Request from a new account on our brand new listing

[Marcel2361]

Last weekend we published our listing, already hosted a guest, which went great. More guests coming in today. We're excited about hosting!

We just received a reservation request from a brand new account. We have Instant Booking with Host recommendation required turned on, so we have to approve or decline the request. The guest messaged us, and asked if the could talk. What do you folks recommend? We reply to the guest and ask what their question is, or simply decline the request? If we decline do we have to provide a reason for the decline? And will the guest see that?

[Elaine701]

@Marcel2361 

Talk. See what they have to say. Tell them you want your guests to be happy with their booking  so please could you tell me about yourself and those staying, and the nature of your visit? The answers can be revealing. Or comforting. It's really up to you! (In fact, prevention is solely your problem 🤨). 

Avoid declining. It has some minor penalties, and if you decline often, the penalties can become major, so you should play the decline card very sparingly. If you find the guest to be risky or are very uncomfortable, scare them away somehow (encourage >them< to withdraw) . Demanding a big security deposit usually does the trick. 

Welcome to hosting. Most of the time, it's really rewarding. But when it's not, it can be very, very stressful. Watch your back! 

[Ann783]

My guess is that if they want to talk ... it is either to ask for a discount or to book off platform. But it doesn't hurt to talk to them.

[Sarah977]

@Marcel2361  Why would you automatically decline the request? Everyone, both guests and hosts start out with no reviews. How would you ever get your first booking and review if no one took a chance on a new account?

You are misunderstanding the process. Hosts who use Instant Book can have some requirements checked because you don't have an opportunity to check out a guest's reviews and communicate with them before the booking is confirmed.

With requests, you have the opportunity  to read any reviews a guest might have and communicate with them before deciding whether to accept or not. If you just decline every request from a guest with no reviews, Airbnb will send you warnings about too many declines and may suspend your listing.

Communicating with guests is the best way to vet them.

[Pat271]

For inquiries and requests, I recommend not taking any questions or discussion offline, by phone, Whatsit, etc. The potential guests should have all of the information they need in the listing, and extra info (or even a repeat of the current info) can be handled via Airbnb messaging. 

In general, it’s wise to keep all communications on Airbnb messaging, if possible. Doing so avoids any “he said, she said” issues, which may crop up occasionally. It’s also important to have a written record of your guest interactions when an issue arises and Airbnb customer service needs to get involved.

[Marcel2361]

Thanks everyone for the help. We replied to the message. However, after a couple hours when we went back to the thread in the inbox it says: "This message has been hidden because the person no longer has access to Airbnb." Note: we did not report or do anything do make that happen.

However the reservation is still waiting for Pre-Approve or Decline. Should we just let it expire or contact Support?

Again thanks everyone for the assist with this, so cool to get immediate responses  from veteran hosts!

[Sarah977]

@Marcel2361  There is something I don't think you understand- the difference between a Request and an Inquiry, because you just said the choices were pre-approve or decline. Those are the choices on an Inquiry.

The choices for a Request are accept or decline.

An Inquiry only requires that you message the guest back within 24 hours. You do not have to click on either pre-approve or decline. Never  decline an inquiry. It isn't necessary, just message back.

A Request is different- you do have to either accept or decline within 24 hrs, unless you can get the guest to withdraw the request before then. 

[Elaine701]

Don't decline it! 

Write a message to Airbnb support telling them that you have, request from somebody who's apparently been banned, and you want Airbnb to delete it. 

[Marcel2361]

Just talked to someone in support, they informed us that the person has been banned for security reasons, and that we can decline the reservation request without any penalties.

Thanks for the assist @Elaine701 et al.

[Peggy-And-Mike0]

Welcome to hosting and good luck! Be especially alert as a new host as "bad actors" look for newbies to take advantage of their lack of experience. I would suggest you turn off instant book until you feel firmly in charge of the details on inquiries vs requests, and other nuances. Don't stress about those with no reviews...they make up 95 out of 100 guests we have. I joke with my husband that Air sends us the newbies on an above average percentage and we've had a great experience with them, but we are on-site hosts so trouble is less likely as guests know we are present. Still there will be awkward situations that come up and the more you can spend reading all the issues already discussed in forums like this, the more confident you'll be on handling things on your own. That's the bottom line -- don't count on Airbnb CS to help you...as the saying goes, "nobody is coming...nobody will rescue you..."