Airbnb Military Discount: Why Can’t You Ignore It as a Host?

airbnb military discount
By The Hospitable Team

It’s not easy to stand out in the highly competitive vacation rental market. That’s why many Airbnb hosts use special offers and discounts to attract potential guests, especially during a low or shoulder season.

You can offer different discounts and run custom promotions that will help make your Airbnb listing appealing to your target guests. But there is also an offering that can enhance your competitive edge and give you an opportunity to contribute to a good cause.

It’s an Airbnb military discount that you can offer to veterans and active-duty soldiers to show appreciation to our military personnel. Read on to find out what a military discount is and why you can’t afford to ignore it as an Airbnb host or a property manager.

Airbnb Military Discount: What Is It and Why You Should Offer It?

Airbnb military discount allows hosts to offer reduced rates on their listings specifically for military personnel. These are veterans, active duty members, and even military families.

Offering a personalized military discount is a great way to express gratitude for the military members’ service and sacrifices, dedicating their lives to protecting our rights and freedoms. It’s also an effective way to gain new customers and increase revenue.

The military community is massive and influential, and research has shown that military members love military discounts and look for businesses that offer them. So, creating special military offers will help you improve your brand’s image among the military community and people who support them, and they’re more likely to book your listing.

As a result, you can increase your customer base, get more bookings, and make more money. And if you automate your routine operations using vacation rental software like Hospitable, you’ll have more time to focus on growing your business and will be able to scale faster.

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Does Airbnb Offer a Military Discount?

Airbnb has become popular among travelers worldwide because it offers unique and affordable accommodations in various locations. However, Airbnb does not offer a consistent discount to military personnel because it operates on a peer-to-peer platform.

The company connects people with vacant rooms in their homes or entire properties to travelers seeking short-term accommodation and earns a commission on each booking made through the platform.

And since Airbnb doesn’t own any short-term rental properties listed on its website, it doesn’t control the prices and can’t tell hosts what to charge and how much to discount. Instead, Airbnb allows hosts to set nightly rates for their rental spaces.

Airbnb encourages property owners and managers to offer different discounts on their listings to attract more guests. But whether or not to offer a discount is entirely up to hosts who list their properties on Airbnb.

How Does Airbnb Military Discount Work?

If you decide to offer a discount on your nightly rate, Airbnb will show discount styling on your listing to promote your offer to guests. As a host, it’s up to you to set your preferred discount percentage for military personnel. But you should try to balance the discount to ensure meaningful savings for service members and sustainable profitability for your vacation rental.

Once you’ve determined the military discount, you should adjust your listing and clearly state what you offer. It’s essential to be specific so potential guests can understand the offer. For example, you may say, “We’re proud to offer a 10% military discount to military members and their families.”

The military discount will be automatically applied when a guest who qualifies for it book a stay at your Airbnb property. Airbnb will take the amount off your listing price and won’t reimburse it. So, offering a military discount is a voluntary commitment on your part to provide more affordable stays for those who serve.

Many hosts offer military discounts to guests who ask for them. Hosts who choose this approach can send a special offer to the guest’s inbox or create a custom promotion on their booking calendar.

While offering discounts to military members and veterans is wonderful, you may also want to verify the military status of potential guests who want to use this discount. There are ways to do this respectfully, such as asking for a veteran ID card, a military ID, or other proof of active duty status during conversations with the guest via messages.

You can opt for vacation rental software like Hospitable, which will allow you to streamline guest communication and create an automated personalized message flow for each guest.

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You should also familiarize yourself with the Airbnb host discount policy. Airbnb provides the infrastructure that enables hosts to offer discounts but does not enforce or regulate them. As a host, you can set your rental rates and offer discounts, and you are responsible for ensuring that any deals you offer are genuine and not misleading.

Airbnb also encourages clear and accurate communication about any special discounts. This way, you can avoid misunderstandings that could harm the experience for you and your guests.

Remember that Airbnb conducts spot checks or audits and can restrict hosts’ ability to add discounts or suspend or remove their listing from the platform if hosts violate the Airbnb host discount policy or applicable laws.

Bottom Line

Offering an Airbnb military discount to honor military personnel will help make your listing stand out and be more attractive to a specific group, diversifying your audience. A military discount is a strategic business decision that will allow you to show support for our brave service members and can potentially increase overall bookings and boost your total revenue.