How to Decline a reservation request with a guest who wants to break house rules without getting penalized for the Decline?

[Douglas353]

We have a no pets House Rules.  (Our insurance company doesn't allow it.)  With it clearly stated in our listing I received this request from a guest.  How do you Decline a guest who is requesting a stay which violates house rules without being penalized for the Decline by Airbnb?   

Hi

Hope you are well. I am extremely interested in renting your property. I will be traveling with my girlfriend and our dog. Your property is listed as 'no pets' - I am writing that you kindly reconsider. Our dog is a small miniature poodle, who is a very well trained.

[Elaine701]

@Douglas353 

It depends on if it's a guest "inquiry" (Your options are "pre approve" or "decline")... 

...or if it's a "request" (Your options are "accept" or "decline"). 

In the case of the former, all you need to do is respond. Just nicely point out that pets, aren't allowed, so unfortunately you can't approve their booking. That's it. You needn't do anything else. 

In the case of the latter, the process is similar, but different. Just respond with same or similar message, but ask them to withdraw their request (rather than clicking the "decline" button). In this way, you can't be penalised for it. 

Hope that helps. 

[Douglas353]

It was pre-approve 

[Emilia42]

@Douglas353 If your option was "Pre-Approve" or "Decline" it was an inquiry. You only need to respond with text. "Unfortunately, I am not able to accommodate pets. Good luck in your search." Then Archive the message. 

Airbnb only insists that you Pre-Approve to help the guest feel welcome to book or to Decline so the guest can keep looking (although I guest can still request to book after a decline inquiry.) BUT a text response is all that is needed to stop the ticking clock algorithm. I have never pre-approved or declined an inquiry in my life. 

[John5097]

@Douglas353 @A reservation request will show 24 hours for host to accept or decline. An inquiry You only need to respond to the message within 24 hours to maintain response rate and host can put anything in the message such as thanks for asking but not set up for pets. 

[Colleen253]

@Douglas353 You’ve already gotten good answers, but see the below link, to understand the difference between a REQUEST and an INQUIRY and how they both work. 

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Hosting/VIDEO-Inquiry-vs-Request-What-s-the-Difference/m-p/76965...

[Douglas353]

@Colleen253  Not exactly.  The  video is pretty good, but I think the screens and words ABB uses have changed so it's not that helpful.  

I received two requests in the last day.  I've called Airbnb the people I'm speaking to English is not there first language so I'm having a hard time communicating with them.  This is all about being dinged by Airbnb for not accepting guests who are breaking the house rules.  They have threatened to suspend my account, yet I have guests booked solid for the next two and a half months. 

When a guest sends a message, they select the dates and that request comes to me a Pre-Approval with the dates blocked of in my calendar.  Airbnb will then send me emails and text messages telling me to Approve or Decline the request.   When really all I need to do is message the guest.  I learned this from you, if I reply to the message within 24 hrs I'm not dinged.  If I do nothing else the booking in the calendar drops off and I am not dinged.  If I Decline I am not dinged.  I could ask the guest to withdraw the request.  If the guest withdraws the request the blocked dates in my calendar are cleared and I am not dinged. 

But if the guests requests a reservation Airbnb calls this a "Trip Requested" vs "Pre-Approved".  This is an actual booking request.  I have 24 hrs to Accept of Decline.  If I Decline for any reason I'm dinged.  The only way I could get out of a Trip Request would be to ask the guest to cancel the booking request.  

The text that Airbnb uses is confusing.  "Accept if you can host, or decline if these dates don’t work for you."   What they really mean is "Accept if you can host, or decline if these dates don’t work for you and you will get dinged.  With 3-5 dings we will suspend your account.

[Laura2592]

@Douglas353  can you post screen shots of what you are getting? I have never heard of a "trip request" so I would be curious to see the actual email. In my experience there are booking requests and inquiries only. 

[Douglas353]

I can't get a screenshot because I accepted the booking.  When I received the email from Airbnb and clicked on it up in the top right corner the words were Trip Request. In the previous email from someone asking if they could break the house rules the words were Pre-Approve.

This is right above the words Approve or Decline 

If someone messages you do you get a Pre-Approve?   And if you Decline that counts against you?  This is confusing.  

[Colleen253]

@Douglas353 Yes, it is confusing, because Airbnb is always changing and updating on the platform and they don’t update hosts on those changes, nor do they do a good job of updating their resources/help pages. Same here on the community center. So we are all left fumbling around most of the time, trying to catch up to the changes. Highly, highly annoying.  ‘Trip Request’ is new and replaces ‘Request to Book’ as far as I can tell. @Laura2592 .

[Douglas353]

So we either get Trip Request = I'm making a booking.  OR  Pre-Approve=I'm asking you a question.  

[Colleen253]

@Douglas353Yes.

I don't know it you've seen this,

https://www.airbnb.ca/resources/hosting-homes/a/understanding-response-rate-and-acceptance-rate-86

It also explains in detail the difference between Inquiries and Requests and talks about response and acceptance rates. Note that they haven't updated the language from 'Request to Book' to the new 'Trip Request'. But I believe it's mostly up to date otherwise.

[Douglas353]

I have seen it, but it doesn't answer the questions I am asking.  It also doesn't appear to be what Airbnb is actually doing.   I think there's more that's wrong with the video than the screenshots. 

[Sharon683]

That's crazy!

[Lisa723]

@Douglas353 here is what my dashboard looks like today. You can see two inquiries, clearly marked as such, and one booking request (withdrawn by the guest at my request), also clearly marked as such.