r/AirBnBHosts

Airbnb Hosts, I Need Some Advice! 😂

We're still fairly new to hosting and learning as we go!

We currently have some workers who booked for two weeks and needed to extend for another two weeks.

Our discounts are set at 10% for 7+ nights and 30% for 28+ nights. (Yes, I know that 30% is generous! We're learning! 😂😂)

The guests said Airbnb wouldn't allow them to make a new reservation, only extend their current one.

Now it appears they're getting the 30% monthly discount on the additional two weeks, making those two weeks significantly cheaper than the first two.

My questions:

Is this normal when guests extend a reservation to 28+ nights?

How can I prevent such a large discount from being applied to an extension in the future?

Is there a way to adjust the price of an extension without affecting the original reservation?

I definitely want to encourage longer stays, but I also don't want to leave too much money on the table!

Experienced hosts, what would you recommend? I'm all ears! 😊

From now on I’m telling all long term guests property is as is. Being upfront with any long term guests as all homes have imperfections and are not designed for a particular guest. First of all let me tell you I’m a very diligent host. I go out of my way to offer everything to my guest. Trust me. I pay a cleansing team and a home sitter to check the home. But this first booked for 3 weeks and was given high weekly discount. We are two weeks in and not one day has she not messaged me. First it was your ac vent….the wind sounds is too loud. We have black out blinds and she complained the sides show a little light from a street light. I sleep there all the time….its really dark. Then she complained garbage truck comes too early and wakes her up. Her husband messaged me today and said they tested the pool chlorine and it was too low. Poolman said they poured chlorine and tested 3 days ago and it’s could be normal due to rain. They complained that the pop off valve bathtub lets water out slowly. I called plumber to fix and scheduled for next day. They declined saying they will be out. So i scheduled to next available date and the plumber said in 2 days he will be in the area. The next day (day plumber originally booked and they declined) they said their plans changed and they will be home and want plumber to come. Plumber said booked someone else and can’t come. They went crazy on me. They got another week left and i have no idea how to satisfy these people. The sad kart is I have a huge discount given the length of stay. So from now on……long term guest. I will specifically make them sign a contract outlining as is nature. They can just book somewhere else.

After 11 years of Hosting and dealing with a lot of High Maintence guests... I'm done accepting them. I just don't need the money that badly anymore that I'm willing to deal with their bullsh!t.

What is a High Maintenance Guest, you may be wondering?

Example from yesterday/today:

A guest asked if she and her group of 12 could have an early check-in because she had a baby (as if she's the first person to travel with a baby)

I told her we had other guests checking out that day, and the only way I could swing it was if she was willing to accept "imperfect cleaning... primarily, the floors won't be mopped to perfection, etc., and that also, when the crew gets rushed... things get missed"

Keep in mind, this is a 7-bedroom, 4-bathroom the crew had to flip in 5 hours.

I got her in an hour and 1/2 earlier than our normal check time.

Well, sure enough... I get a message at 9 PM:

"There's only one potholder", and apparently, one wasn't enough, and she needed a second potholder. I ignored her 9 PM message because, imo, it's insane to even request a second potholder... let alone at 9 PM.

I replied to her this morning at 9 AM and let her know that I was having a second potholder delivered to the house.

Today, I decided I no longer want to host these sorts of guests... I've done pretty well promoting Men's Groups (they are SO easy to work with... They check, I never hear a word from them, then check out... as long as the BBQ grill is working... I'm golden)...

But I still want to "weed out" the rest of the High Maintenance groups. I won't say "what" type of people make up these groups; I'll leave that to your imagination.

Feel free to judge me; I don't care anymore... I'm just looking for advice on how to politely WORD a sentence or two to let potential guests know we are no longer interested in constant hand-holding, etc. I want them to know if they are going to need a lot of "attention," our property may not be a good choice for their group.

I'm not interested in "lectures" about how I have to deal with the nonsense from guests, etc. As I mentioned, if my "requirement" offends potential guests and they don't book with me... I'm totally fine with that.

TIA !