Except that doesn’t happen, in my experience. Mine has always said “within an hour”, even though I’ve had numerous inquiries or requests go unanswered for much longer than an hour.
Oh? That’s interesting.
I wonder if you answer so many questions within a few minutes that the average IS within the hour??
Not nearly enough “within a few minutes” to balance out 8 hours. And my guests don’t ask “so many questions”.
Well, I actually inquired about this with them a few months back as far as pets go. Since now Airbnb has option for pets, Hospitable can help you build a customize reply that asks about pet in case they don’t mention it. And doesn’t ask, if they do…
1 Like
Most of us, I suspect.
To me though, I have to balance speed with giving great service and being a hospitable, friendly host. (Largely because I have a large number of repeat guests and I want more. 
)
I can’t see how it would be helpful to me (although feel free to let me know if I’ve missed something).
This is what bothers me. I’d prefer it if all hosts left honest reviews for their guests rather than something standard. A personalised review is a important to me for the reason I mentioned above - they show potential guests that I care about that I care about them having a great time.
I appreciate that not all hosts feel that way though and therefore the extension will be of use to many.
One quick question - I realise it’s a Google Chrome extension but is this the case on any laptop, tablet or phone? Thanks.
2 Likes
As an aside: It’s amazing you know all this.
But when you see “This Host usually responds within [fill in the blank hours/minutes]” that calculation must include responses within 24 hours. Otherwise, how do they calculate that?
So, for example, assume a Host always responded exactly 12 hours after that first inquiry. Wouldn’t then it say “Host usually responds within 12 hours”? [That’s what’s being referred to as ‘called out.’]
If not, what would it say?
I think that is what @Rolf was asking about, not to have the Host’s response time dragged down by those late night inquiries. @muddy was saying it just doesn’t happen. You’re explaining why, but I’m not understanding it (yet).
After 24 hrs affects the response rate. What Rolf was referencing, I assumed, was the “Responds within…” Which has always said 1 hr. on my listing.
As far as inconveniencing guests in a different time zone by not answering right away, I figure if a guest doesn’t bother to notice that it would be 1am in my time zone, I don’t really care if they move on to inquire or request a different listing if they expect a reply in what is the middle of the night for me. I don’t take last minute bookings, so they aren’t that inconvenienced by waiting for a reply until a reasonable hour.
It’s packed w. shortcuts to your calendar, inbox, listing settings, and even within Aribnb.
Hosting for about 9 years now, quality and integrity of reviews I leave to guests is always priority to me. I build the extension around that. When guests stay and they are 5-Stars guests, my experience is that 98% of the time I will write very similar reviews.
In the extension, you can add up to 3 different version at any length and personalized by name for any the guests. In case nothing was out of the ordinary.
For my listing, I get about 100 reviews a year. Before it would take me 3 minutes to go through the whole process. Now, it’s about 8 seconds while keeping the same high level reviews.
For me, instead of 300 mins a year - it takes 7 mins. This is probably sounds stupid… though this is only ONE aspect of managing. It saves you more time with other aspects of managing (like leaving a Public Response). And I do value my time.
Google Chrome doesn’t allow extensions for tablets nor phones. There is no such thing.
It works on any laptop or desktop.
1 Like
I didn’t know that - I use Safari on my phone. Have you any plans to develop this for use on a phone or iPad? I only use the laptop about 10 - 15% of the time. I find time management so much easier when I can work from the line in the grocery store, from the car, from the doctor’s office etc.
Sounds like that would be ideal.
Unfortunately, there is no such option for extensions to be installed on phone or iPad (tablets). I would develop it first, though there’s no such feature.
There are some weird work arounds, though they can not guarantee it will work as intendend.
1 Like
That’s interesting info. I always figured the response time listed would be some average (which would be logical) but as I said, mine has always read “within an hour” so what the CS rep told you sounds correct.
But that also means that response time “within an hour”, if that only changes if a host goes over the 24 hrs, can be an entirely false and useless statement as far as being a guest who is awaiting a reply from what may be a slacker host who doesn’t bother to answer in a reasonable amount of time.
I would imagine that would only happen much if a guest has had past hosts ghost them on messages.
I wonder how often that response time gets updated if a host has gone over the 24 hrs. I once missed responding to a request within 24hrs because Airbnb had glitched out me receiving alerts. That was years ago, so I have no record of whether my response time then changed, and I never thought to check it at the time. I know it affected my response rate, even though the guest went on to book (I did respond to her and apologize within 25 hrs, when I saw the missed request in my account), and Airbnb admitted it was their tech glitch that caused me not to see the request in time. 
Claimed they “couldn’t”, that it was all automated. While a CS rep may not be able to change it, sounds like BS that the tech team wouldn’t be able to.
I recall a post from a host who had gotten a spate of scam inquiries, contacted CS about them, and the CS rep told her to just flag them,that she didn’t need to respond. The host’s response rate then tanked, and when she asked for her 100% response rate to be reinstated, pointing out the CS rep’s advice not to respond, was also told it “couldn’t” be changed.
“We f**ked up, too bad for you.”
I found one with 100% response rate and “within a few hours”.
Vrbo used to report how fast the owner responded, but I can’t find it on listings now. I also heard it was part of their “secret recipe” for the ranking algorithm.
1 Like
Airbnb flat out states that it’s part of theirs.
Since I get mostly “last minute” (within the week) bookings, I respond ASAP. If I hear the ping in the middle of the night for a request I will look at my phone and hit accept. Then by morning I’m sending a message if I didn’t the night before.
In an increasingly competitive environment, I’d guess that hosts who are picky and slow to respond are going to find themselves with so few bookings that it hardly seems worth the effort.
As a guest, when a host doesn’t respond within a few hours, it usually means it’s not going to work out for me to stay with them.
3 Likes
I doubt you send messages at what is 2am in the host’s time zone, though. 
Those are the only guest messages I don’t respond to within a short period of time. As JJD points out, not everyone is okay with having their sleep interrupted- in my case, I will not be able to get back to sleep, and if I don’t get enough sleep, I’m not just tired, I can barely function. (I have a friend who used to work the crisis line, had it set up so she got the calls forwarded to her home phone, could spend an hour talking to someone who called at 3am, was in the midst of committing suicide, but didn’t want help, just someone to talk to, and then turn over and go right back to sleep when the call was over.)
Or if I’m driving, in the dentist’s chair or deep in the middle of something I can’t just drop, the guest will get a response within an hour or a few. There have also been a couple times where my internet went out, so couldn’t reply immediately.
It’s not uncommon. I do so as well, and so as other hosts I know.
Well, sending a request, inquiry or message at what is sleep hours for a host is one thing, expecting a speedy reply is another. Personally I’ve never had a guest withdraw a request because I didn’t respond immediately.
And because I homeshare, there isn’t the possibility of a guest in residence messaging in the middle of the night with some emergency- all they would have to do is knock on my bedroom door.
Emergencies happen 24/7 and are not location-specific.
Huh? What do you mean not location specific? My guests don’t stay out late at night- if they had an emergency situation in the middle of the night, as I said, all they’d have to do is knock on my bedroom door, which is 5 steps from theirs, or yell for help.
1 Like