New to hosting. . . how would you handle this?

[Jacqueline955]

We are new to hosting with a start date in February.  It states in our listing that we do not accept pets.  I got a reservation request for our opening night and the person sent a message asking if they could bring their dog (they said they see we are pet friendly.)  I messaged them back and said that we do not accept pets but to please let me know if they would like to come without the dog.   What do I do at this point?  I know that I am supposed to accept or decline within 24 hours.  I don't want to get dinged for not responding in a timely manner and I don't want to get penalized for declining the reservation.  I am afraid if I click accept that they will think it is alright to bring the dog even though I messaged and said we don't accept pets.  I have not heard back from the guest yet.  I still have plenty of time left to respond.  What do I do if they don't respond?  What do I do if they say they no longer want to come because they can't bring the dog?  (Meaning do I just hit decline and take the penalty?)

[Nutth0]

Dear @Jacqueline955  first, you did very well. I think your guest may just send an inquiry and the system only need you to answer back in 24 Hr for a response rate ( No need to click accept or decline). here is an example of my inbox.

  

[Jacqueline955]

@Nutth0 they sent an actual reservation request and then a message.  Mine was not an inquiry and does not say anything about pre-approval.

[Nutth0]

@Jacqueline955  okay, In that cast. If they didn't respond to your message in time. You can click decline and don't too much afraid there is no penalty fee for the click decline. 

The system (Basic requirements) may notice as it tries to make you above 88% but don't let that bother you. It's your house and guest have to respect your's rules.

[Helen350]

@Jacqueline955 What about sending a message asking them either a) to confirm they would still come without the dog, OR b) withdraw their request?

- You could add a brief note to say there are penalties for you not responding 'Accept' or 'Decline' within 24 hours, so you'd appreciate if they'd help you out by confirming, or withdrawing the request?

[Helen350]

... as @Nutth0 says, there are no ACTUAL financial penalties for declining, but it might affect your place in the search rankings??? (One of Airbnb's great mysteries, how this is worked out....)

And it IS annoying to be plagued by the "must do better" warnings, if you fall down on something down to the guest, not you.  

[Mark116]

@Jacqueline955  Send them another message and say that you totally understand if they do not want to come without their dog, and all they have to do is cancel their request and there are no charges or fees.  If they haven't done that by the end of the 24 hour window then you will have to decline them.

[Colleen253]

@Jacqueline955  Do what either Mark or Helen suggested, but know that if you decline a request, the dates are automatically blocked by Airbnb. You will have to manually unblock them.

The worst thing you can do when it comes to requests is let the clock run out and neither accept or decline. That impacts your response rate. If a request is not going to work out, the best thing for you is to have the guest withdraw their request, the next best is for you to decline.

[Kelly149]

@Colleen253 last time I did this, the dates weren't blocked for a decline (unless I wanted them to be), there was a box to check that made it clear that the decline was about the guest but not about my ability to host someone then

[Colleen253]

@Kelly149  The only time I’ve had to decline a guest, it was due to lack of communication on their part, and I didn’t get any check box at all. The dates were automatically blocked. I can’t remember if I was doing it from the app, or otherwise. Always a good idea to double check the dates either way, as we all know how glitchy Airbnb is. Better safe than sorry is a good motto to follow on this platform.

[Kelly149]

@Colleen253 yes, frequently the app leaves out options that are available in the full site. 

so often guests do something and then even if I answer back nearly immediately they've vanished. You'd think the platform could help us out with a "hey, make sure you're set to receive alerts so that you'll know when the host responds!" message or something

[Jacqueline955]

Update: After sending another message and not hearing anything back I finally used the app to hit decline. When I selected decline it gave me several options, one of which was something along the lines of my property would not meet their needs.  It allowed me to leave a message there to be sent with the message from Airbnb telling her that it was declined because we could not accommodate the dog and she would need to book something different.  It also allowed me to send a note to Airbnb as to why it would not work.  I went back to check afterwards and the dates were not blocked off on the calendar.  Thanks for all of the advice!