A guest wants to know how far I am from a venue. I answer her question within 5 minutes. She answers right back, “Thanks, too far.” End of story, or should be. Then I feel like the Airbnb police are after me, red flashing lights startle me—pre-approve or decline. I call customer service and Rosie says I must hit one of the buttons. Forum folks say, no need. I know this question is asked over and over, but what the heck? Please advise.
You do NOT need to hit one of the buttons. If it is JUST an inquiry, then you did all you have to do - reply.
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You only have to respond to an inquiry. The pre-approve button is there because they haven’t requested to book. Just ignore it until the dates pass and it will say “not possible”. You can also dismiss it from your dashboard so you don’t have to see the silly thing!
Never decline as declines count against you. Dumb Airbnb!
I posted about this on another thread this morning. I think they have changed something yet again, and like Callmescout, yesterday I had red flashing messages from Air on all gadgets I have the app on. I’d just received an enquiry that I couldn’t host with a young child (all over my listing of course, but hey ho) and messaged the very polite bloke that I couldn’t accept his booking, without pressing decline. I then noticed my calendar was blocked for those dates, a week away and got messages telling me to accept or decline or my calendar will remain blocked for those dates, not mentioning how long for. This is at odds with their policy but I’m sure they will change it with their punitive little mindset. I asked the booker to cancel his request, and thankfully, he did so graciously. Their current policy is also stating that accept/declines not acted on within 24 hours affect metrics, but zilch about number of declines unless a pattern emerges.
Request to book? There is no accept on an inquiry. There’s only a pre-approve or decline. I just had one of these and i did neither, just answered her question. My calendar was not blocked.
You’re right; I just checked my earlier post and it was a request to book, not an inquiry. However, the message I received from AIRBNB definitely says “If you don’t accept or decline, June 23-24 will remain blocked.”, then the reservation number. I only get asked to pre-approve/decline inquiries, not reguests, but the blocking of my calendar is new, as is the message; I have it in front of me!
In the past, and quite recently, I’ve simply let these both of these expire, although always with a response.
I forgot to add that his photo was also in my calendar for those dates; a handsome chap…
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I’ve had my calendar blocked for quite a while when there’s a request to book. And if you decline it remains blocked. You can unblock it manually which I have done. If you decline it counts against you and if you let it expire it counts against your response rate I believe. I now ask guests to widthdraw their request.
And my question to ABB is, why should a simple inquiry and my quick response affect my ratings at all? Because I want to maintain my “straight A” status,” I notified one inquirer (who wanted to bring her 4 and 7 yr old into my teeny-tiny not-suitable-for-children guests quarters) that my property wasn’t suitable. She understood and thanked me. But I took a chance, explained my rating dilemma, and asked if she would mind if I pre-approved her, with the understanding she would NOT respond. She graciously agreed, but I know I dodged the bullet on this one. Next to me I’ll just ignore those red flashing lights warnings!