It's the end of October in Bečići. Jelena locks the last of her four apartments and sits down on the terrace with a notebook. The season was a good one: a calendar full from June to September, happy guests, great reviews. The platform sent her payouts on time every month.
Let's do the math together. Four apartments, about 120 nights each, an average of €70 per night. That's €33,600 in revenue. The platform's commission, usually around 15%, was deducted before every payout. Jelena never paid it as a bill. She never took out her wallet.
On paper, it says: €5,040.
Jelena looks at the number and says quietly: "That's the new kitchen in apartment three."
The money she never saw only now started to hurt.
Losses Weigh More
In the late 1970s, psychologists Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky showed something everyone knows from real life. We feel a loss much more strongly than a gain of the same value. Finding €100 on the street makes us happy for an afternoon. Losing €100 from our wallet ruins the whole day. In many measurements, a loss weighs roughly twice as much. The principle is called loss aversion.
That's why Jelena worked with the platform calmly for five years. The commission never showed up as a loss. It was invisible, buried in the payouts that kept arriving. Only when it took shape, a number on paper and a kitchen she hadn't bought, did it become real.
One Offer, Two Sentences
People rarely change a habit because of a promise. They change it when they see what the habit costs them. That's why the same offer sounds completely different when it shows a gain and when it shows a loss:
The first sentence is friendly and easy to forget. The second gives the guest a picture of something slipping away, and they react.
Where the Loss Hides in Your Business
Airport Transfer
A traveler isn't buying a ride. They're avoiding a midnight taxi line and haggling with a stranger. A website that shows that picture sells peace of mind.
Rent-a-Car
Zero-excess insurance sells through a story about a scratch in a parking lot in Kotor and a €500 bill on the day you return the car, not through the word "premium."
Agency and Client
An owner who keeps putting off a new website rarely counts how many inquiries slip through their hands every month. Once they see that number, the decision takes one meeting.
Loss, in Moderation
This principle is powerful, and that's why it demands honesty. A "last room available" that isn't the last room, or a countdown that resets to zero when you refresh the page, burns trust that took years to build. A brand that shows a real loss helps the customer see more clearly. A brand that invents one gets a single sale and loses the customer.
Show the Cost of the Habit
- Find the loss your customer doesn't see. Time, money, peace of mind, a missed opportunity. Whatever gets deducted on its own, like Jelena's commission.
- Give it a number. Five thousand euros, three hours of waiting, twenty lost inquiries. A number makes a loss tangible.
- Turn the number into a picture. A new kitchen, a dinner at a tavern, a weekend with the family. People remember pictures, not totals.
- Offer a way out right away. A loss without a solution creates fear. A loss with a clear next step creates a decision.
- Tell only the truth. Every number has to be verifiable. That's what a brand stands on.
The Kitchen in Apartment Three
That winter, Jelena built her own website for direct bookings. She sent her returning guests a message with a discount for booking direct. The following summer, the kitchen in apartment three was new.
