Ignore or decline inquiry after responding

[Sarika9]

Hi all new to Airbnb. I know this question has come up several times but I see conflicting info. If someone sends an inquiry (not a booking request) AND I respond to them within 24 h (I usually do within minutes) , do I have to eventually decline or pre-approve? 
sometimes I don’t have all the info I need to pre-approve or decline or I’ve asked them a question needing clarity and the ball is in their court. In which case it would be strange to suddenly preapprove or decline. Will I get penalized if I ignore the reminder to preapprove/decline? I’ve read that for inquiries all that matters is getting any response back within 24 hours which can be a message. But I also read that you can get penalized for declining too many inquires. That doesn’t make any sense. Please advise. Thanks!!

[Ann72]

@Sarah977  I can see that.  But are they so bad at communicating they can't say that?  If they could say that, I would feel instantly sympathetic and would want to take all steps possible to make them feel comfortable.  If they can't say it, then they're bad at communicating, which undoubtedly led to their previous problems and will probably lead to more.

There's an expression in my neighborhood - "Hit the bid!"  That's what I want.  Not a hand-holding session.

[Sarah977]

@Ann72  I also have a hard time with bad communicators, I get you. But yes, lots of people don't seem to know how to say or ask something, including all the pertinent information. Even hosts who ask a question on this forum sometimes ask it in a way that makes it hard to understand what exactly they want to know or they expect others to somehow grok the context or back story when they haven't explained it.

[Ann72]

@Sarah977  One hundred percent!  The way some stories are written, one is not surprised to hear they ended up in a pickle with a guest.  🙂

[Sarah977]

@Ann72  Or that the CS rep gave them irrelevant responses or put their message on the bottom of the pile 🙂

[Ann72]

Yes, I've seen you gently try to tell them to keep their approaches to CS short and sweet @Sarah977, but reading between the (many, many) lines, I doubt most of them do that.  In addition, we see posts from those who did not employ the old honey vs vinegar approach.  And that didn't work out so well for them.

[Colleen253]

@Emilia42 “although the guest can still send through a booking request or instant booking following a declined inquiry.” 

This is irksome. I’ve had a few guests go on to send a request anyway, after I’ve declined (hoping it would block them from doing so).

[Emilia42]

@Colleen253 I know. When I get an inquiry from someone who I really don't want to host, I quickly block out one day during their preferred dates or increase the minimum over that timeframe.

[Willene1]

Thank you @Emilia42. Exactly what I’ve been searching for!  Feels so awkward not choosing either Accept or Decline or Send an offer. Glad it’s okay to just reply without accepting or declining. Airbnb makes it look as if those are your only choices. I always struggle with this.  You’ve been nice and clear. Thank you! 

[Sarah977]

@Willene1  Slight clarification- Accept or Decline are the choices for a booking request. You must either accept or decline a request within 24 hours if you can't get the guest to withdraw the request. Just answering a request isn't good enough.

It's inquiries you can just message back on. The choices on an inquiry are Pre-approve or Decline.

The difference in the wording between accept and pre-approve is because if you pre-approve an inquiry, the guest still has to take another step on their end to book. When you accept a request, they will instantly have a charge made to them for the booking.

[Willene1]

@Sarah977Thank you. It was an Inquiry. I used the incorrect term. Should’ve been Pre-Approve or Decline. Neither one felt right in this circumstance.  She was asking about smoking when our ad says No Smoking on the property so would decline if that was important to her.   Thx for the clarification. 
I always reply with Accept or Decline to Booking Requests ASAP. 

[Jane627]

@Willene1, allthough I just learned something I had not thought of before from @Emilia42 , your question about inquiry vs request to book. What I have learned is that an inquiry is excatly that you just need to reply, you do not need to accept or decline. However a request to book must be accepted or declined within 24 hours.

[Sarah640]

@Sarah977 and @Emilia42 Thank you both for your helpful responses. I have a wee follow up question. If I've responded to an inquiry, and the person replies with "Thank you", do I also need to send a response to this message to retain my response rate? I feel like my conversation with the inquirer is complete, but I don't want to get dinged. Thank you!

[Sarah977]

@Sarah640  No, you don't have to respond to every message.

[Sarah640]

Thank you!

[Emilia42]

@Sarah640 This is a really informative article you may want to take a look at:

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Airbnb-Updates/Understanding-Response-Rate-and-Acceptance-Rate/m...