Response Rate Platform Errors

[William-and-Scarlette0]

We've had two issues with how the response rate is calculated. Just wanted to let others know this is an error on the Airbnb platform and not a lack of responses from hosts.

1. We received an inquiry that looked like spam. We immediately marked as spam and contacted Airbnb Support to let them know. The inquiry disappeared from our inbox once it was marked as spam. A day later, our response rate dropped. We again contacted Airbnb Support and they said we had not responded to the inquiry by either accepting or declining. However, we couldn't have done this if we wanted to because it had disappeared from our inbox. Airbnb Support provided no solution to fix the drop.

2. We received an inquiry and within just a couple of minutes we received an instant booking for the same night. We went back to the initial inquiry and we were unable to respond because it had already been classified as "not possible." It gave us no option to accept or decline. And the next day, our response rate dropped. Again, we have received no support to fix the inaccurate response rate.

[Cassie178]

I can’t respond the the Reservation inquiry as it won’t let me decline or accept. Nothing is there except it says something went wrong. Now my response rate and my rankings have dropped. It is not my fault the request came through but no place to respond. Been working on this with Airbnb for months with no one fixing the problem.

[Cassie178]

My issue is the I could not open the Reservation Request. I could not approve or decline so therefore I could not do anything. My ratings then dropped and my ranking on the listings really dropped. I was always on the top pages and now I can’t be found. I wish it was so easy to just respond but I couldn’t and now my business has tanked because of a glitch in Airbnbs system 

[Bhumika]

Hi @Cassie178 , Have you reached out to Airbnb Support regarding this? If so, what did they say?

[Cassie178]

Yes, it has been a back and forth with myself and Airbnb since April. I got final word this week telling me that the Specialized team said there was no issue on their system with the response rate. There is no way for them to change the response percentages. Last month I did have a CS tell me that it was a known glitch and that no one would be able to fix it. I endured on because I really felt an injustice had been done where I was being punished for something I had no control over. This was the only Reservation Request I have ever had as I have instabook. When trying to open it, it said something went wrong and I could not accept or deny. Therefore the response rate dropped as well as my placement on the listing page. The people at Airbnb were very kind, I must add. I am  so disappointed that I was negatively impacted over something that I have no control over. 

[Konstantinos0]

Hello all. Have any of you had any news on this?

I attended a couple of 30 mins webinars this week from the South Europe Support team adn I had a chance to drop in this question about the role of the fake-spammed inquiries on response rate. Federico, from that Support team suggested that we reply to all inquiries, even fake ones - and report them too - as indeed there have been counted in as inquiries.

Yet, the writeen replies I have had from HELP was that the fake inquiries are not counted in as inquiries!

Regards #hostadvisoryboard