I received a last-minute enquiry today:
"Are these dates still available?
I could pay xxx for the week."
The offered rate would be a 30%+ discount. The dates are available...and I would be willing to discount last-minute...but, why to they have to be such asses about it?? annoyed really and haven't decided how to respond. Was not really ready to discount that much (not a week I count on being booked and this would be full occupancy) but not sure if I should then go back to them with another price. I wish they've have just asked if I would be willing to offer any last-minute discounts rather than TELL me what THEY were going to pay. I'm probably being silly.
yes, but do you have to be so obnoxious?
(Not without good reason - obnoxious is a fair description!)Greenbarn wrote:Do you really want to let your property to people you dislike - and who also think it's not worth what you believe it's worth?
no...and no.
I also do want to remember though that sometimes people don't come off in emails they way they intend to and I could be jumping to conclusions. (and difficult to give up any income in winter when we're not busy and the house is sitting there)
ooo. good one. I should have thought of that!
I responded politely and offered a 20% discount off our regular rate as that is really the lowest I would feel comfortable with - they will cost quite a bit in heating for the week and I will have to shovel off the drive, etc. which is currently covered in 30inches (!!!!) of snow from the blizzard we had on Sunday - took us all day yesterday to dig out our own house and just the walkway at the hr yesterday! so I won't be heartbroken if they don't book
I responded politely and offered a 20% discount off our regular rate as that is really the lowest I would feel comfortable with - they will cost quite a bit in heating for the week and I will have to shovel off the drive, etc. which is currently covered in 30inches (!!!!) of snow from the blizzard we had on Sunday - took us all day yesterday to dig out our own house and just the walkway at the hr yesterday! so I won't be heartbroken if they don't book
I’ve always been bullish about rebuffing the ‘best price’ brigade but, last year, in a difficult to shift slot, we agreed to a reduction but – in my case – somewhat grumpily. The guests turned out to be charming people and we discovered that the husband had been made redundant from his long-term employment earlier in the year. They felt that they deserved a holiday because, as they said, how could they know what the New Year would bring and when they could afford one again.
Sure, rental businesses aren't charities and owners can't afford to be soft touches. But, for me, a timely lesson that not all guests seeking reductions do so from base motives.
Jim
Sure, rental businesses aren't charities and owners can't afford to be soft touches. But, for me, a timely lesson that not all guests seeking reductions do so from base motives.
Jim
While the enquiry was... graceless... and looks to be lacking the normal correspondence courtesies, just about every travel / holiday booking-related article on tv, radio and in newspapers / magazines, recommends that travellers ask for a reduction on the advertised price of just about anything. So that's what they are doing. It's then up to us to analyse what would be an acceptable discount (if any) and negotiate. Gracefully. 
I've been quite busy, thankfully and unusually early, with enquiries. As I have time to chase at the moment I have sent chaser emails and 2 have responded saying the price is too expensive. Why oh why then do these people send an enquiry in the first place, they can see the price!! It's really starting to xxx me off. wasting my time and theirs, why do they think it will be lower than the advertised price for summer 2011?
Because it works. Musetta's guest asked for 30% and was offered 20% - wouldn't have got a reduction if he hadn't made a cheeky enquiry. It would be great if we all stood together and refused to discount our published prices, but that's never going to happen in these dog eat dog recessionary times.The price is there to be seen so why enquire if they can't afford it
We reap what we sow.
Jim
Yep, they´re asking for a reduction - sneakier though as it implies you´re overcharging. Nonetheless they´re hoping you´ll make them an offerroxytoo wrote:But Jimbo they are not asking for a reduction! They enquire, I hear nothing, I chase and then they say its too expensive!
I suspect many people will be trying this on with a number of properties in the hope that someone will bite - and quite possibly they will.I suppose we´re all going to have to take a view on this. Depends how confident we are that we´ll get the full price without giving discounts. Our margins are pretty tight as it is.
I just rang Aviva to ask for a discount on my car insurance renewal. They came back with "Nope - that's the best we can do".
Fair enough. I don't think I or they took it personally.
I think it can be hard to depersonalise this stuff as we are so intimately involved, but really the two scenarios are not that different. If I haggle then I have to expect the same from my clients don't I?
They want to know they are getting the best deal they can. Caving in immendiately is not necessarily the best for you or for them.
If I ask for a discount of 20% and am instantly given it, I always have a nagging feeling that I could have got it for less.
If I ask for a discount but am politely told that the price is the best on offer currently then I have a choice, but I don't worry that I could maybe have got it cheaper. I know that the seller is confident in the value of his offering.
As has been pointed out before though our clients are constantly advised to haggle by sites like money saving expert etc.
There are of course ways of asking that are more or less polite and more or less persuasive...
Fair enough. I don't think I or they took it personally.
I think it can be hard to depersonalise this stuff as we are so intimately involved, but really the two scenarios are not that different. If I haggle then I have to expect the same from my clients don't I?
They want to know they are getting the best deal they can. Caving in immendiately is not necessarily the best for you or for them.
If I ask for a discount of 20% and am instantly given it, I always have a nagging feeling that I could have got it for less.
If I ask for a discount but am politely told that the price is the best on offer currently then I have a choice, but I don't worry that I could maybe have got it cheaper. I know that the seller is confident in the value of his offering.
As has been pointed out before though our clients are constantly advised to haggle by sites like money saving expert etc.
There are of course ways of asking that are more or less polite and more or less persuasive...
It's not the people that ask outright for a reduction or best price that I am talking about, it's the ones that, unless I had chased them, I would not have known that they thought the price I had given them is too expensive. I get lots of enquiries with a low conversion rate mainly because of the area I am in and the glut of rentals and normally I do not get the chance to chase enquiries, I'm just trying to point out that there are people that enquire, don't ask for any kind of best price or reduction and then you never hear from them again! But why did they enquire in the first place when the price is there for all to see and they have no intention of asking for a reduction!