Discount seekers

I just wanted to share for the fun of it, but feel free to comment if necessary !

RESERVATION REQUEST
"Hey I’m James a guy from England who is currently cycling around the world. Just looking for some rest in a comfy place for a few nights before I continue my trip. I’m very poor as I’m now 10 months cycling but would rather a private place to rest than a crazy party hostal in miraflores. I’m a clean respectful person and would love to stay at your place. Please can you offer me a super cheap rate for a poor cycle man?! :slight_smile: Thanks again and kind regards."

MY ANSWER
James, due to the floods in Lima, Miraflores is without tap-water. And supermarkets are out of any bottled water. Our apartment building doesn’t have his own water storage. So there is no water for showers, cleaning, washing the dishes or even just flushing the toilet.
It’s unclear how long this emergency is going to last. But after talking to Wil, we have decided to not accept any guests, until this problem resolves itself. I am very sorry for this.
On our price: It’s already a base price that barely covers the costs of the room (rent, water, electricity, security, internet). Unfortunately if you want to stay or live in the safest district all these things come at a premium price. If you are looking for anything cheaper, I advice you to look further out. And because of the situation the country is in at the moment, it might be better to just stay put if you are in a good place right now.
All the best. And very sorry we can’t accommodate you.

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I’d suggest this guest to use Coachsurfing to find free accommodation.

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If the guest can accept the water that is provided to locals we accept the guests rather than lose the customer. Everything else is a good bet on the references to the other rates. But why lose a customer if they might accept the water situation to drink the same water that you do? We too have the lowest rates in our area and alert customers to situations and weather. And people are trained to request discounts. Tell them that you might give them a discount of 5-10% for the inconvenices in exchange for a solid review or something compatible.

The funny part was where he asks for a super cheap rate because he is super poor (2x), at the same time telling me that he has been travelling the world for 10 months already. All this when we are one of the cheapest places in the best and safest district. Our price is already rockbottom compared to costs. At the moment it’s just to get our rent paid.

The problem part is that we are indeed in a state of emergency, and that for the moment we don’t have any water. We can’t even have our bed- or bathlinnen washed :smirk:. I made use of this emergency to get rid of this discount seeker.
The situation is not comparable to places where it’s normal to have only a few hours of water a day. Normally we have the whole time, now we don’t even have 5 minutes of water a day :disappointed:.

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I would charge him more for being a cyclist… :speak_no_evil:

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Years ago I saw a couple tour cycling in my town late in the evening. I didn’t know where they were headed but it wasn’t what I considered a good direction or on a good route for the late hour of the day. So I flagged them down and offered them my guest room. I gave them directions and they rode down there. My husband thought I was nuts but consented to follow through. I expected them to get up and at it early the next day but no, they slept in and when they got up they said the male of the party was sick and did I have any cold meds I could give them. I let them stay one more night but told them they’d have to hit the road in the morning. I didn’t do that again. LOL.

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@KKC: (Your hus…?..but, but, but…)

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Haha! I was kind of joking but… kind of not really :speak_no_evil: Well done for being a decent human, shame they couldn’t be the same!

If you’re asking what I think you are…LOL. Yes, I was married to a man for 6 years and we dated for 2.5 years before that. It was the late 70s/early80s and I’d been very religious growing up and he was a wonderful man with nice family who always treated me like one of their own. It seemed like the thing to do at the time.

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@KKC

You are tooo nice to have answered me cuz’ it was none of my biz…it’s just that it caught me off-guard. Thx! You have a kind persona obviously, with the cyclists, your family’s desires, etc.

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No worries! I’ve always been a pretty open person. Thanks for your kind words.

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Hi

I hope you’re well. I’m writing because my girlfriend and I are going to Budapest at the beginning of August to get a taste of the city. We will be moving there together in September as she is going to the Central European University.

We love your apartment, but it’s a bit outside of price range. I’m moving all of my things from the U.S., and the plane tickets and baggage fees are biting into my checking account. Is there a chance you could offer us a deal for the week?

Many thanks,

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@Mirta_Gubetta ??? Who is this directed to?

It was directed to me, just another discount seeker, even when your price is already cheap.

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Ah!!! This was from a special would-be guest. Sorry, I misunderstood!

I’ve said previously that I don’t object to people asking for a discount. However, the sense of entitlement from people with what my mama used to call “champagne taste but a beer budget,” is annoying.

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So, basically they want you to subsidise their 10 month holiday. Lol. Nope.

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I’ve had a number of discount seeking inquiries. I’ve accepted some, and I’ve declined some. Most of the discount seekers I’ve been contacted by are only asking if I can make the accommodations more ‘budget friendly’ and not asking me to slash my prices to the point of losing money as your inquiry was asking. I’ve accommodated some as they were either highly rated guests or the nights requested were not premium nights. Some of the discounts I’ve offered were not enough to entire the booking and they asked me to reduce further. At this point I politely decline and that’s been the end of it.

Some people ask to pay for one less night because they ‘are getting in really late the first night’ or have to ‘get up super early to catch a flight.’ They are just asking for a free night and I simply decline because they are still using the accommodations for that night.

It’s gotten worse for me too. I’ve had people ask if they can check in ‘after midnight’ on their arrival day! At this point, they are just trying to steal a night from me. Obviously I decline, but it puts me in an awkward situation of declining somebody who has already booked a reservation. I never got bad reviews from these people, but still. I don’t like it.

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I am feeling so very lucky. I just never have these requests. I wonder why.

You probably price right outside their notice. I rarely get discount seekers. The only ones I can think of are from people who want to book long-term and get a lower rate. I’ve gotten a few from people coming in for summer internships. Sorry people, 1) why would I discount during my busy season? and 2) I don’t book stays longer than 3 weeks anyway!

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