Understanding Response Rate and Acceptance Rate

[Airbnb]

For many of you, hosting is important, but you’ve also got work, family, and your personal life keeping you plenty busy. So, tracking how quickly you reply to guest inquiries and monitoring the percentage of booking requests you’re accepting versus declining is probably not on the top of your to-do list. Some of you have asked about the specifics of these measurements, why they matter, and how you can improve them without much fuss—and we’re happy you asked! We’ve gathered answers from the folks who build these tools, so let’s dive in to see what they have to say.

What’s the difference between my response rate and acceptance rate?

• Your response rate measures how consistently you respond within 24 hours to guest inquiries and booking requests. You can find your response rate from the last 365 days by clicking on the Progress tab, then clicking Basic Requirements.
• Your acceptance rate measures how often you accept or decline reservations. Guest inquiries are not included in the calculation of your acceptance rate. You can see your acceptance rate from the last 365 days by clicking on the Progress tab, then clicking Basic Requirements.

For my response rate, does just the first message/inquiry count or do subsequent messages in a thread count, too?

We only measure a response within 24 hours of the guest's first message or inquiry. Subsequent messages in that thread do not impact your response rate.

What happens to my acceptance rate if I answer a question rather than approve, pre-approve, or decline a booking request?

The short answer is this: If a guest sends you a booking request and you only answer a question, but do not approve or decline before the request times out, that counts as a decline.

Let’s dive in a little further. It’s important to note the difference between an inquiry and a booking request. An inquiry is just a message—perhaps asking to clarify something about amenities, dates, or House Rules. The guest may be interested in staying with you and may even ask something like: “I want to book your home; is it ok if I bring my dog?” This is not a booking request. It’s an inquiry. You can respond to an inquiry with an answer, a pre-approval, or by declining. Declining an inquiry signals to the guest that their needs aren’t a good fit for your space and encourages them to request another listing. But none of these actions directly affects your acceptance rate. If you pre-approve an inquiry and the guest books your space, that counts as an acceptance. If you pre-approve and they don’t book, it doesn’t have any effect on your acceptance rate. And if you decline an inquiry, your acceptance rate is not affected.

A booking request means that the guest is officially asking to book your listing and is waiting for you to accept or decline. As far as your acceptance rate goes, we only measure the final outcome of the booking request, and there are just three possible actions you can take: accept, decline, or let the request time out. If you let a request time out—even if you answer questions but take no action to approve or decline a request within 24 hours—that’s considered a decline.

How do these rates affect me as a host?

That’s a great question. The technical answer is that low response rates can impact your eligibility for the  Superhost  program, and acceptance rates can impact eligibility to become a Plus host. And hosts who have very low rates could face penalties, including having their listings paused. But, it's important to note that one-off instances of not responding or declining a booking request rarely lead to any action being taken. We’re much more concerned where we see a consistent pattern of non-response or declines.

Can you share insider tips or suggestions on how to keep my response and acceptance rates high?

We think hosts are actually the experts in this area, so we’ll share some of your ideas here, too, but for response rate, one of the best ways to manage messages on the go is to use the Airbnb app on your mobile phone. You can also consider temporarily snoozing your listing if you know you’ll be unable to respond to messages for a while. If you’re taking a vacation, attending a long work conference, or just needing to unplug for a while, you can rest easy knowing there’s no response clock ticking or messages piling up in your inbox.

To snooze your listing and hide it from search results for a set period of time:

1. Go to Your listings and select a listing
2. Click Listing Details
3. Next to Listing status, click Edit
4. Under Listing status, select Snoozed from the dropdown menu
5. Enter the start and end dates, then click Save

Your listing will automatically reactivate when the timeframe you set is over. The day before your listing reactivates, you'll get a reminder email.

Here are some tips hosts in the Community Center share for keeping your response rate high:

• Set aside daily time to reply to requests and inquiries.
• Have a co-host or a friend respond for you if you’re unavailable and don’t want to snooze your listing.
• Save time by pre-writing responses to commonly asked questions. Look for the “Use a Saved Message” prompt in any active message thread you have with a guest. You can create, use, and re-use responses there.
• If you’re very busy or your hosting business really takes off, consider hiring a virtual assistant.

For your acceptance rate, ensure your calendar and booking preferences and settings are accurate and up to date. For example, if you can't accommodate same-day requests, update your listing to reflect the time you need between reservations. Hosts also tell us they find it helpful to keep their house rules updated so that guests understand what’s ok and what isn't before submitting a booking request. You’re less likely to get requests you can’t accept if you’re very clear about your expectations.

What is Airbnb doing to avoid penalizing hosts' acceptance rate when they decline unfit or illegitimate requests?

We understand that sometimes you may get requests that clearly violate your House Rules, or that are actually marketing attempts disguised as booking requests. These can put you in the awkward position of having to risk harming your own acceptance rate when there’s not a better action to take. To address this, the first thing we need to do is help you flag to us when there’s a problem. We’re exploring how best to do this, and while we don’t have a feature to announce at this time, we are absolutely aware of this pain point for you.

We want to ensure you’re empowered to decide who you welcome into your home and that you’re comfortable with the guests who stay with you. We understand that you only want to be held accountable to legitimate booking requests, and we’re committed to making sure that happens.

Numbers are just part of the story

While it’s good to keep response and acceptance rates in mind, the bigger picture isn’t about these measurements—in fact, they’re just indicators of the actual hospitality you show to your guests and the connection you establish when they reach out to you. You impact your guest’s experience from the moment they contact you or request to book, and the host community rightfully takes a lot of pride in creating experiences of welcome and belonging for the people who stay in your listings. So, yes, please do care about communicating in a timely way and setting guests up for success while they’re trying to find a good listing match for their needs; but know that numbers are just one way to tell the story about how you host.

[Linda108]

Hi @Skye19  You have dropped into a discussion thread totally UNRELATED to your issue 😛 so you might not get much help.  Let me see what I can offer but if not helpful, consider starting your own discussion thread about snoozing your listing.

I can see that you have much experience with the platform so it is possible that you have run into a glitch either with the system or with your computer.  When I have contacted AirBNB for similar problems, the first thing they ask me to do is clear my history or cache.  For some reason doing that allow the platform to run efficiently.   The  other thing that has happened to me over the years is that there are design changes which confuse me and I have to go on an exploration to find how the heck to edit my listing :D.  What I see when I go to my listing is automatically set on listing detail and at the bottom of that page is listing status.  

Good luck with your issue and I hope I have been of some assistance.

[Linda108]

@Linda-And-Jack0 I agree with the premise of your post.  I do not have a problem with a system that supports host communication with the traveler and potential guest.  Some of the postings in this discussion thread reflect a host misunderstanding of the system and/or an undo defensiveness about automated messages from the platform. 

However the system does not take into account the inquiries and even booking requests that are not appropriate or applicable to the listing.  I agree with other hosts that think there needs to be a way of communicating with the host without selecting dates as that triggers a false booking process and is not truly related to the host responsiveness.

Like you, I like to work with newbies and help them feel welcome by Air BNB in general and by me in particular.  Many newbies are excited to use this system and many are anxious as well.

[Elizabeth99]

Site isn't allowing responses - error message popping up

@Skye0 in New Orleans

Skye, from the Host menu item, select Listing - this brings you to the Listing Details section (or Hosting Dashboard/Listing). If you scroll all the way down to the bottom, you will see Listing Status.  Next to "Listed", you need to click the drop down arrow to see the option to snooze the listing.

[Elizabeth99]

@Linda0 in La Quinta - I (and probably Skye) were directed to this conversation directly from the email from Airbnb about "Decoding Reponse and Acceptance Rates".  In it, it mentions the Snooze feature that Skye asked about.  So her question is NOT totally unrelated.  The article was directly above the 1st post from Greg on page 1 of this thread.

[Pat240]

It is quite confusing and it is not far. Me as a host I try to answer ASAP but if i request a place to stay I’m waiting usually more than 24-48hours, that’s 1 thing. But also I really don’t agree that the acceptance rate should be punishing he host that’s simply not right. This platform it’s about sharing and offering your house/ home and it’s not fit for everyone so we can’t be punished by some low rating and loosing superhost status- which I have and don’t understand why?!?and they can’t tell me why,  To this issue. Being fast to respond is one thing but respond properly and make sure it’s all fit for each other it’s other thing. Lot of new requests I’m getting is asking for much lower rate- it’s like on a jarmark where people bargain for price - so if I don’t answer to this I’m getting lower quota?!? Not fair!

[Linda248]

Melissa in Portland:  I don't use "snooze" for that reason.  Just block the dates on your calendar.

[Linda248]

the fact that the "reply" function does not work on this thread is emblematic of Air BnB's problems with creating a website that actually works seamlessly for everyone.

[Sebastián10]

I don’t use “instant booking” because i got penalized once. The guest made a reservation with 1 guest (they were 8).

Instant booking and acceptance rates doesn't work well together If the guest is not honest or didn't read your house rules/description.

It would be great if you can cancel “instant bookings” without being penalized and without the struggle and time spending of explaining everithing through an online form. Instant booking should give you at least 12hrs penalty-free cancelation.

[Lesley28]

Needing some help! I had a guest reservation request(last minute) that I accepted. Later that day I received an email that her cc was declined ($169) for the additional tax I requested( and she agreed to). The email asked if I wanted to cancel the reservation? I called Airbnb and told the service rep that I wanted to cancel. I was already feeling that the guest was not a good fit because after agreeing to the additional fee she than later at first refused to accept it and when she finally did it was declined. After a hassle with the Airbnb rep telling me I would be penalized for cancelling, I was finally able to speak to a supervisor who understood and cancelled it. The guest than messaged me a few times with snarky messages. Said she was going to report me to Airbnb for “not feeling comfortable “ with her as a guest. I responded and said I canceled because of a declined cc period. The next day she sent another message basically saying I was discriminating against her and then threaten me by saying “justice will be served! “ I’ve contacted Airbnb numerous times! They’ve said it’s gone to legal and they will contact me. It’s been over s week now and nothing. First I’m angry at how the customer service supervisor handled this situation. Second I’ve NEVER discriminated and I’ve welcomed guests from many countries, ethnicities, etc. I take pride in my Superhost status! And third, since when is it ok for a guest to threaten a host without a penalty?! Oh and btw the first supervisor booked her another home AND gave her a discount! This is beyond crazy and don’t know what to do? Any help/suggestions are appreciated! Thanks for reading!

[Jackie156]

I rent three individual rooms in a townhouse. The whole house is for guys only and that is stated in the title. I still get girls inquiring. In the past I had a home for gals only and guys inquired. It feels unfair for me to be penalized when people don't even take time to read the title or don't abide by it.

[Jane563]

@Jackie156 That’s interesting! I’d been wondering if it was only some male Airbnb guests who were unable to read.

[Ayub3]

 My 3 room flat is always vaccant . 1 room full of month every time vacant. I can always very lower  rate. and have always good offer  all of facility what  guest want. 

I have no problem with the way Airbnb monitor my response rate, it is important for guests to get early response to enquiries or requests.  I like guest always visit my Dhaka Home.

[Ayub3]

I have no problem with the way Airbnb monitor my response rate, it is important for guests to get early response to enquiries or requests.  I like guest always visit my Dhaka Home.

[Travis5]

As Palm Springs CA has an 11.5% occupancy tax that we must include (and also a pool heating fee depending on the seaaon) I send everything bundled to the potential guest as a Special Offer Rate. However, if the guest send me a "Request to Book" (as opposed to an "Enquiry), the only way for me to send an SOR is by first "declining" the initial request. My guess is these are being counted against me. But I'm only 'declining' because there's no option to send an SOR until I do.

I'd have to say that this is one area where one of your major competitors has got it down: the local tax is automatically included as a separate line item and I can also easily build in the pool heating fee. It's very streamlined and my stats are not skewed at all. 

Does Airbnb have any plans to do same? 

[Brian469]

Do I have to respond to Pre- approved bookings?

[Robert852]

We are constantly receiving bookings where the guest has not read the house rules and description.  We always decline (uncomfortable with this guest) on the grounds that 'if you do not read the house rules before booking we cannot expect you to respect our property'. Failure to read the house rues and abide by them is a breach of contract by the guests but we are peanalised for declining the booking. 

The current system is completly unfair to hosts who wish to vet the people invited into their homes and goes against the grain of the original Airbnb concept and ultimatly punishes the core of the business.  Without your hosts the platform will die and we are seriously considering withdrawing our listings.