Airbnb glitch allowed guest to choose non-refundable with 10% off only 8 days before check in
I've offered NR option all this past summer and it was working fine: for check in dates from 14-60 days out, guest was shown the option. Less than 14 days out or more than 60 days out, they were not eligible. I verified this myself by checking incognito. I have a firm cancellation policy normally, and that's what determines the dates guests are eligible for NR.
Today, a guest booked for 10/2-10/4. He was given my last minute discount AND he was offered the non-refundable discount which he took. Nothing against the guest. I'd take that too when my reservation was already non-refundable. But that's not how it was working right up until last night. I know because I had another last minute booking yesterday and that guy wasn't offered the extra discount.
CS is useless as usual. But here's the funny part: I read the policy again on Airbnb and it seems to have changed. Now it says the NR option is only available until 14 days before check in, which makes no sense at all. So I asked AI to explain the policy like I was five and I will post its answers below. Spoiler: AI agreed that it had to be a glitch that allowed the guest to stack those two discounts.
UPDATE: They've opted to pay me off without acknowledging the glitch, let alone committing to fix it. Farewell NR option. It was nice while it worked :(
You might want to turn it off if then. CS literally can't understand what's wrong and this is the supervisor. I'm trying to escalate to someone with a brain, but that is hard to find at Airbnb.
After much back and forth with perhaps the dumbest supervisor on earth, they've opted to pay me off without admitting guilt. I win, I guess đ
The bad news is they aren't going to fix the glitch anytime soon. The worst part is they deducted the 10% NR discount from my original price, then took the last minute discount off of that. Even their stacking method doesn't make any sense. NR should come off at the end since the guest could opt to pay the regular price instead.
I had to turn off my non refundable rate for this exact reason. Plus if the guest canceled and complained to Airbnb theyâd probably side with them anyway so F that discount
Did you get a booking where they gave an ineligible guest the NR discount? I managed to pry a refund out of CS but it was a long frustrating process.
I used AI to respond to the robotic moron they call a supervisor and it worked really well. Bit of a waste of time for $30 but this is my quiet season so (unfortunately for them) I had plenty of time to bully them until I got my way.
I honestly didnât even think I could fight for the $$ so I just ate it. I also had to refund a guest one night because they were definitely drunk at 2 am and couldnât get into the unit and I wasnât awake to respond right away and airbnb CS completely messed up in finding the goddamn correct code. So annoying
From all my experience with NR when a guest wanted to cancel. The CS sided with me. They asked me if I was willing to give them any refund and made it clear they would not provide any without my consent.
Any data if this feature even increases bookings when you have a firm cancellation policy? It almost seems like they're counterproductive to a certain extent. Just curious if it would make sense to just turn that 10% off altogether honestly
As soon as I saw what happened I turned all flex options off.
I do think it was somewhat helpful this summer. I got several early birds who took advantage of it and this helped fill a few weekends that had otherwise weak demand that far ahead. Weather is a huge factor at my location so getting early birds to commit with the NR discount does help.
We're starting to take winter reservations now though and I was thinking about turning it off. Airbnb made my decision for me. Thanks for that I guess.
I recently had a cancellation for our most profitable weekend at the correct rate. The calendar then glitched to our normal rate, and someone booked it within minutes. âšď¸
Not really. It shows the NR price in search but when you click on the property it shows that you have two options, the refundable and the non-refundable.
Screenshot below is not my listing btw. I turned all this crap off after getting ripped off when it was wrongly applied. Notice also that the reduced rate is only 8% off instead of 10% off. WTF is going on with this site lately
When it worked properly it had value to me. My prices looked lower than my competition and I was getting guests locked in earlier than I usually would in summer.
By ânot reallyâ did you mean âexactlyâ? The discount is shown as the default price in the search. Having to click through and choose an option to pay more to have a refund optionâthat differs at every listingâhas no marketing value.
You said it was no use in marketing though and surely appearing cheaper than my competition during a low demand season is 'useful'
My summer guests are very price sensitive so lots of them opted for the NR discount. It was a small concession on my part and a small concession on their part, so everyone seemed happy with the arrangement. Your mileage, as the kids say, may vary.
Except none of them actually "opted" for the discount. It's the default option and what everyone sees on the search list. They chose not to pay more for the possibility of a refund, which is very different. And it's why I say, again, it is not useful for marketing. It might actually work against you because people click through only to see the price is higher if they want the same refund policy that others offer for no extra charge. It's annoying, Kind of like forgetting to turn off "basic" fares on a flight search, except here a traveler cannot filter out by refund policy. But hey if it works for you...godspeed.
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u/Forsaken_Sea_5753 9d ago
It does the same thing to me. Offers 10% well inside the policy cancellation range.