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Generic

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So, we have just 2 rooms listed on Air with very specific conditions attached to them. (Around here, Air is a race to the bottom... and I don't want to compete to be the lowest price place on the block.) They don't get our full breakfast service and they don't get our normal housekeeping. And they are the smallest rooms in the house. We are honest about it. We say what's included, what isn't, we separate the taxes, so they don't have to pay commission on it. And we absolutely don't offer them parking (since parking is at a premium.) The price reflects these differences.
Well, guest arrives, sees the other rooms (doors are open) and comments that the room is small and do we have another room. And all I can think is that this is a ploy to get a free upgrade.... maybe I'm just suspicious that way. In any case, we don't have another rooms available for all the days they are staying with us. And besides, the other rooms are $40 to $50 a night more (breakfast and full service housekeeping included). We explained that we only have two rooms on Air and that no other room is available for all those days anyway. But I have this nagging feeling in my head and well... and here's the problem.... this is what I hate the feedback thing on Air... so when I review them... I should tell the truth that they tried to ask for an upgrade, that they didn't read what they are getting properly and yet like with most of the Air feedback, I will likely just SKIP that because I don't want them to write something nasty about me. But then... since we can't see each others feedback until after the fact, what if they write they were disappointed, as if it was my fault? And now all I can do is second guess myself for a few days...
 
Just wait and see if they post something. Then you can add your reply. No reason to treat Air folks like "normal" BB guests if that is what they paid for.
devil_smile.gif
 
Just wait and see if they post something. Then you can add your reply. No reason to treat Air folks like "normal" BB guests if that is what they paid for.
devil_smile.gif
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You can't see until after both of you have submitted. Hence the problem.
 
We don't try to compete with Air prices. We put the room for what they would get it for from us with tax included with the amount and round it up to the nearest dollar. Then Air slaps on their 7 percent for using their service and takes their percent from our price for advertising for us....
The Air guests get just what our regular guests get especially since they are paying more than our regular guests. They don't know that. We give them a tour of the house along with our business card so they can see the other rooms and tempt them to book direct next time.
It works for us! Twice we just gave an air guest a free upgrade but it was our suggestion first and they were given the choice of the two rooms. One wanted to stay with the room they original booked and the other took the upgrade and mentioned it in their review.
 
We don't try to compete with Air prices. We put the room for what they would get it for from us with tax included with the amount and round it up to the nearest dollar. Then Air slaps on their 7 percent for using their service and takes their percent from our price for advertising for us....
The Air guests get just what our regular guests get especially since they are paying more than our regular guests. They don't know that. We give them a tour of the house along with our business card so they can see the other rooms and tempt them to book direct next time.
It works for us! Twice we just gave an air guest a free upgrade but it was our suggestion first and they were given the choice of the two rooms. One wanted to stay with the room they original booked and the other took the upgrade and mentioned it in their review..
Yeah... well, there are 2000 illegals around me that don't collect taxes, don't pay the same property tax and don't usually declare their income either. It's hard to compete with so many under-the-table properties. Which is why we only do it for the small room and often upgrade those paying full price instead of the Air people. But we have considered moving to full product for Air... but not until November when we enter low season.
 
Just wait and see if they post something. Then you can add your reply. No reason to treat Air folks like "normal" BB guests if that is what they paid for.
devil_smile.gif
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You can't see until after both of you have submitted. Hence the problem.
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I would write a nice review for them and not mention them wanting an upgrade....if they write a bad one, then you can address the issue. But let's face it. They can't "hide" like on TA, etc. so to write a bad review is just as bad for them as for you.
 
We don't try to compete with Air prices. We put the room for what they would get it for from us with tax included with the amount and round it up to the nearest dollar. Then Air slaps on their 7 percent for using their service and takes their percent from our price for advertising for us....
The Air guests get just what our regular guests get especially since they are paying more than our regular guests. They don't know that. We give them a tour of the house along with our business card so they can see the other rooms and tempt them to book direct next time.
It works for us! Twice we just gave an air guest a free upgrade but it was our suggestion first and they were given the choice of the two rooms. One wanted to stay with the room they original booked and the other took the upgrade and mentioned it in their review..
Yeah... well, there are 2000 illegals around me that don't collect taxes, don't pay the same property tax and don't usually declare their income either. It's hard to compete with so many under-the-table properties. Which is why we only do it for the small room and often upgrade those paying full price instead of the Air people. But we have considered moving to full product for Air... but not until November when we enter low season.
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Yeah...well, we have over two hundred bnbs, hotels, inns, etc. in a three mile circle of us then we have about that many if not more on air. (The others inns haven't caught on to air yet.) We are making lots of money on air and we are higher than the average price.
"Do what works for you and don't worry about your competitors." A quote from a book about owning your own business.
 
Charlie said:
So, we have just 2 rooms listed on Air with very specific
Well, guest arrives, sees the other rooms (doors are open) and comments that the room is small and do we have another room. And all I can think is that this is a ploy to get a free upgrade..
Another reason to lock unused rooms
 
We list on air but don't discount. We've had several bookings from folks who discovered us on air but went to our site to learn more and then booked.
I don't race to the bottom with my traditional competitors -- I sure won't do it with air rentals.
 
I have finally gone over to airbnb. That is the worst site to navigate start up. Put it up last Thursday and had my first guests on Friday for 3 nights. Wow, says I. I put up my airbnb price enough to cover taxes and commission, etc. I hesitated about including breakfast but glad I did after reading Charlie's experience.
 
Charlie, I am new with Air and have not had a guest as of yet so don't know much.
What if you use the review to mention (again) the difference in the offer you have on Air as apposed to your regular rate and other rooms? Thus similar to what is mentioned here about Mgr responses on TA.
Another thing you may think about offering is a upgrade once the Air booking is made. Offer the B&B rate for that room (equal to reg. room rate) and that that in cash on arrival. You could also offer an upgrade to a larger room, if one is available, again taking the balance on arrival.
Again, not having had a guest yet, only 1 inquiry that did not pan out, I don't know if this is something that can be easily done.
 
Sorry, I don't know anything about your situation, but I'm not sure what you are trying to achieve here. Are you trying to compete with the cheap places locally, in which case why not just discount your rooms through other channels. Unless you have a lot of rooms this "stack 'em high, sell 'em cheap" mentality isn't going to work. Maybe you're just trying to let a couple of rooms that don't let easily.
As I think you've realised and in my experience most people on air are looking for something cheap. We list all our rooms at full price, we get a handful of bookings, that's it.
 
I'm not familiar with using Air or how one might word a review, but I'm afraid my response to the guest saying that the room was smaller would be "yes these/this room is smaller, that's why it is much less expensive than our normal fare". If I felt that the guest was worth the investment, perhaps an upgrade with breakfast on their last day so that they know what they missed by not booking direct with you.
 
Well, this experience is a complete failure. This afternoon I am moving to parity for my Air offering and including full housekeeping and full breakfast. The guest we had today abused the breakfast privileges and MoH can't manage to say "no". So the only way to handle this is in future to offer the full offering or no breakfast at all. I don't want to compete at the bottom, so I gotta just offer the same thing and those who want it, book it. The part that bugs me is that I wish there was a way to pay Air's commission instead of the client and have better control over the total price for parity.
Anyway, this afternoon I'm changing it. And if I don't get any bookings, that's fine too.
 
Well, this experience is a complete failure. This afternoon I am moving to parity for my Air offering and including full housekeeping and full breakfast. The guest we had today abused the breakfast privileges and MoH can't manage to say "no". So the only way to handle this is in future to offer the full offering or no breakfast at all. I don't want to compete at the bottom, so I gotta just offer the same thing and those who want it, book it. The part that bugs me is that I wish there was a way to pay Air's commission instead of the client and have better control over the total price for parity.
Anyway, this afternoon I'm changing it. And if I don't get any bookings, that's fine too..
Charlie I think this will work for you. It has for us, and in a big way. Think of Air is simply getting more eyeballs to your property. A lot more eyeballs. We make it clear we're a Trafitional B&B. All the Air people who stayed with us this past summer were happy about that - from the first time B&B stayers who may not have tried B&Bs without first taking the plunge on Air to the vacationers who returned a week and a half later gushing about the professionalism.
The low ballers won't choose you. You don't want them anyway. But a LOT more eyeballs will see your listing. The discerning ones will likely chose you.
At the end of the season 53% of total bookings came from Air. Now that does include the long term stays at the beginning of the year.
my biggest takeaway from this year?
I need to do a price increase. The Air people didn't bat an eye about the higher price they paid by booking that way.
 
Well, this experience is a complete failure. This afternoon I am moving to parity for my Air offering and including full housekeeping and full breakfast. The guest we had today abused the breakfast privileges and MoH can't manage to say "no". So the only way to handle this is in future to offer the full offering or no breakfast at all. I don't want to compete at the bottom, so I gotta just offer the same thing and those who want it, book it. The part that bugs me is that I wish there was a way to pay Air's commission instead of the client and have better control over the total price for parity.
Anyway, this afternoon I'm changing it. And if I don't get any bookings, that's fine too..
Charlie I think this will work for you. It has for us, and in a big way. Think of Air is simply getting more eyeballs to your property. A lot more eyeballs. We make it clear we're a Trafitional B&B. All the Air people who stayed with us this past summer were happy about that - from the first time B&B stayers who may not have tried B&Bs without first taking the plunge on Air to the vacationers who returned a week and a half later gushing about the professionalism.
The low ballers won't choose you. You don't want them anyway. But a LOT more eyeballs will see your listing. The discerning ones will likely chose you.
At the end of the season 53% of total bookings came from Air. Now that does include the long term stays at the beginning of the year.
my biggest takeaway from this year?
I need to do a price increase. The Air people didn't bat an eye about the higher price they paid by booking that way.
.
Okay, let's try this again... I hardly show up on Air... I compete with over well 2000 illegal under the table listings for my city. I don't think I will sell even a single room on Air. Honestly. I'm not in a small town... I'm in a city of over 3 million people.

I get most of my customers from those who want full service. Air isn't offering full service, it's offering the dog's bed and towel or full apartments. I'm neither.
 
why dont you just write a good review and be done with it. why are you worrying about all of this, do the right thing, take the high road lad.
 
why dont you just write a good review and be done with it. why are you worrying about all of this, do the right thing, take the high road lad..
Isn't the point that if I say something, they don't get to abuse the next person? Isn't that the point of the feedback system?
On the other hand, we have learnt something... we can't sell a two-tiered product. So everyone gets the exact same product, no matter what.
 
why dont you just write a good review and be done with it. why are you worrying about all of this, do the right thing, take the high road lad..
Isn't the point that if I say something, they don't get to abuse the next person? Isn't that the point of the feedback system?
On the other hand, we have learnt something... we can't sell a two-tiered product. So everyone gets the exact same product, no matter what.
.
I think that is a smart move. Why try to be something you aren't. Just list as your typical stay and move on. That's what most places I know do. It is just seen as another on line directory listing...not something you try to use to "beat the system. See what happens.
 
Well, this experience is a complete failure. This afternoon I am moving to parity for my Air offering and including full housekeeping and full breakfast. The guest we had today abused the breakfast privileges and MoH can't manage to say "no". So the only way to handle this is in future to offer the full offering or no breakfast at all. I don't want to compete at the bottom, so I gotta just offer the same thing and those who want it, book it. The part that bugs me is that I wish there was a way to pay Air's commission instead of the client and have better control over the total price for parity.
Anyway, this afternoon I'm changing it. And if I don't get any bookings, that's fine too..
Charlie I think this will work for you. It has for us, and in a big way. Think of Air is simply getting more eyeballs to your property. A lot more eyeballs. We make it clear we're a Trafitional B&B. All the Air people who stayed with us this past summer were happy about that - from the first time B&B stayers who may not have tried B&Bs without first taking the plunge on Air to the vacationers who returned a week and a half later gushing about the professionalism.
The low ballers won't choose you. You don't want them anyway. But a LOT more eyeballs will see your listing. The discerning ones will likely chose you.
At the end of the season 53% of total bookings came from Air. Now that does include the long term stays at the beginning of the year.
my biggest takeaway from this year?
I need to do a price increase. The Air people didn't bat an eye about the higher price they paid by booking that way.
.
Okay, let's try this again... I hardly show up on Air... I compete with over well 2000 illegal under the table listings for my city. I don't think I will sell even a single room on Air. Honestly. I'm not in a small town... I'm in a city of over 3 million people.

I get most of my customers from those who want full service. Air isn't offering full service, it's offering the dog's bed and towel or full apartments. I'm neither.
.
Okay, I went to try to see what it would take to find my place on Air. What filters would you have to click on to see us. Well, we don't really show up until you click on "Private Room" and then "Bed and Breakfast". And then we show up on the list. But to get to the "Bed and Breakfast" you have to click on more filters. Will people bother? Why doesn't Air highlight those who include breakfast? Those that do things legally? Those that are professional? Nope. I'm in there with all the people lending out their dog's towel.
 
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