry to hear about this issue; It sounds like a possible bug. Could you please share a screenshot that highlights this error? While we're not part of the Support Team, we can help in forwarding your case to the technical team for further investigation.

Additionally, I'd like to recommend following these troubleshooting steps to see if the issue persists:

• Log out.
• Close all browser windows and tabs.
• Open a new window or tab.
• Clear your cache, cookies, and browsing history.
• If you're using an app, try deleting and reinstalling it.
• Log back in using your EMAILFROM_ACCOUNT.

This could help in resolving the problem. Keep as posted.

[Ramses16]

Hi Paula, no issue, it turns out that guests can choose whatever price they want when requesting an alteration to an existing reservation to add more days. If the host is not aware, he might be approving a pay decrease with the alteration. Savvy guests are starting to use it more frequently, in fact they have booked 3 day stays and then request an alteration. This is known as an Airbnb “hack” in some websites. Good luck y’all!

[Ramses16]

Folks, my wife and I have maintained our superhost status for a long time since we opened our Airbnb site 2 years ago. We have been noticing an issue with the last two guests, when they attempt to extend their stays, there is a fee reduction of $10. We called Airbnb support and NADA… nothing was resolved, tonight we are having the same issue and I am starting to suspect that guests are becoming aware of this bug with the extension as we have never in the past have had extensions requested back to back. So they may be catching on that there is a bug and they are requesting extensions. When I told my guest there was an issue with the extensions and to please book another stay and we would wave the cleaning fee, he mentioned that the rates were higher than the extension, this is putting us in an award position. I had to let him know there is an issue with the software. As much as we love our customers, we are not going to give away our product for an issue that is not ours. In that case maybe closing until fixed would be a good solution. Anybody else experiencing the same issue?

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Ramses16 Is the extension triggering a weekly (or other time based) discount that then applies to the whole stay?

[Ramses16 · Accepted solution]

Hello Mike, I found the answer…. What happens is that guests can request an extension at whatever rate they want and you have the choice of rejecting it or accepting it. You have to message the guest to negóciate the price but otherwise if you blindly accept the extension, you will also accept the rates they propose without you knowingly. It is not a bug. Say if your rates are $81 for 3 nights, then you can request to extend it at a lower rate say $70. Personally, I think , there should be an extension rate feature, that allows you to set the rate of discounts in percentages, 10,15 or 20% but not leave it entirely at the guest’s devices to decide. I think guests can abuse this feature, they know they plan to stay in a location for x number of nights but then the savvy guest books the minimum then requests an extension at the rate they desire. If the host is not careful, the host could be granting a  discount the host did not expect or was not aware of.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Ramses16 That's a really good find. Can I suggest you mark your answer as the best answer to help people find it easily.

[Ramses16]

Hello Mike-And-Jane, could you try marking it as best answer, because I answer it myself, it does not let me do it.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Ramses16 its marked as best answer so I guess you managed it!

[Ramses16]

Thank you for your feedback. 

[Bhumika]

Thank you @Ramses16 for coming back and updating us with your findings and marking it as the best answer. It is definitely going to help the Hosts who may encounter a similar concern.

 @Mike-And-Jane0 Thank you for always guiding our new members through the Community Center! It is so much appreciated🌻😍!

[Cheryl-And-Tom1]

Thanks for this info…

[David10981]

I have my listing set to auto % reduction for 7 day and monthly bookings, (I host up to 30 days) I presume I shouldn't get your problem. But thanks for highlighting this, it's def something to watch out for.

[Ramses16]

This is separate thing, a discount based on settings and alteration request are not the same . potentially, they would get the new rate as you approve it , then they might get your generous discount again based on your settings. I don’t trust anything and verify everything.:)

[Devon88]

I don't know that they are necessarily trying to choose their own price... I think it's a bug based on the rates for the already completed nights. A guest tried to extend for 30 nights yesterday and I noticed my payoff was way off. I did some digging and started playing with numbers and when I went to personally alter the dates of the reservation using the prices pulled in from Pricelabs (I don't touch these whatsoever and there are no customizations) I found out that if she were to request to extend just ONE day, I would OWE her $1900!! Furthermore, I input the exact same dates of her original stay (January 1 - March 1) and found out that my payout would be $2000 less. There is something VERY wrong with the price calculations and I believe they are using retroactive pricing models which is absolutely infuriating. Now the guest is irate because she was shown a very wrong number and thinks I'm price gouging her. WHAT?