Accept or Decline?

1

I got a Request this morning along with a message from the prospective guest, asking if my internet was working, as she teaches online for 2 hours a day.

I messaged her back, saying that yes, as it says in my ad, I have Wifi, but that I can’t guarantee that she would always have high enough speeds, and that occasionally my internet provider has problems which might mean we have no signal for a few hours or even a day.

Also told her that the signal in the guest room isn’t always strong enough to handle Zoom calls and such, but there is good reception at the dining table on the kitchen terrace, where some other guests have set up to work online.

In conclusion, said that while I can’t guarantee anything, 95% of the time there aren’t any issues, and that if this was an acceptable risk for her, to please let me know and I would accept her booking, that if I accepted without hearing back from her, she’d be charged right away, so would wait to hear back from her.

I sent that message 6 hours ago and she hasn’t replied. I can wait until bedtime, but as I need to either accept or decline by 8 am tomorrow, and am not into leaving my phone on during the night and letting Airbnb stuff disturb my sleep, if you had this situation, and she hadn’t responded by the time you go to sleep, would you accept or decline?

I am leaning towards declining, along with a message saying I only declined because I hadn’t heard back from her, and that if the Wifi situation was acceptable to her, to just put in another Request.

(If she had sent this as an Inquiry rather than a Request, as she should have, I wouldn’t have this dilemma)

2 Likes
2

What about setting an alarm for 7:30 AM to see her response before deciding?

1 Like
3

Thanks for the response. She actually got back to me about 2 hours after I posted this, after I sent her another message, saying I was still awaiting her response. She thanked me for being honest about no guarantees on the Wifi, and said she’s open to hoping it will be okay and wants to stay. She had several reviews, all excellent, so I accepted. It’s only a 3 night booking, anyway. If it was 2 weeks, I would be more wary of her wanting to cancel part way through her stay.

As far as setting my alarm for an hour or two before I normally get up, nah, I don’t really put Airbnb stuff ahead of getting a good night’s sleep. :wink:

6 Likes
4

Decline- for your sake and her’s.

5

Funny thing, I accepted, because she finally messaged back, as I said above, thanking me for being forthcoming about the reasons I can’t gurantee flawless Wifi, and said she still wanted to book.

But then 2 days later, she cancelled, saying her trip dates had changed and she might rebook when her plans were firmed up. But for all I know, that was just blah blah and she found someplace that “guaranteed” perfect Wifi.

3 Likes
6

I’m glad it worked out for you. I would have declined, because I don’t need the stress or worry from my rental. Life’s too short! And I find that hosting has about run its course for me after 7+ years now, but that’s just me! :wink:

2 Likes
7

Guests value different things but reliable Wifi seems to be a must have for most. It’s great that you didn’t try to mislead her. It doesn’t sound like it’s big on your priority list but setting up a wireless network to reach throughout the house is relatively cheap and might attract guests who might otherwise do what this one did by cancelling.

8

Actually I live in a touristy beach town in Mexico and the vast majority of my guests come to relax and spend time at the beach, so reliable, high speed Wifi isn’t a top priority for most. And normally the Wifi is fine.

I’ve certainly had a few guests who have to work online for a few hours a day, but if they didn’t find the signal strong enough in their room, for Zoom calls and such, they just sat at the terrace table, no problem. It’s actually a lovely place to work, as it looks out on my tropical garden.

The main reason I wouldn’t guarantee uninterrupted Wifi for someone who was absolutely dependent on that is not because of signal strength or speed, which is usually fine, but because infrastructure is not the best around here. For instance, last week everyone in my area was without Wifi for about 36 hours because our Wifi provider needed a part for one of his relay towers that he had to order and wait for. We could still connect to internet if we needed to, using cell data, and a phone as a hotspot to the computer, but that isn’t unlimited data and gets eaten up fast.

9

Le sigh. That sounds like such a lovely place to be! (speaking from the frozen, traumatized ICEy northern US).

As for the OP, I’ve learned that, if I need to take action by a deadline, I gently let the guest know of the deadline in my initial response so they can act in time.