Hi, First of all, thanks everyone here for always being so helpful and kind.
I have a guest wants to book my home, he is a host himself with more than 100 listings (I know! why he has so many properties!) but he doesn’t have any reviews as being a guest! So my setting request him to read and agree my house rules before making reservation. But he keeps telling me he don’t see any house rules and he cannot find them. All my other guests found the house rules no problem . When I review my listing myself, I see the house rules clearly there. I don’t know what is going on. What should I do? I don’t feel good about this guest, can I just decline his request?
any help is highly appreciated!
A host with a hundred listings? Yeah, I’d probably decline him too. LOL.
Declines hurt your search ranking. If you decline often you get an automated scolding from Airbnb. But if you don’t want to host him, then don’t.
4 Likes
Hold this guest to your requirements. If they do not, then decline with that explanation.
3 Likes
I copy/pasted the house rules to him. I always feel a little sorry that I have to ask the guests to read and agree to the house rules. But I know I have to do this to protect myself. Normally the good ones would just text me that they agree to the house rules and obey local laws without asking. But this one keeps telling me he cannot find the rules, it’s odd. I will just let the request expire. Hopefully he will withdraw his request.
2 Likes
If I don’t decline but just let the request expires, does it hurt my search ranking? I am a new host only started last week…
You need to either accept or decline. A decline every once in awhile has no affect on your search ranking. The goal for acceptance rate is only 88% and any reservation you take whether it be IB, preapproval or request will count positively toward your acceptance rate. There is no expectation of 100% acceptance rate and it does not affect Superhost.
But if you don’t accept or decline then that will be counted against your response rate which is more important and does factor into superhost and search ranking and has a higher expectation, you should have a 100% response rate. It is also shown on your listing. Although I am forgiving of most things when booking, I will not book with a host who doesn’t have a 100% response rate. It is the least I should be able to expect is a response. So you do need to do something, don’t ignore it.
Did the guest agree to your house rules when you sent them by copy and paste?
It’s possible your guest is using the app and isn’t familiar with it and it has also been really buggy lately. And if he has 100 listings he likely doesn’t have any hands-on participation with the listings so is not familiar with where everything is. I don’t find the fact that he is a host is relevant since he probably has a manager and doesn’t really host. A lot of guests need help navigating Airbnb, I find myself sending links, screenshots and instructions to a certain amount of guests.
But if you just don’t want him then coach him on how to withdraw his request and if he doesn’t then decline him before it times out, don’t just ignore it because response rate does matter.
1 Like
Reminder, all communication thru the app ONLY…
4 Likes
Not yet, he is not responding to my text message. I will give him a few hours since his request expires in 6 hours.
I actually told him how to find the house rules step by step. But he told me he cannot find it… Not sure what is going on.
Yes, I found there is no links to the house rules, so the only thing I can do is copy/paste it for the guest.
Once you’ve had a few guests who don’t abide by the house rules you won’t feel so badly asking them to agree to them. I’ve found that few guests read the policies on your listing.
When accepting a reservation I always message the guest that they will need to send me their email address so I can send them our policies to sign and send back, and I note that they have 48 hours in which to cancel if they don’t feel comfortable with anything. There’s no “I didn’t know” excuse and it has cut down the number of disruptive groups.
Responsible guests will appreciate you’re trying to protect your home and the neighborhood and will gladly sign. Those planning a party will likely cancel their booking.
I recently had a guest who I suspected was planning a stag party and wasn’t communicative. He didn’t send back the signed policies. Airbnb worked with me to cancel the reservation because our listing states that they must sign the policies.
1 Like
All of those things through the app, I wasn’t implying otherwise. Besides, if he’s not booked yet, she doesn’t have any other choice.
Yes, copy/paste is the answer here. There is not a link to your specific house rules. Did you send them and are just waiting to hear back from him?
1 Like
Thank you so much for your insights. I have requested the guests need to agree to comply the house rules and local laws in the listing. Is that enough that they send me message on Airbnb DM says they will comply all the rules and laws? Do I need to request emails and signed the agreement?
Hi, JJD, yes, I sent the house rules and is waiting to hear back from him.
1 Like
Assuming he contacts you and says he agrees to your house rules, are you going to accept his reservation?
If so, then set an alarm in case you don’t hear back from him. You don’t want to miss the deadline to accept or decline. It really doesn’t matter if you decline unless you do it a lot, but it really really matters if you don’t respond at all.
But if you don’t want to accept him then go ahead and decline him now so that your calendar isn’t blocked. There’s no benefit to waiting unless you want the reservation.
3 Likes
I think you need to move forward with what you’re comfortable with. We have sensitive neighbors so our license depends on them not being disturbed so that’s why I need a signature to show the importance of following our rules. Your solution of sending the policies and asking him to agree to them is very reasonable.
If I were you at this point, I’d decline the reservation as it stands, but let him know you would be willing to consider him after you’ve determined you’re both on the same page regarding your policies.
1 Like
Very wary of him, would be my opinion. Unrelated to renting an Air, but renting my timeshare…a gal could not “find” my PayPal info. I have two emails associated with it and for a week she could not “find” me on PP. So she sent me a check. From Canada. I took it to my Credit Union, and they would not accept it. She was “horrified and embarrassed” but when I asked her pay for the week in another way, she disappeared. Dodged that one, for sure.
4 Likes
The house rules are right on your listing- he has to scroll down past the map to the bottom and click on the arrow next to where it says House Rules.
It sounds extremely odd that a “host” with 100 listings wouldn’t be aware of that. But in fact, he isn’t really a host- someone with 100 listings is a corporate property manager.
You can’t just let either Inquiries or Requests expire. For Inquiries, you need to message back, but you don’t need to pre-approve or decline. For Requests, you need to accept or decline within 24 hours, or convince the guest to withdraw the request before the 24 hrs is up.
I’m not positive, but I think letting a Request expire actually gets registered as a decline. At the very least, it dings your response rate.
1 Like
I would rather leave my home empty than taking the risk accepting guests I don’t feel comfortable with…thank you so much for your suggestion. I am setting up an alarm to remind myself to decline him before the request expires.
1 Like
That’s totally fine.
But then why not just go ahead and decline him now? If you don’t want the booking then there is no reason to keep your calendar blocked.
1 Like
I will keep that in mind! and I really really appreciate your help.
1 Like