@Melanie1030
Hi Melanie, hey there is no such thing as being 'thick or 'ignorant', we all had to start out from somewhere, and the only way we learn is by asking and reading comments by other hosts who may have a little bit more experience in that particular issue.
Don't be to hard on @Mike-And-Jane0 . Mike is one of the best hosts on the community centre who every day since I can remember has been giving great advice to help solve users issues. He wasn't trying to belittle you, it is probable that he was in the midst of a couple of answers at the same time and just abbreviated the process for you.....telling you what to expect!
To just flesh out what he was saying, when you send a special offer the program will first tell you to put in a price that you would like to receive from the guest which will be, not just your nightly rate but also your cleaning fee and any additional costs that are listed in your listing description. It will be a total amount that you want to receive! You might decide that £694.00 is the amount you want to receive for this 9 night booking whereas your regular rate is £774.00. The next screen will be a breakdown of the price which will show what the guest will pay....... £798.01 which is, your £694.00 plus Airbnb's guest service fee of 15%......£104.01 and in another box, what you the host will receive......£674.18 which is your £694 less the Airbnb host service fee of 3%......£20,82 and there will be up and down sliders which will let you adjust what the guest pays, either up or down and what you will receive. By adjusting these up and down arrows you will arrive at a discount amount you are comfortable with. Next click the tab 'Send Special offer' and complete breakdown of the transaction will be displayed for you to confirm. If you are happy with that, click the 'Send' tab and your special offer will be sent for the guests acceptance.
I hope this helps you Melanie and please don't be too hard on any of us, we genuinely want to help and you will find this CC a great hosting resource.
Cheers........Rob