Importance of leaving reviews

[Emilia42]

I just declined a reservation for the first time in three years. I don’t get requests to book often because I am set up with Instant Book and I have never once been uncomfortable with a reservation. However, I received a request from a guest with 8 glowing reviews but 1 very negative review from a local host in my town. I got the option to accept/decline (as opposed to instant book) because I have the ‘Must be recommended by other hosts’ requirement set on this particular listing.

I am extremely relieved that:

                    1.) Even with a handful of great reviews, one bad ‘Would not host again’ will apparently prevent a guest from instant booking and;

                    2.) The local host made the effort to warn others of the experience. This is the 2nd time in the last 3 months that a bad review from a local host has saved me!

Reviews are so, so important in this community and I am very thankful for my neighboring hosts who are helping me prevent disrespectful guests. 

[Emilia42]

@Helen350 Please take a look back at the first e-mail that you received from this charming lady last week. Was it a Reservation Request or was it an Inquiry?

[Helen350]

@Emilia42 It was marked 'Enquiry'!

[Emilia42]

@Helen350 That is what I suspected. This guest contacted you via the Contact Host button to start a conversation before booking. But when she goes to book it will come through as an instantly confirmed reservation because you have instant booking enabled. She would only be able to send a Reservation Request if she did not meet your requirements. There is no option for a guest to choose between a Reservation Request or an Instant book. But a guest can choose to inquire.

[Helen350]

@Emilia42 That's what I always thought! I think @Kenneth12 confused me, & put doubt in my mind!

[Suzanne302]

@Emilia42  Great screenshot. I suspect many hosts don't even notice the difference and that's why they are confusing "Inquiry" with "Request."

[Cathie19]

Yep.

@Emilia42 , @Helen350 . I’ve set my instant book up exactly the same, with as strict guidelines as I can. Those who do choose to request to book, are then no different from not having instant book. It’s down to my research,  overall communication and gut feeling.

[Suzanne302]

@Kenneth12  @Emilia42 @Helen350 

I can tell you from experience on both sides, that "Contact Host" is NOT the same as "Request to Book" when it comes through, as @Emilia42 said.

"Contact Host" comes through as an INQUIRY and not a REQUEST. That's when you have 24 hours to simply respond to the message. "Request to Book" is completely separate and you must deny/accept.

Guests who do not meet your requirements may "Contact Host" or "Request to Book."

Guests who do meet your requirements may "Contact Host" or "Instant Book."

[Emilia42]

That is my experience as well @Suzanne302.

When instant book is turned on, guests do not have the option to choose to request to book just because they want to. They can either instant book (if they meet my requirements) or they can choose to contact me via an inquiry (which is not the same as a request to book.)

If it were to work the other way and this guest chose to Request to Book just because he felt like it, I would be the luckiest host in the world! Out of over 500 bookings, the only one who I don't want to host chooses to request instead of instant book?? I don't think so. 

[Rowena29]

@Emilia42 

I agree - this has always been my experience.

I have IB and my only "requests to book" are from guests who dont' meet my criteria - in my case they are usually wanting to book outside of my advance notice settings OR  they do not have government verified ID 

Inquiries are a different things entirely - and with IB as an option, in my case they have never translated to a booking and every single time I've been very glad... ( usually they've asked for a discount, or asked a stupid question indicating that they've not read the listing at all eg "can I bring my dog?" or "do you have a BBQ?"

I absolutley agree with you re the importance of reviews.

I am hopeless at this myself though I have to confess - I have never had really terrible guests, but I have had a number who were pretty good on some levels, terrific on others,  and a bit ordinary in some areas. I struggle with this. But then I don't really think that's what your'e referring to....

and how do you review someone who's nice enough, generally a good guest, leaves the home pretty ok. but is simply an idiot when it comes to reading the listing and dealing with your prebooking questions...

[Sara1213]

I just left an honest review for a guest this evening and have been bombarded with messages ever since she saw it.  In the end I’m asking ABB to remove the text of my review because the drama isn’t worth it. The system seems broken. 

[Sarah977]

@Sara1213  I can imagine how unpleasant this must be. But rather than asking Airbnb to remove the review, you should be reporting her for harrasment. And click on the flag symbol below one of her messages to you, which should block her from contacting you any further. If she's texting or phoning you, block her number. It's her drama, not yours, and it was good of you to leave an honest review to warn other hosts. Considering her current behavior, it's all the more reason for your review to stand, otherwise she will be free to just go on and book more Airbnbs and make even more hosts' lives miserable.

[Sara1213]

Thanks for the reply. I don’t see an option to block from the app and when I went through the Report dialogs it didn’t ask about blocking them.  I’ll try from the web interface next time I’m on a computer. 

[Sarah977]

@Sara1213  If she is sending these messages on the Airbnb message system, just call Airbnb and tell them she is harrassing you and ask them to look at the messages she's been sending. Tell them you want them to block her from contacting you again.

I looked at your profile page to see if there was any review that looked like it was from her, but I didn't see any, so I guess she didn't leave a review, just you. And BTW you have one of the coolest profile write-ups I've seen. 

[Alexandra316]

@Sarah977Surely it's the very last person to review: 

These guests weren’t the worst we’ve hosted but a few items I’d mention. They only skimmed my check in info, kids let themselves in at the wrong door. They were persistent in getting a fast reply to non-critical questions following up with just “?” when I didn’t reply immediately. A leaf on our table was broken, a kitchen glass was broken, they did none of the dishes, and left a bowl of cereal in the fridge. None of this would be an issue if they had kindly let us know. Seem better suited for a hotel. 

And they're hosts! My prior statements about not hosting hosts stands. 

[Sara1213]

Support removed it because I’d previously asked them to before figuring out how to block her. In the end, I don’t feel like the drama of writing reviews is worth it. Sorry other hosts.