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[00:00:00] Sarah: Hello. Welcome back for another great episode. My name is Sarah Karakaian.

[00:00:02] Annette: I am Annette Grant, and together we are–

[00:00:04] Both Annette & Sarah: Thanks for Visiting.

[00:00:05] Sarah: And this is the–

[00:00:06] Both Annette & Sarah: Hosting Hotline.

[00:00:07] Sarah: We answer your questions here in the show. If you go to thanksforvisiting.me, upper right-hand corner is a red button that says, “Ask TFV.” You can ask your questions about short-term rental or business in general, and we are happy to answer them here in the pod. We’ve got a great question today about when guests have pushback about price changes.

[00:00:25] Questions: Hey, ladies. Love your show. Thank you for all your tips and tricks. It really helped when we launched our third short-term rental. Anyways, my question is about the Andrew Kitchell episode. I think I’m saying that right. CEO and founder of Wheelhouse. Love Wheelhouse. It has really done a lot for specifically one of my properties. It doesn’t work for all of mine, but for that one, it’s really great. It caught a random day where we would’ve been offering the house for $120, and it bumped it up to 500 plus, and we got a booking. Crazy. I missed that there was a local event going on, and Wheelhouse got it.

Anyway, my question is, we often will get guests who will book and then need to edit their dates, and after they go to edit their dates, they’ll come back and say, hey, I was booking it at $200 a night and this extra night is $300 or something different than whatever the average rate that Airbnb was displaying was. And part of it’s because Airbnb does that average thing, and part of it is because we have dynamic pricing. And it just puts a sour taste, I think, in the guest’s mouth for me to say that. It feels super impersonal. So wondering how you guys approach that. 

[00:01:47] Annette: First feeling is we love that you mentioned dynamic pricing, and Wheelhouse, and a specific instance, how it worked for you. So for everybody out there that’s still questioning dynamic pricing, that one instance where there was a $400 gap in the nightly rate, that is going to happen more often than you even know. So there are events going on all the time that you are not going to be privy to, that you can’t keep up on. So let the tech do that for you because those nights add up, and they add up quickly. 

 That one night can be a big difference maker in your month, in your year, and just the overall health of your property. And then there were some key words I want to take away from that question is, it feels and impersonal. Those are all very, um, we’re, thinking that. I don’t know if the guests are–

[00:02:38] Sarah: It’s emotional. 

[00:02:39] Annette: Yeah. If the guests are telling you that, but, um, again, we are hospitality, but we are a hospitality business. So Sarah, let’s take it away with the way to hold space for the guest and help them understand dynamic pricing. And I will say, thank you the airlines of the world, the other hotels in the world, Ubers of the world where they are making it, basically by the minute changing. Um, so I think consumers are just learning a lot more about dynamic pricing and that prices change. And so hopefully those type of apps have helped us make this much easier because people do have experience with seeing prices change. By the minute with Uber or Lyft, by the hour, by the day with airlines and hotels.

[00:03:32] Sarah: Before we get to the guest’s perspective, let’s talk about the host’s perspective. And I think a lot of hosts out there, especially who are new to the game in the industry, they do feel dirty maybe is the word, or they feel–

[00:03:45] Annette: Icky.

[00:03:45] Sarah: Icky.

[00:03:45] Annette: Yeah. She’s the said–

[00:03:46] Sarah: She used the word impersonal, and I do understand why you feel that way. And I also want to say, just because the airlines and Uber have the dynamic pricing, can’t we be different? We’re hospitality. But again, I implore you to really make sure you understand your numbers. And are you willing to leave money on the table to feel more hospitable or more accommodating to your guest? And just know how common it is, because it’s not like this technology is to take money out of people’s pockets. It’s because your property is in more demand in those times, which is why the software is helping us price it accordingly. So to know that it’s rooted in data.

[00:04:24] Annette: And with this script, we’re going to give you– 

[00:04:27] Sarah: Some ideas on what to say.

[00:04:29] Annette: And at the end of this script, a way to hold space, make it feel not so impersonal and icky and still be an extremely hospitable host.

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[00:04:39] Sarah: All right. When you are met with some pushback from a guest who booked their dates– and first, I also wanted to– sorry. I know. I’m going to get to this. But for anyone out there who doesn’t understand what they mean by Airbnb posting the average rate, they’ll do that. So what Airbnb will do in almost every OTA and maybe even your direct booking site, depending on who you work with, it’ll fish for the lowest price you have available.

So let’s say your average nightly rate is 250 bucks, but if you have a random Tuesday night that you’re willing to sell at 150 bucks, it’ll say like– it’s any other marketing strategies too. It’ll say, from $150. And so a potential guest will say, well, wait, I thought I was $150. Well, that’s the lowest rate, but that’s that Tuesday that no one wants to stay at your property. And so that is built into not just Airbnb software but a lot of booking software.

[00:05:29] Annette: And something that’s built into me as a person, I do want to offer this, is that I almost always ask for a discount or a added plus to my stay, so please don’t feel– I feel icky if I don’t ask for something more. So I just want to let everybody know that there are consumers out there like me that will ask for things. And so it’s just part of a strategy that I have, and I gamify things like that. So I also want to get some nos from time to time because it means that I’m stretching what I’m asking for. So let me put that out there too.

[00:06:07] Sarah: Yeah. You never know what you’re going to get unless you ask. So when you are met with a pushback, you want to think of breaking down your response into a few segments. 

[00:06:15] Annette: Yeah. Because somebody’s like, wait a minute, I just tried a book, and now it’s $300 more.

[00:06:20] Sarah: So first of all, you want to delight them with the fact that you are available and you can accommodate their date change. Remember, just because they want to change their date doesn’t mean that your property’s going to be available. So when it is, you can delight them with your availability, and then you can confidently stand with your rates. Make sure you reassure with them that you have done the work necessary in the background to make sure that your rates are competitive with your market.

[00:06:45] Annette: And if they are competitive, if they go look for those dates somewhere else, they’ll see, oh, yeah, they’re correct. Those are exactly right.

[00:06:53] Sarah: And then you want to create urgency to book. A lot of us need a deadline to get something done, and there’s strategic ways that you can do this. So they can just make the decision and stay with you because, be honest with yourself, they need to stay with you. You are the best host in your area.

[00:07:09] Annette: And also they’ve already done all the research, they’ve taken all the time, so you can create that urgency like, I know you’ve already looked at a lot of different places.

[00:07:15] Sarah: We can assure you we are the best place to stay in our area. And then you want to give them a call to action. What do they need to do? They need to book with you. And then you need to thank them for their time and assure them that their stay is in the best hands possible. Here’s an example. We’ve got something written, so if it sounds scripty, it’s because it is now.

“Hi, guest. We do have availability for your updated trip dates and would love to host you. You are seeing a difference in total cost because the new travel dates are during a very busy period in [insert your area]. We are thrilled to still have the dates open to accommodate you. Once you have approved the change, you are all set. Thank you so much. We are very much looking forward to seeing you.” Then if you get pushback on your response there, you can do one of two things or do both things. This first, one first, and then ease into the second one. 

“We are confident in the posted rate. We understand that this is no longer working in your budget.” And you could also decide to say, “But we are happy to extend you a 5% discount off the nightly rate because we want you to feel whole in booking with us.” 5% is like, great. Especially if you could welcome them back for next year. Really help the Annette’s of the world feel like they got something extra.

[00:08:27] Annette: And make you feel better. Feelings are real. So making you feel not icky, not impersonal, and feeling like you did hook them up with a deal, because you did. 

[00:08:36] Sarah: You did.

[00:08:37] Annette: So this is a great question, listeners. Use that. Don’t just cave. Know your numbers. Like Sarah said, know your numbers in the beginning, and then you’ll feel a lot more confident in answering this question.

[00:08:47] Sarah: Absolute. Of course, there’s a train going by right now. The train is like, yes, if you hear that.

[00:08:51] Annette: Yeah. It’s rooting us on.

[00:08:53] Sarah: All right. With that, I am Sarah Karakaian.

[00:08:56] Annette: I’m Annette Grant, and together we are–

[00:08:57] Both Annette & Sarah: Thanks for Visiting. 

[00:08:58] Sarah: Talk to you next time.