Booking "request" from a guest who should have been able to instant book. What am I missing?

[Kia272]

So, this has happened a couple of times: A guest with multiple "rave" reviews and all verifications, ID, etc. (meets my criteria for IB) submits a booking request instead of instant booking. 

The first time this happened I was a bit confused. The guest looked good and had over 30 good reviews. I asked him what was up with that and he never responded, so I let it go. 

This time I just got another request. The guest has multiple reviews- he seems to be sensitive to noise and has left other reservations early for various reasons- bit still has over 16 reviews with a 5* average. 

Could this have anything to do with a host indicating they "would not host again?"

It's confusing to me. It seems to me that there is something preventing him from instant booking. 

Thanks for any info. Kia

[Emilia42]

@Colleen253 There is no choice. Guests see either a "Confirm and Pay" button or a "Request to Book" button based on the host's settings and requirements. 

[Kia272]

@Colleen253  It's hard to explain, but in this particular situation, it's obvious that the guest would have instant booked if they could. There's no particular inquiry or question associated with the ones I have encountered. I still think the answer is that another host checked the would not host again box on some of these folks. 

As @Emilia42 has mentioned several times, these guests were not offered the "book now" button, so there had to be something stopping them from IB-ing. 

And just FYI, the one time I used one of the "penalty free" IB cancelations, it was quite difficult. The agent implied that there had to be a "reason" and that I could not just cancel penalty free because I wanted to and used IB. I made up something like I had made a mistake with my calendar, and after a real struggle, they did it. I got the impression that the 3 "free" cancelations were not exactly that. Go figure. 

[Genaro18]

OK - I am not crazy, third "Host who is EXPERIENCED issue" today alone - and I am not in OZ on all three of them. I thought I was losing my mind.

THIS.IS.HAPPENING. without explanation, policies have changed and this is SERIOUS.

Why? Wait until you decline the third of those . . .that email will send chills down your spine. 

It does not matter why. Huh?

I have a lot of experience with crap and policies changing on a dime - because as I've often stated in my posts - we are a "one-night-only-by-the-airport-cruises-trains-downtown-nice-freetv-breakfast-wifi" - NO DEPOSIT make things EASY - - - and it moves FAST. every room gets 100 views a day. . .

BUT, the minute a policy changes? Some bomb goes off in our office. Everyone goes "Wait a minute how did THIS happen?"

You are right with every suspicion, but I don't have a guess yet. 

I promise you this.

You won't get an agent to tell you anything - why?

1. Legitimately don't know

2. Heard something, but can't comment

3. Oh, they know alright, but they can't admit it

4. Oh, they know alright, but they refuse to admit it

5. Send you a URL link to "answer your question", but it's your question-ADJACENT. Not your question

Rinse, and repeat

[Emilia42]

@Kia272 Like you, I was always under the impression that this circumstance meant a previous host had indicated 'would not host again.' And when a host had the 'recommendations from other hosts' IB requirement this holds up the guest's reservation and sends it through as a request. 

Once I had a Request to Book from a guest with 9 five-star reviews. I didn't understand why it was a request but then I read each review. All were excellent, except for one from a neighboring host who clearly would not host him again. (Luckily, this gave me what I needed to decline.)

Then I did some math and if 8 hosts gave this guest a 5-star review and 1 host gave him a 1 star, his average would be 4.55 which in the guest world rounds up to 5.0. So it is possible that a guest can appear to have a "perfect score" but still receive some bad ratings. 

I don't know if this is correct, and honestly, I am surprised it does not happen more often because I have given out my fair share of 'No, would not host again' (but then again, not nearly as many yes') It is always what I figured. I do wish that Airbnb was more clear on how our reviews and Instant Booking requirements affect guests/bookings.

[Laura2592]

@Emilia42is 100% accurate. The guest can no longer IB because a host (or several) said they would not host again in their feedback. I had this confirmed early on by an ABB rep when I ran into this situation. Its a red flag to a host.

As many hosts won't leave negative forward facing reviews, they choose to mark the guests down on their star ratings. They may also push the "I would not host again" button and this will require the guest to send a request rather than IB. I think (and am not sure) that it only works when hosts have their own settings to "only guests recommended by other hosts."

@Kia272I would dig into the feedback on this guest. If there is anything even slightly negative or a low star rating in one or more categories you can guess this person was not a good fit for someone. They thought they were avoiding conflict by not describing exactly how that person was not a good fit.

[Kia272]

@Laura2592  Finally, confirmation that this is the cause! 

I approached this exactly as you've described. Read the guest's reviews and reviews left for others. He seems noise-sensitive in particular. I asked him if he was aware of the potential for noise at my property (described in clear detail) and he said yes. Having clarified that, I took a chance and accepted the reservation. I feel a bit uneasy but he was otherwise pleasant so I'm going with it. Although now I'm overthinking it....

Just FYI, I have definitely used the "would not host again" button on occasions when the guest didn't do anything in particular, but left me with a weird feeling as to how they were going to review, and interaction wasn't great. It's not hard to be simply decent and pleasant even if you don't want to be BFFs. That's my take on things, at any rate.  So, another host might feel that they were fine guests, but my gut told me I wouldn't want them back. Glad to know that the button works in some respects. 

[Mark116]

@Kia272   Yes, I've clicked on would not host again, not only when guests were poor, but when there seemed to be a mismatch.  For example, we hosted a group recently who didn't respond to any messages on the platform before their stay.  They finally replied to a text on their arrival time, and then we exchanged a couple of messages on the system.  During their stay they never responded to any message at all.  They weren't terrible, a little messy, but nothing crazy and they gave us a good review.   I don't want someone in the space who for whatever reason, does not ever reply or acknowledge a message, it's too stressful.  We've also found some guests who were more high maintenance, and for those reasons would not want to host them again.  

[Kia272]

@Mark116  Yes- that's exactly the type of situation I was referring to. It's unnerving when guests don't reply to messages, etc. So, while they did nothing "horrible", I wouldn't want them back due to the feeling of unease it leaves me with. 

And they get marked down on communication, of course. 

[Laura2592]

@Kia272 I've hosted several guests who can't IB and should be able. In most cases its been fine. In a few I also said I wouldn't host again. I would say that none have been perfect guests but the majority have not been terribly problematic. A few were difficult and I regretted giving them the benefit of the doubt but these were the minority.  To be fair I've had several 5 star IB guests who were poor so I don't think it makes too much of a difference. 

[Inna22]

It has happened to me as well. It usually happens with guests coming on a short notice so maybe there is something in the algorithm that wants to make sure we can still host them? Perhaps a host cancelled on this guest before and they are protecting the guest? Who knows

[Huma0]

This thread has left me completely confused. Can anyone (maybe @Emilia42 ) explain with certainty:

1. When a guest meets all of your requirements for IB, do they have the option of sending a booking request, or only an enquiry/IB?

I get plenty of guests who seemingly could IB but don't, which I thought was normal. I host long term guests and most of them are young, solo females, so it's reasonable enough that they would want some contact with me before booking. It never occurred to me that those guests were unable to IB. It's only when someone has told me they are trying to IB and unable to that I've looked into it and seen it's because they have one bad review. I've never had anyone with all glowing reviews and 5* tell me they couldn't IB. 

Also, I require verified government ID. A guest could in theory have only positive reviews/ratings but hasn't verified their ID. It doesn't mean they are a bad guest.

2. I have never heard of a host needing to 'approve' an IB because the guest didn't send a pre-booking message. Is this actually a thing or are people getting confused between an IB and request to book? Can anyone show me what this looks like?

I have pre-booking message required, but have never been given the option to 'approve' an IB. It's either instant booked or a request to book, nothing in between.

I also think that the 'pre-booking' message requirement is misleading and Airbnb needs to fix it. Firstly, it's not 'pre-booking' at all, because the small print underneath says, 'Guests will receive this message once they book.' So, they don't even see your message and any questions contained within before booking.

Secondly, the guest is supposed to respond to the message the host has written specifically for this purpose. Mine includes three basic questions. In my experience, not only do the majority of guests not respond to the questions when they book, when asked, they will say they never even saw them. So, what's the point in having this requirement at all? It clearly isn't working.

[Emilia42]

@Huma0 I'll try to make this very simple for anyone reading (so please don't think I am talking to you as if you are clueless.)

To start a conversation with a host, anyone can send an inquiry. Regardless, when the guest is ready to move forward with the booking, the screen will display either a "Confirm and Pay" button or a "Request to Book" button. Obviously, if a host has enabled Instant Book then the majority of guests will be able to "Confirm and Pay." If not, all guests will see "Request to Book."

When a host sets Instant Book requirements (Government-issued ID required and Host recommendation required) the guests who do not meet these requirements will not be able to just "Confirm and Pay." Their booking will come through as a request. 

If a guest does not have any recommendations (no reviews,) the booking will come to you as a Request. As discussed in this thread, if a guest receives a "Would not host again" from a previous host, the booking will come to you as a Request. 

If you want guests to go through an automatic ID verification you need to check the box in this link: https://www.airbnb.com/hosting/requirements. Otherwise, all guests who have not uploaded their ID will not be able to instant book thus you will be getting lots of Requests. A profile can display "Identity" confirmed but this does not necessarily mean an ID has been uploaded. (I have a suspicion this is why some of your guests are not able to Instant Book.)

When a host requires a "Pre-Booking" message, it simply means that an automatic message from the host will appear before the guest submits the booking. This Pre-Booking message triggers no "approval." I am not really sure where this confusion stems from.  Here is a screenshot of how the process looks when I try to book one of your listings. (Sorry, it's choppy, I had to take two photos.)

[Emilia42]

@Huma0 

"In my experience, not only do the majority of guests not respond to the questions when they book, when asked, they will say they never even saw them."

I don't get very many inquiries, but when I do, and the guest actually goes on to book, I have noticed that the booking comes through with no accompanying message. This is one of the reasons why I hate inquiries because it seems like the booking process goes haywire. If you have already begun a message thread with the guest (via inquiry or previous stay) this could be why they aren't seeing your pre-booking message.

[Huma0]

@Emilia42 

Thanks for clarifying. So, what you have explained is what I thought I knew already, except the bit about having to go to that link for automatic ID verification. I had set a requirement for guests to have ID verified  to IB and thought that was all I needed to do. However, when I go to the link, the box was already checked.

Good to see the pre-booking message is there and that guests have to scroll right past it to book. Seems like that's what a lot of guests are doing, i.e. 'scrolling right past' rather than actually reading it, even though it states 'Required for your trip' in bold! 

No, I wasn't referring to guests who send requests not answering the questions. I wasn't sure if non IB guests get the pre-booking message or not, so always ask them to confirm those details anyway before I accept the request. It's the IB guests who do not respond to the questions.

You get the ones who book with a really basic message like, "Looking forward to staying with you." When you ask them to please respond to the pre-booking questions, they say they never saw any. Then there are the guests who send a fairly long, chatty message describing themselves and the purpose of their trip, still don't answer the other questions. Occasionally, I have the IB guests who clearly answer the three questions, in the exact same order, in their first message, so they have read it, but I would say they are a minority. I guess people are just not paying attention. 

Really, Airbnb should just make this a simple form to fill in when making the booking.

It's the approving an IB thing that was really getting me confused. Thanks for clearing that up. I didn't think that sounded right. I mean, it wouldn't be an instant booking if it needed approval! 

[Helen744]

@Huma0 , I agree there is no 'approving'on IB. Something I also have is no avatars ,no sunglasses ,clear faces. This of course assumes photo Id. I understand that some platforms do not pass on a pic after booking so people are sometimes wary of Airbnb which passes on a photo of the guest after booking. If the Id presented to Airbnb was maybe borderline as in heavy makeup,slightly obscured or more than one person in the pic this will raise a flag.Proof of age cards or seniors cards as ID will sometimes raise flags .I had an 'Enquiry 'just recently on Airbnb which was withdrawn almost as soon as it appeared. The person did book but through a platform that does not pass on pics . I am still waiting for the requested ID or any acknowledgement of the messages sent requesting ID. "No reviews ' , does not require approval either as long as the person has ID and follows thru on messaging etcetera.I get few enquiries but generally they are a warning that the person is deliberately trying to book without either Id or previous reviews or even bad reviews or non approval. though not always . the ones that still annoy me are generally those who do not answer messages at all. H