Number of guests

[Richard2445]

Hi all, 

Wondering if anyone can advise on a small issue we are encoutering.

We have put 4 guests in the description bar when editing. ( it does not differentiate between adults and children). We have a normal bed and a sofa bed which is suitable for 1 adult or 2 children.  If we change to 3 or 2 adults we then drop off the search engine for a family of 4 as we only state 2 guests.  We have re-amended to 4 guests to avoid this and put a line to advise NOT SUITABLE FOR 4 ADULTS. We still get quite a few bookings for 4 adults so we then advise them and they get a bit miffed and ask if we have another bed.   

On the same subject last week we had a request for 4 adults, so we decided not to send a confirmation response.   Then we noticed AirBnB  blocked the dates they were requesting, my guess is because we did not confirm??????

Can any experts out there advise.

Best wishes to all

Richard and Gail 

[Colleen253]

@Richard2445 As you’ve discovered, there is no setting that distinguishes a child from an adult. As long as your max is set to 4 guests, you will find yourself declining a lot of requests. Adding text about your ideal group to your description will not help.

A few thoughts. A family might not be your ideal target group. The space is small and not looking super child friendly. A sofa bed is not a bed and should not be listed as such. Any adult that ends up sleeping on it may earn you lower ratings if it results in less than a great night sleep. The fact the bathroom is an en-suite could be problematic for a group of 3 adults, or even two friends traveling together. I think your ideal target is couples. 

“….we had a request for 4 adults, so we decided not to send a confirmation response.  Then we noticed AirBnB  blocked the dates they were requesting, my guess is because we did not confirm??????”

A Trip Request requires you to either decline or accept. If you ignore it, it expires after 24 hours and the dates are blocked. You can manually unblock them though. The following article explains in great depth everything you need to know about Requests and Inquiries.

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

[Mark116]

@Richard2445  If your place is not suitable for 4 adults then you should reduce the max number to 3 or 2.  You will probably still get inquiries of a couple with children and you can then approve or not on a case by case basis.  But by listing it for 4 when you don't want to accommodate 4 you are asking for trouble and headaches.

[Sarah977]

@Richard2445  For Requests, you must either accept or decline within 24 hours, unless you can convince the guest to withdraw the request if it is somehow inappropriate. 

For Inquiry messages, you do not need to either pre-approve or decline, you only need to message the guest back within 24 hrs. 

What you should never do is let either of those expire without an appropriate response.