Confused Guest: Inquiry vs Request to Book

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A guest sent a Request to Book for dates three months from now. She didn’t realize that her request would result in a reservation. Based on what she wrote about coming here, I accepted the request. That confirmed the reservation. She wasn’t ready to do that and, in fact, can’t afford it now.

I told her how to cancel. Airbnb says they keep her money for two weeks, which she’s panicking about.

I doubt I can help with that in any way. However, I tried to explain to her the difference between a Request to Book and an Inquiry so that she’d know in the future. Then I went to several Airbnb locations (anonymously) and to our own. I don’t see any way for guests to issue an Inquiry.

We have a flexible cancellation policy and have Instant Book turned off.

Is there still a way for a guest to simply inquire?

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It doesn’t seem to be as obvious as it used to be If you scroll down quite a ways on the right, there is a contact host box.

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Thanks very much, Christine.

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You probably can’t help her now with the cancellation & refund.

However for the future, if either she sends you or you send her an “alteration request” to change the date, when accepted it starts the clock over for the 48 hours after making a reservation when it can be cancelled by the guest and get a full refund including Airbnb fees. However it must be more than 14 days before the new reservation is to start.

There’s a couple threads about guests doing this to bypass the host cancellation policy but if the host wants to use it, it’s a win win.

If Airbnb returns her funds in 2 weeks, she’s lucky. I’ve heard it can take up to 6 weeks

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I think it’s been that way a long time. Clearly they don’t want people using it.

I wonder if it would help for people who have instant book off to put something in the description about this issue?

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It wouldn’t be bad idea. “If you have any questions before booking, please click on the ‘Contact Host’ box you will find at the bottom of this listing when you scroll down.”

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FTFY: "“If you have any questions before booking, please reread the listing, as it is quite thorough and according to airbnb TOS must be accurate.”

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I honestly don’t mind pre-booking questions at all, as long as it wasn’t answered by reading tje listing info or isn’t "Can I get a discount (bring more people, bring my dog, etc).

Guests often ask me legitimate questions specific to their situation.

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And even when they do allow people to use it they REQUIRE dates and that also means that if they do not have any dates available it is not possible…

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This…most of the questions I am asked are guest stay specific. If this condo will not work for them, it’s easier to handle in the beginning.

If I get questions that make it clear they didn’t read at least the summary description, I refer them to, “the answers to most of your questions are in the rental description. Let me know if you have additional questions.”

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Yes they just message the host @RebeccaF

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Right. If they know to scroll way, way, way down to my profile, where the “Contact Host” button is now located.

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That’s a great idea. I will add this now to our listing. We just had one potential guest inquire about how quiet our place was. We’re in the middle of a remote canyon so there’s very little human noise but we do get deliveries and our dogs bark at anyone arriving (that’s their job and it’s not constant). I think that was enough to make him decide NOT to book, and that’s okay with me.

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Good idea, I’m going to incorporate those lines in my property description

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I let a guest know about upcoming railway work which made him cancel. I was at pains to point out that it’s usually quieter when the trains don’t run and they’re doing maintenance on the tracks, but I couldn’t guarantee it of course.
In the end it was super quiet and we had a guest free weekend which enabled me to do some painting and gardening instead !

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