bargaining on AirBnB

[rob in cal]

   People on this forum have mentioned the idea of bargaining with owners when looking for places to rent on Airbnb.  In a few years we hope to start traveling to Europe in the summers and some of the apartments posted on Airbnb look really nice, but would look even better with a discount.  We might want to stay in certain places for several days to a week or so, and even more in some places so that could be a bargaining point, as landlords would probably like a multi-day tenant.  What type of experiences have people had negotiating on Airbnb either in Europe or the US?

[larmando]

Works if you have some other value to offer. Your example of multi-day is good, but many airbnb accommodations have "cleaning fees" which effectively make multi-day stays cheaper per-day. If you combine it with being already very well verified/reviewed there is a "security" incentive for the host to take you vs another less scrutinized guest, so that's definitely a good leverage. (sure airbnb offers insurance, but who wants to go through that??)

If you want a discount send a long message, introduce yourself, describe your trip length and purpose, come out as nice, explain what your budget constraints are and make a concrete proposal of how much you want to spend. This increases your chances a lot.

(source: I negotiated prices, and also host on airbnb)