Airbnb Penalizing for not accepting every single guest -- even when Host decides the guests will be a problem.

[S14]

I got this message from Airbnb: "Allowing requests to expire negatively affects your response rate and your listing’s placement in search."

I wrote to ask AIrbnb to  review this matter.  But I know they won't because there is no actual support anymore, just robotic canned responses.

I feel strongly that it is not fair or just to adversely affect my listing's placement in search. I ALWAYS promptly respond to every inquiry. If GUESTS don't respond to me when I ask them pointedly if they agree to my House Rules, then I can't approve or decline, because I'm waiting for a response.. In other cases, it was not an appropriate request -- like a guest using someone else's account.

I believe guests do not have the ability to cancel a request. If I deny everyone who refuses to agree to my house rules, or some other problem, Airbnb will penalize my listing. So, I am between a rock and a hard place.

.

I am certain I"m not doing anything wrong.. So, why is Airbnb threatening me?

I have been a Host on Airbnb for 6 years and I always get high reviews. What's the problem?

[Sarah977]

If it's an Inquiry, all you have to do is message the guest back within 24 hours, you don't have to click on either pre-approve or decline. This will not result in threatening messages from Airbnb.

If it's a Booking Request, you absolutely need to either accept or decline within 24 hours. You can't just let them expire. Not only will Airbnb warn you about this, your response rate goes down and guests are wary to book with a host who has a low response rate (the guest doesn't know you have actually responded to guests' messages, they just see a bad response rate).

And yes, guests can withdraw requests. So if you have messaged the guest back on a request and they haven't gotten back to you by the time the clock's about to run out, or haven't answered your questions suitably, and haven't withdraw the request, then decline before you get dinged. 

You need to come up with strategies for getting guests to answer you promptly or withdraw requests. Instead of just asking them to agree to your house rules, tell them you are obligated to either accept or decline a request within 24 hours and that if they don't respond in a timely fashion, you'll have to decline, etc.

@S14

[S14]

@Sarah977 

(Please read my other message replying to yours first. Sorry, the messages are not appearing here in order.)

The problem is this:

Here is a typical scenario: I simply ask guests to tell me if they agree with our House Rules and I reiterate the most important ones to be sure we are on the same page. (So many people just click the Airbnb box to "accept" and never even read the House Rules.) So, then, if they don't answer, I can only assume they don't agree, because they did not agree. Am I supposed to report such a passive denial to Airbnb to be sure it doesn't count against me in any way? That's a whole lot of writing to Support, will take a lot of time. This happens about half the time. Obviously, no one is going to say, in so many words, that they don't agree to the rules. They just go away. Which is fine. (But maybe they disappeared for a completely unrelated reason, like their plans changed and they no longer need accommodations. How can I know?)

But... Airbnb demands a response from me -- if I don't do anything, I get nailed for not responding, even though it was the guest, not me, who failed to respond. If I decline because they didn't respond, then Airbnb will count up how many times I denied reservations and will count it against my SuperHost status -- and will rank my listing lower in searches. We're between a rock and a hard place. Something is not right in this. What am I supposed to do? What am I missing?

I'm sure anyone would agree that it is not inappropriate for me to be sure they agree with the House Rules. Right??? Note: every time I had guests throw parties, with all the horrible effects of that, they claimed they "didn't know." Which is absurd. But it's probably true that they never read any of it during the normal process. Which is why I learned that I have to ask them pointedly before finalizing the booking. Reasonable, right? I'm successfully avoiding problems this way. But...

[S14]

Thank you, @Sarah977 . That is helpful.  To be honest, sometimes I get mixed up as to which are inquiries and which are actual booking requests. Yes, I know how to tell. I'm just saying that sometimes people ask a lot of questions with a booking request and so I mistakenly start treating it like an inquiry -- because it really is, but they didn't know which button to push.

The fact is that, since the pandemic started, about 50% of the  guests reaching out to us via either method are ultimately party people. That's a big thing here in NYC.  The first two months of the pandemic, we got no bookings (of course) then after that, for the next two months, almost every one of the guests was here to have an improper party. It was horrible. Now, Airbnb has some mysterious algorithms that prevent many guests from booking in case Airbnb thinks that mathematically, they are supposedly likely to have a party. Unfortunately, Airbnb doesn't prevent them from inquiring and requesting bookings, so I waste many hours of time discussing these things with them. Then, if I decide that someone is OK, they can't book and a) I've wasted my time, b) the guest wasted their time, and c) there is no transparency -- Airbnb sends the guest a misleading message that they can't book due to "safety" concerns, which implies that the listing is not safe! Thanks a lot. And there is NO message to the host explaining why the reservation cannot be completed.

Also, Airbnb no longer tells me where someone inquiring is located. We all know that most local bookings are for parties, but Airbnb blocks that crucial info.

Despite Airbnb's algorithms, whether handled properly or not, they miss a lot of party people. I feel that I am doing the right thing by spending more time interviewing people in advance.  But it seems that Airbnb is not exactly encouraging that dialogue.

[S14]

PS you say that guests can withdraw a booking request. Guests have told me that they don't seem to be able to. Can you please point me to where there are step by step instructions for guests to cancel a reservation request? I can save it and send it to them.

[Sarah977]

No, of course you don't need to involve Airbnb in your communications with guests or report whether they agreed or not. That would be a pointless waste of time. You need to handle comms with guest on your own.

As I suggested, when you want to ask guests to agree to your house rules, send them a message like this:  "Hi XX, Thanks for your request. Before I accept it, I need to make sure this will be a good fit for both of us, so I need to know the following- Have you thoroughly read through my house rules and do you agree to follow them? (among other things, no parties are allowed and bookings will be terminated immediately if there is a violation) Is the guest count you have entered correct? (Any guests not accounted for on the reservation will not be admitted and no extra visitors are allowed). As a host, I have xx hours from now to either accept or decline your booking, so please respond ASAP- if I don't hear back from you in time, I will unfortunately have to decline your request. If you'd prefer to look for another listing which better suits your needs, please withdraw this request ASAP which will free you up to find something else."

Of course, that's just an example, you'll tailor that sort of message to reflect the questions you ask of guests.

Declines have nothing to do with Superhost- Acceptance rate isn't counted in Superhost stats. ( Response rate is, though, that's why it's important for you to not to let Requests expire. And like I mentioned above, never decline an Inquiry, just message back. No need to waste a decline on an inquiry) Nor do any of us know how acceptance rate affects search ranking. What makes you think it does?

I really don't know the exact process for a guest to withdraw a request, as I've ever been a guest. Perhaps some other hosts who have travelled as guests will chime in here. Or maybe you could ask it as a topic question in the general hosting forum.

And pay attention to whether it's an Inquiry or a Request!- that's a important distinction. If it's a Inquiry, just answer it, and don't give it any more thought, because there's nothing else you have to do. If you never hear back from the guest, no big deal. If they do write back and their response puts you at ease, you can pre-approve it. If they write back but don't give you a satisfactory answer, either ignore it, or tell them you don't think your listing is right for them and that you hope they find a more suitable place.

But if it's a request, you do have to accept or decline within 24 hours, so you have to stay on top of that. If they don't respond, or respond poorly, decline.

@S14

[S14]

@Sarah977 

It is a fact that Airbnb DOES track the number of declined reservations per host and uses multiple declines to adversely affect SuperHost Status and to adversely affect the ranking in search results.

There is a lot of confusion about this fact, but it is a fact. That is the problem.

I am talking about declined reservation requests. I accept, with relief, that this does not apply to Inquiries.

I already have language almost exactly like that. There is no adverse affect to the guest of just walking away. So they do. They have no incentive to withdraw their reservation request (assuming that is actually possible). So they often don't. They just don't. No matter how much I ask. And Airbnb's inexplicable clock is ticking.

Another issue here is that it sometimes takes more than 24 hours to have the needed discussion with the guest. Because the guest often has to check with other people in their traveling party. And people are busy. It takes time. Lots of time.

But the real problem is as stated in the first paragraph above.

[Michelle53]

@S14  The Acceptance Rate (the percentage of requests to book that you approve or decline) is not on the Superhost tab, it is on the Basic Requirements tab, under your Performance metrics. 

The target is 88%.  It is not counted towards Superhost status, although you might get messages about it. 

Superhost measurements are on the Superhost tab, under Performance :-

Overall Rating

Cancellation Rate

Response Rate

Stays Hosted

The Response Rate measures whether you have answered the guest's inquiry within 24 hours, OR, accepted or declined a request to book within 24 hours. 

If you do not either accept or decline a request to book, it affects your Response Rate. 

Response Rate is not the same as Acceptance Rate.  If your Response Rate falls below 90%, it will impact your Superhost status, and you will get warnings about that.

[Susan1188]

Superhost status is one thing.

Search ranking is another.

Every single thing you do, every keystroke you write, every second you delay answering is factored into the algorithm and determines if your listing will be proposed at the top of the list.

You can see on your performance parameters, some of the things that are tracked.

For example, "conversion rate".  This means, when your listing flicks across the screen of a potential guest, what is the percentage of times you actually manage to "convert" that view into a sale/reservation.  They will track each stage of the conversion funnel:
- how many times guests will click on your listing to see more
- how much time will the guest linger on each page, each photo, each part of the page
- how many instant book, before or after interacting with you?
- how many book after you have been contacted and sent a special offer or pre-approval?

By the time a guest gets to the booking stage - meaning accepting payment that is a "conversion" - a huge advertising effort has been made by Airbnb.  They analyse it in price per click, price per conversion, etc.  

If you are letting booking requests expire for whatever reason it impacts the numbers in the back office.  It might not impact your superhost status but it will impact how much Airbnb promotes your listing to guests at the top of the list.

Things to maybe try to do is - figure out why your are getting so many requests from undesirable people, and try to make your listing more appealing to the kind of guest you want and less appealing to the kind of guest you don't want.  Make rules clear with pictograms and other creative ways.  Invest in better photos or decoration, etc..

[S14]

After giving this more thought, I want to say:

The desired resolution is for Airbnb to change its policy of threatening to penalize our listings and our Superhost status when we are merely doing a good job of preventing problems by carefully screening bookings.

>>>>Hosts should not be penalized in any way no matter how many requests we have to deny. This is home sharing, so we have a right to screen guests requesting to come into our homes. That should never adversely affect Superhost Status nor the ranking of our listing in searches. <<<<

And we should not get robotic threatening messages from Airbnb under any circumstances. If someone at Airbnb has a question about what we're doing, all they have to do is READ the message thread associated with any questioned transactions and they would then KNOW the answers. If they still have specific  questions, they should politely ASK. (And yes, if they discover that any hosts are denying reservations due to discrimination, they should do something about that. Most denied reservations are based on something other than that. But Airbnb is assuming the worst without doing even the most basic investigation.) Such an approach would take less time than floundering circular pointless discussions with support people who are uninformed and unable to help.

I feel this policy, like more and more, on the part of Airbnb, is wrong. If I can ever figure out a different way to make a living, I will withdraw my good listings (for which I put in significant financial and human resources) and leave this.

I am doing my best and instead of being encouraged I am asked to play along with rules which make no sense and which ultimately are unmanageable.

Things are bad enough during the pandemic without having to deal with an un-budgeable bureaucracy which is utterly unable to respond to reason. Not to mention support people who cannot comprehend simple language and who have no authority to do anything anyway. Useless.

Very disappointed.

[Katrina79]

@S14 I completely agree with you! I have IB on so most of my bookings happen automatically and don’t require an accept or decline click. However, I do get some requests to book from guests that don’t have the ability to instant book because of my settings. Usually these are new users or guests that had a previous thumbs down from a host. I like to make sure they will be a good fit for the listing and vice versa that the listing will meet their expectations. If I have to decline it does go against your placement in search. So I take a hit and lose a notch in search for making a good decision and avoiding a possible bad experience for the guest and/or myself. As previously mentioned if you don’t accept or decline a request to book within 24 hours, it negatively affects your response rate. I would like to see the algorithm removed for search placement based on the percentage of reservation requests declined. This is a good topic to suggest changing @Catherine-Powell. I think this would be a positive change for both hosts and guests alike. I understand it would put the guests at an increase of rejection, but it would also give guests motivation to get good reviews! 

[Sarah977]

Well you certainly won't get any argument from me re Airbnb acting like hosts are children who need to be constantly monitored and chastised and threatened.

I've never paid any attention to their scare tactics about search placement. What mostly affects search placement is using IB and having full occupancy. But I'll never use IB and I couldn't less about about keeping my place full- I just want good guests, like you do.@S14

[S14]

@Sarah977 

What is "IB?" (Forgive my ignorance.)

[S14]

Sorry for that post. I just realized that IB is instant booking LOL.

I do use IB. But I immediately send them the email about the house rules and remind them that they can cancel withing 48 hours (w/o penalty)  in case it's not a good fit.

I only permit IB from guests with prior good reviews.  But that system is flawed too, because sometimes people have mixed reviews and then they slip in.

[Nash-Cottages-LLC0]

@S14 We started this thread last week. Would our suggestion be of help in the circumstance you noted? 

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Host-Circle/Request-that-Airbnb-have-an-alternative-to-quot-requ...