Warning! Be careful when altering long-term reservations

[Huma0]

Back in September, a guest booked one of my rooms for a six-month stay. A couple of days ago, she asked if she could check in two days earlier. The room was available, so I sent an alteration request changing the check in from 6th to 4th January and she accepted straight away. Simple, right?

Wrong!

Airbnb adjusted the total price and charged her nearly £1,500 more. For two nights! 

Of course, I called up Customer Services and the rep told me that the average nightly price had changed and the new price had been applied to the entire stay. She asked me which was the correct average nightly price. Was there an error when the guest booked which meant she was undercharged, or is there an error now and she is being overcharged? Maybe neither price is correct and it should be somewhere in the middle.

Well, I have no way of knowing. I have Smart Pricing switched on and a weekend is usually more expensive than a week day, a date in June more expensive than one in February, there is a long-term discount, etc. etc. I have no way of knowing what the average of 175 nights was at the time of the booking three months ago. 

So, a case manager was assigned, but he just emailed me saying that if I had changed the nightly price by mistake, I should change it back. Not very helpful.

Anyway, after a lot of back and forth, the guest and I decided to change the dates back to the original ones at the original price and that she would book the extra two nights separately.

But, I did call Airbnb again to find out what had happened. I spoke to a different rep. He told me that, when you change the dates on a reservation, Airbnb needs to recalculate the total amount to work out the fees. However, when the system does this, it ignores any long-term discount that was in place, which is why the nightly rate became higher.

Obviously, because this booking was for six months, the difference in price was glaringly obvious. But, if you have a weekly discount for example, or even if a guest is staying a month, you could easily miss that the guest is being overcharged. Just something I thought people should be aware of. Guests thinking that a host has potentially ripped them off is not the best start to a stay!

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Huma0uh what a mess! 😞

I am always very carefull with alterations, also because when we do the alteration then the amount is not split to accomodation + cleaning fee any more - it becomes one sum and Airbnb service fee is charged on top of it.

I don't like smart pricing and discounts either, I want to be in controll of my prices.

[Huma0]

@Branka-and-Silvia0

I don't charge a cleaning fee so wasn't aware of that additional glitch in the system. Another thing to be careful about.

I do offer weekly and monthly discounts because I want to encourage bookings from long-term guests. I never discount shorter stays, although guests often ask.

RE smart pricing, yes it's riddled with problems, but I have figured out how to make it work for me and use it as a guide, not stick to the prices it suggests. Sometimes it helps me to identify popular dates that I can charge more for that I wouldn't have spotted otherwise.

The most important thing is to set a minimum price you are happy with, so you never get underpaid should you not have a chance to adjust the prices, and the higher you put this, the higher it drives the price suggestions up. We all know that the 'smart prices' have nothing to do with the value of the accommodation (the host needs to determine that themselves), it's more to do with supply and demand.

[Susan151]

@Huma0. It has always been this way. I can't recall the first time I encountered this, but it caught my attention even though the numbers were not that different. [I am good with numbers.] Now, whenever guests wish to add a night, I look at the original reservation and write down how much the total is. I then do my OWN calculations as to what I think the new total should be. I make the changes, watch AirBNB fail at the simple math, and then over-ride it so that the correct amount is the one sent to the guest.

A six-month stay? I certainly hope that you like this person. That is a long, long time.

[Huma0]

@Susan151

I had noticed a couple of times before that the total seemed higher than I expected but it was not a significant difference, so I didn't pay it too much attention.

Yes, six months is a long time - my longest stay so far, although I have had guests stay up to four months in the past and it worked out well.

Of course, I am a bit nervous and hoping that this won't turn out to be the first long-term guest that I don't like! However, this guest is an experienced Airbnb user with lots of excellent reviews, including for other long-term stays and repeat stays. More telling is that she either leaves lovely, 100% positive reviews for her hosts, or no review at all, which suggests that would rather not review than say something negative. 

Her communication has also been excellent (of course there is a lot more pre-stay communication with long-term guests) and she made sure to ask any pertinent questions before booking, especially about location. She has been very patient and gracious about the whole fee mess up.

So, I'm as confident as I can be without meeting her first in person.

[Lynnie1]

@Susan0, Thanks for pointing out that the total can be changed! I did not notice it. Now I'm trying to do my math ...

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Huma0

For some reason...... all of my long-term guests who wanted to adjust their dates by a few days have mentioned this problem. In my case, I do not change the nightly rates so there is NO REASON for the total sum to change by any significant amount. I don't use smart pricing and I do not have weekend prices either. I only have adjusted rates for summer (mid July till end of Aug) and winter (Christmas, New Years, and Jan~mid Feb rates) because of the AC/heating costs. 

Since Henry and I usually block a couple days before and after long-term stays, we are able to come to an agreement with the guest and keep the reservation as is. (We will either refund or request money for the difference while leaving the booking as is, but we do take note of the adjusted check in/check out dates.)

I've been able to explain that it's probably because either ABB adjusted their fee or there is a change to the FX rate that ABB applies or there is a bug with the pricing algorithm. I show guests I have not changed the nightly rates from my side and I am just as baffled as the guest as to why they are seeing such an outrageous figure when clearly the money I will recieve thru ABB will not change by much.

[Huma0]

@Jessica-and-Henry0

In this case, my payout did change significantly. I think the explanation that the third CS rep we dealt with gave about the long-term discounts being removed makes the most sense as there didn't seem to be any other reason why the price would jump so much. I think the guest had originally been given a 17% discount, so you can see how much that could add up over six months!

[Tony470]

Indeed - Warning to guests especially!

Just to corroborate, the 'change' system definitely removes all weekly/monthly discounts when calculating the guest's new fees. I've been waiting 5 days for AirBnB to correct this on my own change as a guest and so far, no help. It's sad to think how many thousands of guests have been screwed by this system because they didn't notice that it removed the discounts they were still entitled to. 

The fact that AirBnB has known about this problem for some time and hasn't fixed it is unconscionable. 

My host is getting screwed, too, because the nine days I wanted to eliminate are still showing as booked until AirBnB sets it right.

[Huma0]

@Tony470

Yes it's odd that this doesn't get sorted. There is no logical nor justifyable reason for a guest to lose the long-term discount just because dates are added. It would only make sense if the alteration was reducing the stay to a shorter period which no longer qualified for that particular discount.

It doesn't seem that all the CS reps are familiar with this glitch though. The first lady I dealt with had no idea why it was happening and asked me which rate was correct. The case manager who was then assigned asked me to change the nightly price if I had made a mistake. The third rep didn't fix the problem (I had to figure out a different way of solving it myself) but he was the one who was aware that it had happened because the discount was no longer applied.

[Tony470]

I agree, @Huma0 - none of the reps I spoke with understood what was going on. A couple of them immediately insisted that the host must have changed her pricing (which still shouldn't matter, actually). 

This glitch in their system is so egregious,  they really need to make all CS reps aware and authorize them to manually correct. Counting on hosts to recalculate, as in your case, is confusing and an undue burden.

 I come from an IT background and I'm pretty sure it's not an overly complicated programming fix.

[Hasti1]

Hmm.... i need long term at munich to study, may I  used airbnb and safety??

[Huma0]

@Hasti1

I have hosted several long-term guests who came to London either for work or study. Here it is difficult to get a normal rental if you are staying less than six months, or even a year, and the short-term rentals that are available through letting agencies can be very expensive. So, when you factor in bills etc. sometimes it works out better for guests staying less tha six months to use Airbnb. You need to figure out what your options are and if a long-term Airbnb is affordable for you, but many hosts do offer a long-term discount.

In theory, Airbnb are there to help you if something goes wrong, but it would be better if you avoid anything going wrong by choosing the listing and host carefully. Look at ALL the information on the listing, including the house rules, not just the summaries, and definitely look at the reviews. You can also use the Superhost filter in your search, but bear in mind that if a host is only renting to long-term guests, they might not qualify for Superhost even if they are doing a great job.

Make sure you have plenty of correspondence with your host and ask any important questions before you book. After booking, perhaps you can even set up a Skype conversation to get to know them a bit better.

[Hasti1]

@Huma0

thank you 🙏🏾 inform this, one question again, yesterday i was booked the room, firts time the host is kind and responded my question about his room, how about traffic to univ, etc. but after booking it, host dissapear and i have not yet communicate more where and the number contact him when i arrive these home of rents. 

My question is, if i doubt abou bill and my money after book this, may i canceled of reservation and all my money 520€ more coming back or retur? How much airbnb cut my money after cancel it, then to safety my money have I paid the cost of total rents when i find the home ??

thank you again

nahdia

[Susan151]

@Hasti1. Your best plan is to call AirBNB. They are the ones who can properly advise you regarding your accomodations and payment. They can also help you find a new place to stay if this is neccessary.

Here are the German numbers that I have in my file:

Germany +49 30 30 80 83 80 Or,
Germany +49 30 31 19 91 75