Everything else is booked!

Bed & Breakfast / Short Term Rental Host Forum

Help Support Bed & Breakfast / Short Term Rental Host Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Morticia

Well-known member
Joined
May 22, 2008
Messages
17,771
Reaction score
685
Can't you do better on the price?
I want to ask what business school he went to where limited supply means reduced price.
 
Don't know. Best room in the house and nobody wanted it. Here we had calls for a room but when we mention it, nobody wanted it and hung up. Best room in the house, folks! This evening a guy called to ask for a room. He hesitated about it even when told it was the best room in the house. (Probably the only room left in town by now!) So we told him he can come look at it, of course they took it once they saw it!
wink_smile.gif
Just because its the last room available doesn't mean its a dump, etc.
 
Don't know. Best room in the house and nobody wanted it. Here we had calls for a room but when we mention it, nobody wanted it and hung up. Best room in the house, folks! This evening a guy called to ask for a room. He hesitated about it even when told it was the best room in the house. (Probably the only room left in town by now!) So we told him he can come look at it, of course they took it once they saw it!
wink_smile.gif
Just because its the last room available doesn't mean its a dump, etc..
what we sometimes do in that situation is upgrade a person paying a decent price or regular or nice people - therefore leaving the standard room which we are happy to do at a lower price to get sold.
 
It's like the 1 nighters who say "can you do us a good price"...... why? What's in it for me?
 
Should have said - sorry the price now went up by $20 as it's my last room (yield management all the way).
Had a guy the other day stop in and ask for our best price because it was late and he was leaving early and was "basically only gonna be here 8 hours". We've been full for over 2 months and it was our last room. Hubby said no it's $200 so the guy left. It was more of his attitude that my hubby didn't like and he just wasn't in the mood to give him a break because of that attitude (it's usually those guests who are the pains). What he wanted to say was:
- OK, so can I shut your heat off for those 8 hours
- no cookies for you!!!
- no hot tub for you!!!
- no coffee and/or tea!!!
- you are going to leave early before my wife's great breakfast right?
- oh, and how long of a shower are you gonna take and use hot water?
- there's a charge for parking for those who want a reduced rate
- oh yeah, and wifi and TV are not free for you because you're getting a discount
If they only had a clue what it costs to have these B&Bs and Inns and the work we do devoting our time to ensure they have a great time. Sometimes the money just isn't worth giving in to these people and this was one of those times.
 
Should have said - sorry the price now went up by $20 as it's my last room (yield management all the way).
Had a guy the other day stop in and ask for our best price because it was late and he was leaving early and was "basically only gonna be here 8 hours". We've been full for over 2 months and it was our last room. Hubby said no it's $200 so the guy left. It was more of his attitude that my hubby didn't like and he just wasn't in the mood to give him a break because of that attitude (it's usually those guests who are the pains). What he wanted to say was:
- OK, so can I shut your heat off for those 8 hours
- no cookies for you!!!
- no hot tub for you!!!
- no coffee and/or tea!!!
- you are going to leave early before my wife's great breakfast right?
- oh, and how long of a shower are you gonna take and use hot water?
- there's a charge for parking for those who want a reduced rate
- oh yeah, and wifi and TV are not free for you because you're getting a discount
If they only had a clue what it costs to have these B&Bs and Inns and the work we do devoting our time to ensure they have a great time. Sometimes the money just isn't worth giving in to these people and this was one of those times..
My guess is this guy went back out of town to the HIE. For the same price. And no breakfast. No fireplace.
BTW, the rates for all those places that were full? $400+.
 
What's good language for turning down a request for a discount? I got the "can't you give me a better rate" question a couple of weeks ago and I replied, "No, sorry. The rates are what they are." But I feel like I need a better response, one more clever, or nicer, or something.
 
What's good language for turning down a request for a discount? I got the "can't you give me a better rate" question a couple of weeks ago and I replied, "No, sorry. The rates are what they are." But I feel like I need a better response, one more clever, or nicer, or something..
"if I gave everyone a discount, I'd have to raise my rates."
"We have a very short season here, we're smack in the middle of it, and like a squirrel I have to save up for the winter. I'm not a fan of ramen noodles."
"Does your boss ever ask you to work for less money? What's your reaction?"
"We've done a lot of research on pricing in this area and you'll find the price I quoted is very attractive for the amenities you receive. However, if you're shopping strictly on price, and I certainly understand that, this place (insert lower priced place here) will fit the budget perfectly!"
Take $10 off and say that's the best you can do. That doesn't always work but i find it works quite well most times.
 
What's good language for turning down a request for a discount? I got the "can't you give me a better rate" question a couple of weeks ago and I replied, "No, sorry. The rates are what they are." But I feel like I need a better response, one more clever, or nicer, or something..
Or, "hang on a minute while I ask the boss...' Come back on the line and say the boss (implying that's 'the wife') says if I give you a discount it comes out of my golf money. No can do.
I'd hazard a guess we've knocked at least $500 off a variety of room nights in the past month. Sometimes we just need the other $5000 those discounts represent.
 
Don't know. Best room in the house and nobody wanted it. Here we had calls for a room but when we mention it, nobody wanted it and hung up. Best room in the house, folks! This evening a guy called to ask for a room. He hesitated about it even when told it was the best room in the house. (Probably the only room left in town by now!) So we told him he can come look at it, of course they took it once they saw it!
wink_smile.gif
Just because its the last room available doesn't mean its a dump, etc..
what we sometimes do in that situation is upgrade a person paying a decent price or regular or nice people - therefore leaving the standard room which we are happy to do at a lower price to get sold.
.
That is exactly what I did last week. A guest from eleven years ago called and wanted my cheapest room, which was already booked. (I guess he wanted prices from eleven years ago too!) He kept whining about it so I upgraded the other incoming guest to one of my nicest rooms and let the guy have the cheaper room.
Everyone was happy,especially the upgraded couple. It turned out we had both been flight attendants for Pan Am at the same time so we had a great time reminiscing. To top it off she wrote me a crazy good review. Win-win!
 
What's good language for turning down a request for a discount? I got the "can't you give me a better rate" question a couple of weeks ago and I replied, "No, sorry. The rates are what they are." But I feel like I need a better response, one more clever, or nicer, or something..
Well, the only way that I can save is by not having the housekeeper clean. I assume you want the room clean, right?
Sure, but the only way to do that is to have the city, state and federal governments drop my taxes. I can give you their numbers, if you want to ask them.
 
Should have said - sorry the price now went up by $20 as it's my last room (yield management all the way).
Had a guy the other day stop in and ask for our best price because it was late and he was leaving early and was "basically only gonna be here 8 hours". We've been full for over 2 months and it was our last room. Hubby said no it's $200 so the guy left. It was more of his attitude that my hubby didn't like and he just wasn't in the mood to give him a break because of that attitude (it's usually those guests who are the pains). What he wanted to say was:
- OK, so can I shut your heat off for those 8 hours
- no cookies for you!!!
- no hot tub for you!!!
- no coffee and/or tea!!!
- you are going to leave early before my wife's great breakfast right?
- oh, and how long of a shower are you gonna take and use hot water?
- there's a charge for parking for those who want a reduced rate
- oh yeah, and wifi and TV are not free for you because you're getting a discount
If they only had a clue what it costs to have these B&Bs and Inns and the work we do devoting our time to ensure they have a great time. Sometimes the money just isn't worth giving in to these people and this was one of those times..
My guess is this guy went back out of town to the HIE. For the same price. And no breakfast. No fireplace.
BTW, the rates for all those places that were full? $400+.
.
HIE gives breakfast...such as it is
 
Don't know. Best room in the house and nobody wanted it. Here we had calls for a room but when we mention it, nobody wanted it and hung up. Best room in the house, folks! This evening a guy called to ask for a room. He hesitated about it even when told it was the best room in the house. (Probably the only room left in town by now!) So we told him he can come look at it, of course they took it once they saw it!
wink_smile.gif
Just because its the last room available doesn't mean its a dump, etc..
what we sometimes do in that situation is upgrade a person paying a decent price or regular or nice people - therefore leaving the standard room which we are happy to do at a lower price to get sold.
.
Jcam said:
what we sometimes do in that situation is upgrade a person paying a decent price or regular or nice people - therefore leaving the standard room which we are happy to do at a lower price to get sold.
Those were in since Thurs and we figured we could rent it before last night. I guess their guardian angel was guarding our room for them….. On Monday someone comes in for it for five days so we aren't too worried. It just that its one of the first to be booked so its rare that its is empty and its a seasonal room since my Grandma moves into it as soon as it stops having people book it… so time is running out folks!
…..And once she is in, she's not getting out until spring. We usually come down in the morning and she's not in her bedroom so we glanced at each other and go check out the guest room.
 
What's good language for turning down a request for a discount? I got the "can't you give me a better rate" question a couple of weeks ago and I replied, "No, sorry. The rates are what they are." But I feel like I need a better response, one more clever, or nicer, or something..
We use it to sell our rooms in the low rate months. I let them know that our Jan/Feb rates are really good for getting a good rate. I use something like, "No, I'm sorry. I can't do that but the room is only such-and-such in these months. You also won't have all the crowds, traffic, and everything is cheaper in the winter! And the best deal is you can help me shovel snow!"
 
Should have said - sorry the price now went up by $20 as it's my last room (yield management all the way).
Had a guy the other day stop in and ask for our best price because it was late and he was leaving early and was "basically only gonna be here 8 hours". We've been full for over 2 months and it was our last room. Hubby said no it's $200 so the guy left. It was more of his attitude that my hubby didn't like and he just wasn't in the mood to give him a break because of that attitude (it's usually those guests who are the pains). What he wanted to say was:
- OK, so can I shut your heat off for those 8 hours
- no cookies for you!!!
- no hot tub for you!!!
- no coffee and/or tea!!!
- you are going to leave early before my wife's great breakfast right?
- oh, and how long of a shower are you gonna take and use hot water?
- there's a charge for parking for those who want a reduced rate
- oh yeah, and wifi and TV are not free for you because you're getting a discount
If they only had a clue what it costs to have these B&Bs and Inns and the work we do devoting our time to ensure they have a great time. Sometimes the money just isn't worth giving in to these people and this was one of those times..
My guess is this guy went back out of town to the HIE. For the same price. And no breakfast. No fireplace.
BTW, the rates for all those places that were full? $400+.
.
HIE gives breakfast...such as it is
.
EmptyNest said:
HIE gives breakfast...such as it is
How do they get scrambled eggs that colour and texture?
 
What's good language for turning down a request for a discount? I got the "can't you give me a better rate" question a couple of weeks ago and I replied, "No, sorry. The rates are what they are." But I feel like I need a better response, one more clever, or nicer, or something..
Someone here suggested: "Our discounts are built into our prices"
I've used it. It works.
 
"That is our best price" ... unless you want to give a discount. Said without rancor or hurt feelings. Sometimes I might go on to say 'it's a beautiful room, a great breakfast, an exceptional value' sometimes not.
All over the internet you will find advice to the general public telling them to ask for a discount, a best price, a deal ... and that they will likely get one ... and the result is these constant requests.
You have to go with your gut. If you just want to book the room and be done with it, you can offer $10 off or whatever. Or you just stick with 'That is our best price' and let them book or not. I sometimes gave a discount and then regretted it ... sometimes I was happy to have all the rooms full.
Hard to understand the rationale behind someone finding every place is full and expecting that last room open to be available at a discount. Maybe they think you're ready to close out reservations for the night, I don't know.
 
"That is our best price" ... unless you want to give a discount. Said without rancor or hurt feelings. Sometimes I might go on to say 'it's a beautiful room, a great breakfast, an exceptional value' sometimes not.
All over the internet you will find advice to the general public telling them to ask for a discount, a best price, a deal ... and that they will likely get one ... and the result is these constant requests.
You have to go with your gut. If you just want to book the room and be done with it, you can offer $10 off or whatever. Or you just stick with 'That is our best price' and let them book or not. I sometimes gave a discount and then regretted it ... sometimes I was happy to have all the rooms full.
Hard to understand the rationale behind someone finding every place is full and expecting that last room open to be available at a discount. Maybe they think you're ready to close out reservations for the night, I don't know..
It was too late to negotiate. My shoes were off, I was curled up reading, he interrupted me. Full price. ;-)
 
The people that tickle me are the ones that say "you have the best price in town" and then still expect a further discount.
My answer is that I give my best price to everyone, I don't play the discount game, I can give a high price and then give a nice discount or I can just give you a price.
 
Don't know. Best room in the house and nobody wanted it. Here we had calls for a room but when we mention it, nobody wanted it and hung up. Best room in the house, folks! This evening a guy called to ask for a room. He hesitated about it even when told it was the best room in the house. (Probably the only room left in town by now!) So we told him he can come look at it, of course they took it once they saw it!
wink_smile.gif
Just because its the last room available doesn't mean its a dump, etc..
what we sometimes do in that situation is upgrade a person paying a decent price or regular or nice people - therefore leaving the standard room which we are happy to do at a lower price to get sold.
.
That is exactly what I did last week. A guest from eleven years ago called and wanted my cheapest room, which was already booked. (I guess he wanted prices from eleven years ago too!) He kept whining about it so I upgraded the other incoming guest to one of my nicest rooms and let the guy have the cheaper room.
Everyone was happy,especially the upgraded couple. It turned out we had both been flight attendants for Pan Am at the same time so we had a great time reminiscing. To top it off she wrote me a crazy good review. Win-win!
.
that's the way to go.
Our cheapest room books first every. single. time. And it's the 'bathdownthehall' room. They get what they pay for.
 
Back
Top