What's up w the Prebooking Message?

I got a message last week saying that this feature is being “retired”. When I phoned CS about it the CSR said he needed the date and content of the email, yada yada.

Does this mean anyone can IB at any time, and answering questions comes after the fact?

With IB they can book w/o answering any questions although the function still shows up on my booking page but it is very rare that I get the answers when they book. Only inquiries do you have the discretion to ask questions before accepting the reservation from what I understand.

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Thank you Cindy.

So unless I build those questions, say, into my rules, I won’t necessarily know the purpose of their trip, itinerary, arrival time, or personal preferences…correct me if I am wrong.

There has been a previous discussion regarding the effectiveness of asking these questions and many different opinions. Your rules are not seen until they book but if you absolutely need the information in order to confirm a reservation include them in your message to the guest. Something like…“before I confirm your reservation please answer the following: …….” There will be some that will give you all the information, some will not be so forthcoming and some will say other than my arrival time you do not need to know this information.

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What difference does this make? I am baffled why so many hosts care what their guests are in town for. I am in the business of hosting, putting heads in beds. As a guest I would not answer your questions.

RR

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Just impossible for you to conjure why a host might to ask a question or two of a 19 year old with no reviews who has a photo of daffy duck on his profile and says he’s coming in to town ‘to hang out with friends,’ huh? Oh that’s right because your business model is putting heads into beds. Got it.

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@William_Norton By the time I saw daffy duck the booking would be set, and how is it you would ever know the ages of the guests? I do not see that anywhere, am I missing something?

If I cared I could ask them to upload a actual picture, but since I get ID anyway I do not see the point.

RR

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No one ever HAD to answer the prebooking questions before either. They saw the questions and Air said something along the lines of your host would like you to answer these three questions. But they weren’t blocked if they didn’t.

Last I looked, I was accommodating guests in my home. Call me naive, but accommodating someone means knowing HOW to accommodate them, and that means knowing something about them. Face it: I am a Nokia phone

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In a world of Iphones…

At some point Air will require you to accept all comers, at least in a whole house listing. Time to upgrade from that flip phone.

RR

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I am not a whole house listing, One of those dinosaurs with rooms in their home, I guess that’s on the way out, too,

Your statement, you do not know the importance of the reason people are in town. I usually do not ask that, but it gives more legitimacy to their visit.

But, although I have a whole litany of house rules, in particular no smoking and no pets–I have had people come who tried to smoke. I have signs all over the place, even in a photo on the main page of my ad.

Before I approve I sent them a message saying, "I presume you do not smoke or vape and do not have pets. We live on this property and both my wife and son are extremely allergic, ignoring this house rule could end up putting one of them in the hospital. Please confirm your acceptance of this policy if you want me to approve your reservation.

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Thank you for this, Kaiserdr.

I have IB. In the past I have built certain things into the rules, such as notifying us of any allergies or sensitivities before booking. The rules are, of course, posted on the listing, on their contract, and in the room proper.

I like to know what they are doing before arriving and what their schedules will be. We’ve managed to stave off a few disasters this way thinking it’s a hop skip to Toronto.

We also get a lot of people hoping to immigrate to Canada, doctors on rotation, and engineers on co-op. All of this information helps me address their needs more specifically. Engineers and MDs taking exams will require a lot of quiet and appreciate a bowl of home made chili (shhhh!) whereas potential immigrants need a lot of feedback on the “how to”'s. Both myself and the guest can start preparation.

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Switching gears here. Bear with me.

In case you haven’t noticed, the Airbnb community has posted an update on unfair reviews. They are targetting ‘outliers’ - high marks on individual categories, but low overall. It’s a bit of a bloodbath. Over 800 responses, and many if not most are not happy, particularly with vengeance reviews.

Anyhoo.

On this 20 page rant, it is rumoured that hosts can no longer see previous host reviews, nor previous reviews the guest made, nor (apparently ) the guest profile. Is any of this true?

I have a whole house rental but I feel like you do. Originally Airbnb was to be relationship based which was a differentiator. I want to know about my guest and reason for their stay so we can both be sure this is a place that will fit their needs.

I just declined a potential guest who’s name was ?#39 (name did not display) and booking comment was mini-vacay.”. When I messaged I noticed she was new to Airbnb and hosts like to know a bit about who was going to be in their home, and what about this listing was appealing and would meet their needs. I got a smart ass reply back and that it was a trip for 2 people. Her booking request was for 1.

I don’t share the quarters but call me a Nokia too. I still want the relationship and to feel comfortable with who is in my home. Otherwise I would use a property management company

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Thank you for sharing I’m going to check this out

There was also an article about a host and his buddy buying a building and retrofitting it into a boutique hotel. Really? Back in Nokialand I’m a single female host with a house full of guests who eat like horses. Such a dinosaur. :smile:

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@justMandi

10 mins ago, I received a new booking request. I clicked on the guest profile…no pic, no info about past reviews or if zero reviews. It was very frustrating. Now I’m wondering why I review guests if the next host can’t see it before they accept.

Welcome to the hotel model where hosts are expected to take all comers!

I phoned Air. Apparently what you saw - no photo, no profile - is the way it is now. However you can still ask questions.

I don’t understand why a profile is an issue with Air, but I would like to know a little about my guests. Whatever happened to communication?