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I work at home on my computer, so when I get notifications that guests want to make a booking, I often respond within minutes. This afternoon I got a Booking Request for a pretty decent sounding guest for a nice period of time. Perfect, right?
So I wrote back (in less than 7 minutes) with my new “hey, taxes are due” message, please confirm… and, nothing. No response. It’s been hours and my clock is counting down.
This is not the first time that someone has written to me and then fallen off the face of the earth. Do they send a message and then turn off their phone / computer? Maybe they think they’ve done everything they need to do and they are set to go and don’t need to answer emails?
It’s been 5 hours and I want to go to bed, so I sent him a “just checking, happy to confirm your booking, but please let me know since I only have 24 hours” message.
If I respond with a message within minutes but the reservation is not confirmed until 22 hours later, which one is recorded on my response time?
Hi Artemis, yes, this is one of my least favorite things. It drives me up a wall, but the good news is your response time is 7 minutes. I don’t know what you mean, though, when you said your response was “Hey, the taxes are due.” What does that mean? Had they actually booked with Instant Book? I don’t collect local taxes, so I am not sure what the protocol is, but isn’t that just added to their payment total?
Hi CatskillsGrrl,
Taxes are not added by Airbnb in my location, so I have to collect in cash. Airbnb does collect taxes in some places, which I’m sure is much more convenient for hosts and easier on the guest. We were just discussing this the other day:
I don’t use Instant Book so this was a Booking Request with the dreaded countdown clock… tick … tick…
Thanks for letting me know about the response time… now I just need to wait until he responds so I can approve.
Aren’t your taxes calculated into your base rate? If I initiated a reservation online expecting to pay for everything in full and was then told I was expected to hand over cash when I arrived I would be very suspicious … And would probably move on.
Many areas collect taxes in cash. When you explain that you’re required to pay taxes and by paying in cash instead of having it your fees to pay extra tax on as well as AirBNB’s fees, people tend to understand. What makes it hard is when your competitors aren’t paying taxes…
And just like that a thread about people not responding after you answer promptly becomes a thread about collecting taxes…
Now that you know response time is only based on you, not them, you can relax. Many people do send an inquiry and then get up and walk away from their computer. Some people don’t use the app or check email on their phone. I’m a DogVacay host too (like airbnb but for dog boarding) and I have the same problem there. I answer right away and sometimes I don’t hear back for days. I’ve learned that patience is not my best quality.
If you’ve just committed several hundred dollars to stay somewhere and you get a message that your reservation will not be confirmed until you respond to something - anything - why would you ignore the question?
What commitment? As far as I can tell, they hadn’t confirmed to this point so there is no commitment.
why would you ignore the question?
What question? Your message is “hey, taxes are due”. We don’t have to bother with taxes other than what’s reported to the US IRS so perhaps I’m missing something. It just struck me as a somewhat coarse way to interact with your customer. Who wants to hear about taxes?
This was a Booking Request, so the the guest has already activated a payment on their credit card.
My actual message to the guest was a polite note asking them to confirm that they read in my listing that they must pay state and local hotel taxes, and I gave the dollar amount. I paraphrased for brevity in my initial comment here, just so it wouldn’t be a really long comment. It was neither demanding or coarse, but did specify that I must get a response in order to confirm.
This was yesterday and the guest still has not confirmed. If he won’t even respond to basic inquiries, then getting an arrival time is really going to be a pain.
You have 24 hours to either accept or decline a reservation request or it expires and the charge hold is taken off the card. You should probably decline with an explanation that they didn’t respond to your message and that they can re-submit the reservation later. If it is just an inquiry you just have to respond to stop the clock.
Every time you get an incomplete intro from a guest requesting a booking you have to ask yourself, “Should I accept this for the cash?” Every time is “How much risk am I willing to take to make this money?” I used to just accept everyone and I realize now I really got walked all over and stressed out. Yet if you do not accept their booking, no one else can book there while “Pending Confirmation.” What I usually do now is copy and paste all the house rules and application procedure (i.e. give me your check-in/check-out times) and then say:
"I am declining right now since you have not provided the information requested on my listing. Sorry it is so lengthy but it is important guests understand what they are getting and how they are expected to behave if they stay here. If you just don’t care or don’t have the time, “instant book” listings are usually available.
I see no previous reviews, so I assume you are new to Airbnb.
Finally, if you still want to stay here, you need to verify this would be only you staying here and that is you in the photo profile. [in thise case a man with a photo of his daughter just wrote, “Need bed for August 3rd”]
If this listing is still available after you supply the information requested I can send you an offer to stay here again. Thank you for your interest in staying here."
The people who think this kind of thing is too much of a hassle are usually the guests who have never used Airbnb before and still think your home is an instant-book motel. Or else they are scammers trying to bring 2 people to your one person only room. They will correspondingly be horrified when it isn’t or you will be left a disgruntled host whose home has been treated like one.
This is really the crux of my frustration with this (and several previous) guests:
really short, not helpful request. “Got a room?” was my least favorite.
I respond really quickly - in minutes - with a friendly reply. Cheerful, upbeat, "so happy you are interested, can you just let me know [basic information about stay or arrival]
No response.
After 12 or more hours, I have to write back with “just checking…”
No response
After 20 or more hours “Hi, Airbnb requires me to confirm within 24 hours, are you still interested?”
short response, that shows that they did not read a) my listing or b) any of the messages
I like your idea cs2015 with the decline notice. I wish Airbnb had a decline reason of “guest never followed up with information required”
Hotels add it into the overall price. So do many hosts. In some areas Airbnb deal with it. Other hosts prefer not to add it to the price because it’s included in the total that is eligible for Airbnb fees. (So in that case, you’re paying fees on the tax so hosts prefer to collect it themselves.)
But the point is that it does need to be paid, one way or another.
Just an FYI @CatskillsGrrl (grabbed from the Airbnb website)
How do taxes work for guests?
There are a few instances where an Airbnb guest may need to pay tax.
Some hosts are required by their local regulations to charge a tax. We recommend they include the tax in the price of the reservation, but some may require the tax to be paid directly upon check-in. We ask that hosts explain any taxes they may be required to collect in their listing description and their communication with guests prior to booking.
This is just me, but I would not pay in cash and I would not select a host that asked me to do it. It smacks of cheapness and a signal that they would try to sidestep stuff with me, too.
