Lately I've wanted to post the situations that I've had come up repeatedly over the years, as a sort of refresher to guests on things that probably won't work well for them, as well as to see if other hosts have had this issue, and if so, what they do.

First, the background. Our rooms all have pretty good discounts for longer bookings. Currently our weekly discount is 20% and our monthly discount is 40%. These are on par with what other hosts in our area offer.

We recently had a couple attempt to book. They wrote a very friendly message to us, which is often appreciated except when it comes across as trying to butter us up, which this one certainly did. After all the cheerful life story and raving about our place, we got to the "one small issue" (as they put it). Our place was totally out of their budget, and they needed us to drop down another 30% for them to be able to afford it. They admitted that was a lot, but assured me that they would be amazing guests, leave us a fantastic review, and also talk about our place a lot on social media (and gave us links to their SM, so we could see how many followers they had). Also, if they like our place enough, they'd be willing to stay on a month by month basis even longer at this hugely discounted rate they're asking for. Gee, what's not to love here? /s

It's also worth nothing that they were trying to book as 1 person, and we do charge a small daily fee for a 2nd guest, so they were actually wanting us to drop things even more than requested.

I wrote back my standard response which is basically "Thank you so much for your interest. We don't offer discounts further than the 40% decrease offered for monthly stays. While we won't be able to host you, we know there are a lot of other places within your budget in the city, and we trust you'll find something wonderful. Best of luck in your search"

Now, I didn't see it until the next day, but they wrote back last night basically saying that even though we're practically out of reach financially, they REALLY love our place and want to book with us.

When I didn't answer their next message, they decided to make a booking (I got that notification, which is why I saw the message I missed the prior night).

No, I do not want to accept a booking for more than a month (so tenant protections would kick in) from people who aren't booking properly (booking for 1 person instead of 2) AND have repeatedly said that our current price is out of their budget. They seemed young, and earnest, and I'm 90% sure that this is all enthusiasm & having moderately-priced wine expectations on a cheap beer budget vs looking for a place to squat.

That said, if something happens with the jobs that they're setting up when they get here and they fall through, I definitely do want to have to tell them they have to leave if they can't pay. I don't want to deal with eviction issues. I don't want to feel bad for them and let them stay (or be legally forced into letting them stay) with promises that they will pay us back...some day. I don't want to deal with any of that.

Which is to say - guests - don't tell your hosts you have money problems and then expect them allow you to book. Especially if you're trying to book in a really big city, like I'm in. Because I know for a fact that there are places (and perfectly nice ones) that would be within their budget. There are even ones in my neighborhood, a block (or less) away. Are they smaller? Yes. Offer less amenities? Yes. But they're there, and they're available, and heck, they're safer financially than trying to book a place that is above your means because you're set on it for some reason.

All that said, even if there were no other options for them, I wouldn't want to risk booking to people who originally told me that I was too high for their budget unless I drop my price another 30%. That's too financially risky for me and not worth it if they're completely terrible with money. I'm not going to bear the brunt of that. Asking for a discount already generally causes me to turn people away, but asking for a discount because you can't afford to stay here is absolutely a non-negotiable no.

Other hosts, have you had this experience before? Specifically with guests letting you know they can't afford to stay with you, but then trying to walk that back when you won't lower your price and book anyway?