I am new to hosting (July) and was wondering if you get “dinged” if you decline inquiries. I’ve loved this board and learned a lot about what Air asks for in order to get SuperHost ratings, and am aiming for that. I’ve had to decline 2 so far. I have a listing for a single room for ONE person. Both declines were when I was asked to deviate and allow for multiple guests. Of course, I said no. I, nor the room, can take care of more than 1 guest.
You don’t have to either decline or pre-approve inquiries, as far as I know. I don’t decline inquiries, though I do pre-approve them if the guest wants me to (assuming I approve, of course). I have never seen any sign that Airbnb cares that I don’t decline inquiries. And I’m listed as 100% response rate. But you do have to respond to inquiries, otherwise your response rate suffers. And you do have to decline or accept bookings.
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Was it an actual request to book or just an inquiry? If you respond to an inquiry within the 24 hour window you will have a 100% response rate for SH status. You don’t need to decline unless it’s an actual request to book. Is your listing set to max 1 guest?
I don’t think I’ve been dinged for declining a reservation. What is with people wanting to squeeze multiple people in a single bed? I have it set now for max 2 people but my extra person fee is the same price as the room.
These were inquiries only.
Sorry, that’s what I meant. Brain and fingers are not communicating.
For inquiries just answer, ignore the decline button. No effect on you at all.
Katochs – Single room – single (twin) bed, not a double or queen? Set your Extra Person number to 0. If it’s a double bed, LOTS of couples sleep two in a double bed. Two in a single bed is a bit much. Maybe you need to define the kind of bed better…
You absolutely get dinged…your listing placement goes down. Make sure you always say why you are declining,i.e. “Sorry, I don’t think this would be a good fit because --yada yada.” or, “I need more information such as–yada yada” so your response rate isn’t affected. This is one of the ways hosts feel screwed by Airbnb. Airbnb doesn’t care about how well you communicate with your guest…they just want them to book so they can get a fee. If you decline a lot of bookings, they figure you are just not desperate enough as a host and will feature hosts who accept everyone - insta-bookers included. Airbnb does NOT own our property, WE do. Airbnb assumes NO liability or risk, WE do. They are pimping your home on the street like a child prostitute…they just want fees.
I was a Superhost until I insisted on the last minute cancelling of a guest who had booked at 11pm that day and was heading over in 15 minutes, who, when I looked up his Google + Profile, had an absolutely revolting image of porn on his website. As a woman hosting alone there was no way in hell I was going to let that guy into my house after seeing it. I cancelled, lost superhost status for a year, and although the $100 penalty was refunded after I wrote customer service with a link to the guys profile images, I never got the Superhost status back.
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This was only an inquiry, not a booking request. Depending on your location the placement may not matter that much. We have only 6 listings on our island but if there are many listings near you it could matter.