No reply to reservation request question

1

Hi,

I’ve often had guests who send reservation requests, but don’t reply to questions I ask them.

For example, they ask in the reservation request if the neighborhood is quiet. I tell them it’s quiet, but not super quiet and it can get noisy sometimes.

I don’t get any replies and the request just stays there, un-processed.

I can decline the request, but that can affect the airbnb rating…so what do you do in these scenarios? Do you call Airbnb and ask them to cancel the request?

Thanks.

2

I pre approve, they just need to accept - then it is up to them and they have the relevant Information. this will improve the algorithm

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3

Hmm…how do you pre-approve? I just have the ‘accept’ or ‘cancel’ button showing up.

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Yes, you are correct. Those are the options for a Request (although it’s Decline, not cancel). Pre-approve and Decline are the options for Inquiry messages (but you don’t have to click on either for an Inquiry, all you have to do is reply).

After you answer a guest’s question, and they aren’t replying and the hosts’ 24 hr. deadline to accept or decline is getting close, I would maybe send one more message asking “Did you see my reply to your message?” (There are actually read receipts under messages- you can see if the guest read it, unless they turned off read receipts)

If they don’t reply to that, I might decline, figuring they are going to be guests who never check their messages, but really, in the example you gave, guests might not think it requires a reply. They asked a question, you answered it. So if the guest had good reviews, I’d probably accept.

Of course, we would all prefer that guests communicate well and acknowledge our replies, but not all do.

It’s a drag when guests send requests instead of inquiries if they have a question. Asking if it’s quiet seems like something that could be a deal breaker for guests if the host said, no, it isn’t, so you’d think they’d ask that before committing to a booking by sending a request. But some guests are clueless about how to go about things.

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5

I’ve found (in most walks of life including STR) that people are much more likely to respond to questions if they understand the reason for the question.

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6

In my experience accepting a trip request means it automatically confirms the booking and the guests are charged.

I am fairly sure that as a guest you only get two options: send a message (which comes through as a pre approve or not) or to actually ‘book now’ which requires all the payment authorisation details. That latter option immediately sends hosts a confirmed booking for IB listings, or a trip request if it is outside the IB parameters or a non IB listing.

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Yes, not sure why you thought I didn’t understand that. It’s exactly what I said.

If guests have a question, the answer to which might be a deal-breaker for them, they should be asking those questions in an Inquiry message (by clicking on the “Contact host” button), instead of clicking on “Book Now”, and asking their question in a Request message.

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Seems OP is talking about Inquiries and not a booking request. If you accept a booking request the guest is confirmed and your calendar will show the dates as unavailable. An inquiry doesn’t trigger anything, it is just asking a question and will need to be made into a booking request if they want to book or the host can offer them a deal.

Of course this doesn’t apply if you have instant book turned on.

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Instant book changes nothing in the ‘inquiry’ stage.

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Not according to the screenshot she posted. That’s a Request.

That isn’t true either. If the host Pre-approves the Inquiry, it doesn’t need to be “turned into a Request”- the guest can either then proceed to book, or not, but the host does not receive a booking request- the host’s involvement with booking is over.
The difference between pre-approving an inquiry and accepting a request is that the guest doesn’t automatically get charged on a pre-approved inquiry- they have to take another step to book. And your calendar doesn’t get blocked when you pre-approve an inquiry. It only gets blocked if and when the guest then goes on to book.

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