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A potential guest requested a reservation (reservation request) and I messaged them 5 times, airbnb emailed them, and now they are being called (did you know airbnb will phone potential guests but only between business hours?).
Airbnb says that with a reservation request, if the guests do not answer my messages, the request will expire in 24 hours, and the day(s) will be freed up, with no penalty to the host.
Did Air tell you that on a message thread?
I have had non communicative guests and called Air to call them, which they did. Maybe once or twice when Air did that, the guest offered to cancel. But I donât think that that solves the problem of the hosts 24 hours to accept policy.
That sounds very suspect, like a CS rep who is confusing requests with inquiries. I would just decline before the 24 hrs is up to be on the safe side.
I have also heard that if a request expires, it counts as a decline anyway.
I donât know if itâs true but I suggest you writing to thank Airbnb for their help, summarize the situation, what both you and Airbnb have done, and that you appreciate their guidance that if at the end of the 24 hours the guest has still not answered your messages that the request will expire, the calendar will open and no host penalty will apply.
That should cover you in case Airbnb later disavows their CS rep.
What the CS told you directly contradicted the policy. donât trust them. Whether it expires or you decline it, it is still considered a declination
I read somewhere Airbnb isnât as tough on declinations as they used to be until you do 3 or 4 in a row. It is a response & Response rate is the key metric
Reading your message itâs not clear if they sent in a request to book and you approved or if you just sent a message. (Big difference between replying and accepting a reservations.)
Additionally, an inquiry can look a lot like a request to book. (Again, (Big difference between replying and accepting a reservations.)
So, I would say unless you can clarify your question, itâs hard to give you a definitive answer.
I know that you are an experience Host and when I replied I hadnât realized that you were the one posting or I wouldnât have made the distinction but there are so many newbies that just donât understand the difference.
Lynn
Not really. Iâve never been confused about it. It says Inquiry or Request right on it. And if thereâs any confusion, an inquiry has the options of Pre-approve and Decline, but a Request has the options Accept or Decline.
I disagree. Many new hosts donât understand the difference. Obvious, itâs clear to us but I do think it can be confusing and I think itâs been designed that way.
Well, sure, thatâs true. But that doesnât mean an inquiry looks a lot like a request and that itâs hard to tell the difference. Although because Airbnb sends prodding messages to pre-approve inquiries, it can make it seem like pre-approving or declining an inquiry is necessary.
New hosts donât understand a lot of stuff because many donât seem to have bothered to read almost anything in the Help articles for hosts, nor read the policies, before throwing up a listing.
You might be right; I donât know. I hope not though!
I donât need to remind you, unless I do, how much goes into being a Host. Iâm a co-Host for six years and still learning. Just this week you sent me back to school.
My primary (not exclusive) focus is on the hospitality aspect:
cleanliness,
safety,
the House Manual,
making it easy for guests to understand how things work (this is a big one),
messaging,
property maintenance,
systematizing the various processes (cleaning, messaging , house maintenance, gardening), tweaking things to improve and problem for what adds value,
tweaking the listingâs wordings, the pictures,
curating and promoting restaurants and things to do,
and it goes on.
So what Iâm saying is that while I hope youâre mistaken that new Hosts havenât read âanythingâ I wouldnât presume that they âhavenât botheredâ to. Thereâs a lot to do!
For sure itâs a big learning curve, and even when you inform yourself, Airbnb is constantly changing things, which requires paying attention and keeping up.
But it isnât a matter of opinion that new hosts sometimes put up a listing without bothering to inform themselves of the most basic things. I have read many posts from new hosts asking how theyâll get paid, do they have to ask guests to send them a check or deposit the money in their bank account.
Or they say âHelp- somehow guests are able to book without me getting the opportunity to approve them!â (They donât know about IB, and obviously havenât gone through all the settings to make sure things are set up the way they want)
Yep, and even as a 19-year host when you consider all that and multiply it by all the other platforms we book on (VRBO, Booking.com, Expedia Partners, OwnerDirect, TripAdvisor, direct bookings, etc.) who also change rules and protocol and interface options periodically, it can be a real chore and require a constant vigil to stay updated.
I have seen dates blocked on my calendar after letting a request expire. What I have done is declined because Iâm uncomfortable with the request . with the reason being the guest has stopped messaging. So I declined and send a guest message that says, " I will decline this for now since you arenât responding but if you still want this in the future let me know. "
Otherwise you have to set a reminder or alarm in your phone to decline before countdown timer ends.
After doing the decline, guests often reappear sometime in the next 24 hours and request or book listing.
Sometimes people just get distracted or busy and thatâs the way it goes. But at least you protect your response rate and decline rate with this tactic.