I got a request for someone to book my whole house (I have my place listed 2 ways—Private Room/House Share and Entire House). In any case, the request for the whole house, they wanted to extend the check out time to 5pm. I didn’t want to accommodate that check out time, or their housebroken puppy. I had written them a few hours ago to let them know why I would be declining them, but my phone went wonky and would not let me click on the Decline button.
So, when I got home, I went into my mailbox, and I was given three choices:
Accept, Decline, Dismiss.
I hit dismiss just to see what would happen.
I think you have to decline them. You have 24 hours. Dismiss, I think is just to get rid of the message, but I’m not sure.
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Yup, I went back in and searched, and even though my dashboard showed nothing pending, when I went to my aBB email…the request was still there. So I declined.
The response rate is based on whether you RESPOND. If it is an inquiry, you have to RESPOND within 24 hours. So, send them a message and you will have fulfilled the necessary requirement. In this case, the guest has not entered their credit card information, and may have sent inquiries to a number of hosts. Questions may remain from either side, which is why you need only reply with a message. If they don’t respond with the needed answers for you to Pre-Approve the stay, you can simply click Dismiss. The response rate is NOT impacted so long as you respond with a message.
If it is a Request to Book, you will have a timer showing the 24 hours you have to Accept or Decline the request. In this case, you must select one of those options. Simply sending a message is not sufficient. In this case the guest has already entered their credit card info and has decided to stay with you.
Think of it in terms of the level of commitment the guest has shown. If they have simply sent a question, they can send many and inquire of numerous hosts. If they have made a request to book, they need a response ASAP so they can make a request of another host should you choose to decline. Should they have multiple pending requests and multiple hosts accept, they will have to cancel one or more paid reservations.
This, therefore, is why the response required differs based on whether it is a simple Inquiry or Request to Book.
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That’s bizarre that the option to Dismiss would appear in such a situation.
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In one place, it appeared as an inquiry, but in another place, it appeared as a request and I was given 24 hours to accept or decline. So I declined it, citing unable to meet late checkout request, and unable to accommodate a pet as noted in my listing.
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Well, I declined it after dismissing it.
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I dislike that we are held accountable for declining foolish requests.
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Well done! This is why I don’t use instant book!
I don’t use IB either
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You are not penalized for declining I believe