the way i go around this is instead of declining and getting penalized, i sent a special offer and multiply the price by 5 or any ridiculously high price
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If the guest receives a thumbs-down from a host, doesn’t that prevent them from using IB? If it does, then his only options are to send an inquiry or request, he can’t IB anymore… at least for a while.
Where do you find this information? Is it on the site, or did they email it to you?
It was in my stats, I believe…while urging me to lower prices, it gave me the comparison of both % pricing and booking with neighboring properties.
If a host has the option to only take guests with recommendations maybe but not if they don’t have that on. I’ve had guests who IB’d and it appears they may have gotten a thumbs down but I have no way of knowing. What I do know is I’ve had people book with bad written reviews. I’ve given thumbs down and seen reviews after mine (maybe due to the time lag between my review posting and their other reservations.) I’m a big fan of honest reviews but I’ve come to believe they are much less powerful than I thought they were.
What was your % of Accepted Reservations and how’d they suggest you improve it? I’m at around 70-73% on my 3 properties and that number is in red. But I get so many damn discount seekers and I’m sick of them. Airbnb should encourage guests to practice a little etiquette, and they may very well increase bookings! I mean, this isn’t the eBay of Vacation Homes, for crying out loud! We need to be able to report cheapskates, as lacking respect for Hosts & Guests is not cool and makes Airbnb worse. Plus, I’m not letting some discount-seeking weirdo stay in my vacation homes!!!
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Yes, many people use unbooked dates in the future, in order to inquire about other, booked dates.
Also, I had one woman today (Sunday, June 24th, 2018). Unfortunately, I couldn’t find anyone to clean for me today, so I was unable to accommodate her, sadly. She was pretty upset in general (she fighting having a fight and even said she’d “clean it up” if I’d let her
I told her she shouldn’t of driven up here before she made a reservation (which, it turns out, I couldn’t host her, as all my housekeepers are busy today). I offered to help her find another cabin, but she decided to go back home before I could help more.
Anyway, the Reservation Request she sent expires in 8 hours. I sent her a message sweetly asking if she’ll cancel the reservation request, but I kinda doubt she’ll cancel, unless she’s an early riser. My only options are Accept, Decline or let it Expire. What would y’all do to minimize the damage to your Airbnb rankings, etc??? Thanks!
Cheers,
MountainGirl
Terrifyingly huge special offer!
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I’m a bit confused with/by this. If you were full, she shouldn’t have been able to book in the first place. Are you relying on your housekeepers to tell you if you are fully booked, not your calendar?
Please read my last post. It’ll explain the two different situations much better than I can.
@MountainGirl -
If someone is using an unbooked date to inquire about a booked date, you probably only have an inquiry. You do NOT need to “Pre-approve or Decline” this no matter how much AirBnB flashes those buttons in front of you. You only need to reply in order to keep your response rate up. And if you are getting lots and lots of inquiries on already booked dates, your price is probably too low.
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This has probably been answered but I can’t find it…are all declines being counted equally?
ie “Not a good fit” …the guest who want to rent the entire house even though it is stated that we live here and just rent out rooms.
Or “Uncomfortable with guest”…the guy who wanted to rent the room just for three hours for a hook-up.
Or “Dates not available”…family staying and forgot to block the dates 
I don’t think Airbnb distinguishes among the reasons. They counted all my declines even if the reason was valid. Now I ask the guest to withdraw their request so I don’t have to decline.
Soooo Confusing. I have IB turned on, but had an “Inquiry” today asking a legit question about the space. I replied in exactly 9 minutes. Clock still ticking. Checked a few hours later, 24 hour clock still ticking down, so I get paranoid and Pre-approve the guest, even though the space was not going to work for her. I feel so silly…What am I missing here?
Ignore the clock, it’s meant to intimidate you. I’ve pre approved a few guests in 8 years and very few have gone on to book. There’s no, I repeat, NO penalty for letting the clock run out. Just answer any inquiry and fugeddabouit! There was, however, no harm in pre approving.
OK. I feel like I’ve received emails from Air telling me I’d better hurry up and pre-approve or decline or my response rate will take a digger. I ALWAYS reply very quickly, so no issues there. Boy, Air sure is pushy!
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While I’m here, I still can’t find the “stats” area where it tells you the percentage you all are talking about with how many requests I’ve accepted. Is this because I have IB turned on?
Sincerely,
Noob.
Refresh the page. Do you still see the clock?
I didn’t technically refresh the page, but navigated somewhere else and opened the page again later. That’s when I gave up and pre-approved. I’ll try a hard “refresh” next time and see if that works. Also, still looking for my stats page, All I can find is the “progress” page that doesn’t appear to show my rate of Accepted requests vs. Declines. See above post. It’s my own user error I’m sure! 
I get lots of inquiries that are about dates that are not available, or are in the future and blocked, or people looking for long-term rentals, and I reply quickly but never choose Accept or Decline. Hasn’t hurt my bookings that I can tell.
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