How often do you decline?

[Kelly149]

Those of you on Request only, how often do you decline?

Recently I had a mediocre request that I cajoled and prodded into reading the listing and answering the booking questions and he rated VERY poorly afterwards. Sure wish I'd have just booted him to begin with.

So, then I had a few folks that I typed and typed for all the "I'm sorry to be a bother, but you seem to have missed a couple things" emails which led to retracted requests, so I didn't have to decline but those messages are a big time suck.

So, then the last 5? 6? didn't read anything, had totally blank profiles and didn't answer one lick of the pre-booking message and/or House Rules message I just went ahead and hit decline and said "It is recommended that you read the full listing and the House Rules prior to making a Request to Book. Best of luck for your trip!"

And now I'm wondering how soon I'll get the ABB nastygram message telling me to do better and "accept" more guests??

[Anonymous]

@Kelly149  I don't think I ever had an Acceptance Rate over 80%, at least when they started showing those stats. Usually it was somewhere around 70%, with about 3 out of 10 requests declined. And that's not including the inquiries, which I neither pre-approved nor declined; most of them wasted time asking about dates that weren't even available, or permanent housing. 

I've gotten a couple automated warnings about declining, but never an actual penalty. Maybe there's a secret formula that triggers a suspension, but it's not public information. 

[Kelly149]

@Anonymous  I'm somehow still sitting at 88%... but I'm picturing some robot clanging a bell in SF... too many, too many....

[Huma0]

@Kelly149 

At 88% you really don't need to worry. When Airbnb first brought in the 'Acceptance Rate', I contacted CS a few times because I had to decline guests who were obviously unsuitable (wanting to bring pets or kids even though my listing expressly says that's not possible, for example). 

CS basically told me (repeatedly) not to sweat the small stuff. They said that the acceptance rate really didn't matter at all and that there was only a likelihood of them following up on it when a host declined a very large number of requests. I remember at the time a host posting on the CC that she had an 11% acceptance rate (I believe she was sort of snoozing her listing without actually doing so, for some reason) and she hadn't had any warnings.

The 88% target is a nonsense. It's just another tactic from Airbnb to bully hosts into accepting as many requests as possible.

[Kelly149]

and then, as if a reward from the universe, I just had a request come in from a guest who introduced herself, answered the House Rules questions and has been approved. Miracles

[Pat271]

I just had one of those “iffy” requests last night. I hardly ever decline, because most of my guests converse adeptly, follow Airbnb’s instructions on how to introduce themselves, and have more than a 1-letter username.

The guest who requested to book last night had a 1-letter username and wrote one sentence telling me what time he will arrive. This is normally not a deal-killer off the bat, so I asked for more clarification about his first name and who will be traveling with him. He gave me 2 first names (both his), and mentioned 1 of the 3 other guests. I asked about the others. An hour went by. I re-asked about the others. He gave me 2 other first names. No enthusiasm or conversational tone - it was as if he was attempting to give me as little information as possible. I looked at his 2 reviews. They both named other people as the guest. And the guest didn’t review either one of them.

I almost approved him anyway. He didn’t really do anything that was blatantly wrong. Some people just don’t like to talk much - it doesn’t necessarily mean they will be bad guests. In fact, none of the facts above by themselves would cause me to reject a request. But added up together…I just didn’t feel comfortable. So I rejected the request.

One thing that might avoid getting dinged by Airbnb is to choose “I don’t feel comfortable with this booking”, and then explain in the box to Airbnb exactly why. I think their main concern is that you don’t just reject guests out of hand for no reason or because you just don’t feel like hosting that day. You probably should have valid reasons, or at least show that you have thought it out before declining.

[Gillian166]

@Pat271 
I think half the problem is that ABB prompts guests to tell us what time they plan to arrive. It's a bit like the FB marketplace thing where "hi xyz, is this still available" is autofilled, and drives sellers insane. I find it a bit rude that people book and the only interaction i get is them telling me they plan to arrive early afternoon. I have to remind myself that's not their fault. As you say, it's not a deal breaker, but when they have 0 reviews, no pic, and don't respond to any interaction, it's all adds up to maybe being an issue. 

I just stayed in an ABB in rural Australia with a new host and she had almost zero communication with me and I was so weirded out by it! 

[Susan1188]

#Gillian166 yes!  this is indeed the problem, which most hosts don't see unless you book yourself a trip as a guest - highly recommended by the way, so that you can see what guests are seeing.

They get a screen saying TELL the host when you will be arriving not ASK!  

So indeed the tone of the guest message is not their fault.  Airbnb should address this.

And house rules are virtually hidden and buried, they have to spend time to actively seek them out.

[Helen744]

@Susan1188 They can 'tell 'me anything they like but check in is between 2 and eight  and I prefer a booking with a Time of arrival H

[Elizabeth2514]

Hello Pat.  As I have declined several guests and have not seen an option to explain the “I don’t feel comfortable” I’m wondering where that comes up?

Thank you!

[Emilia42]

I don't get requests often but one did come through a few months ago. Thorough and clear communication, otherwise perfect, but I got so freaked out all of sudden that I couldn't see their profile photo. So I declined it. Too much pressure. 

[Kelly149]

you're mostly IB though right @Emilia42 ? We are all request so this is all we get

[Emilia42]

Yes, mostly IB. But when I get a request I can't help but decline a lot of them. Airbnb doesn't make it easy .... that is, giving one the confidence to accept. I don't know how you guys do it. 

[Kelly149]

@Emilia42 lately I do not have confidence very often...

[Helen744]

@Emilia42  if you have checked the box 'must have profile pic' then you must know that the pic does not appear until they are actually booked but Airbnb do already have it ? I  do not now and have never accepted people without proper pics . No sunglasses , no avatars , no obscured faces because I have enough trouble recognising faces as it is. Some people though do not provide genuine government Id and look not a whit like their profile pics Layers of makeup ,wigs . Mostly they turn up without all of that but not always .Not a lot of people though. H