Unsuitable for inf or children

[Lulu89]

I have stated clearly in my description and within my listing that my apartment is unsuitable for infants and children. This was after being told due to the set up and various items in the unit that little people could injure themselves. 
I have just declined a guest who was looking forward to staying with their 18month old? I now find my stats and performance have been affected by declining this reservation, even though I clearly put to the guest and to Airbnb in the pro forma why I was declining.  I’ve tried to contact Airbnb about this but nobody has responded? if there is a moderator looking at this post perhaps you could direct me where to go to get this rectified in my profile, also has anybody else had this issue? When you get penalised for declining a booking through no fault of your own?

[Emiel1]

@Lulu89 

If a guest wants something which is not matching with the listing, i useally explain and ask the guest to retract the booking request. Most of them do so. Then there is no decline needed.

Same for inquiries : if not a  good match, just answer the message and leave it (no decline)

BTW Incidental declines do not affect your ratings badly.

[Colleen253]

@Lulu89 When you say "my stats and performance have been affected", could you be more specific? As long as you only declined a request, and didn't cancel  an accepted booking, nothing should be affected. 

https://www.airbnb.ca/help/article/360/can-i-decline-booking-inquiries-or-reservation-requests

[Sarah977]

@Colleen253  Declines lower Acceptance rate.

[Lulu89]

 

[Lulu89]

That’s exactly it lowers the accepted reservation rate, through no fault of my own. 

[Sarah977]

@Lulu89  As Emiel mentioned, next time if a guest indicates they want to do something that clearly contravenes your house rules, max guest count, etc. try to get them to withdraw the request before your 24 hour time limit. Just point out why you can't accept their request and suggest they withdraw it ASAP so they will be free to look for another listing which meets their needs.

[Lulu89]

I don’t really want to start getting into a negotiation with a guest because that will get quite uncomfortable. what I’m saying is when there are guests that don’t meet the requirements it should be a simple no don’t meet the requirements. 

[Sarah977]

@Lulu89  I wouldn't call that a negotiation, but do as you please. 

Yes, it would be nice if declines when a guest's request ignores you house rules, but that isn't the case. So you can do what other hosts do, as suggested, which isn't the big deal you seem to think it is, or continue to see your acceptance rate go down.

[Colleen253]

@Lulu89 You don't need to get into anything with the guest, just politely point out that your listing isn't suitable for children and to please withdraw their request. If they don't, you can decline, and there is a field to fill out with the reason. State that the guest didn't read the listing thoroughly and missed the fact that it isn't suitable for children.

Don't get fussed about a lower accetance rate. Nothing bad will happen. Airbnb is very skilled at using psychological manipulation on hosts through Superhost 'status'. 

[Fred13]

A key question is in order:

    Do you have IB turned on or off. By saying you 'turned down a reservation', it insinuates you are on Instant Booking. If so, perhaps best not to be, considering you have a strict requirement that you would like to enforce, and tough to do so when you are bypassing the 'inquiry' step. Considering most do not even read thoroughly a listing's description, being on IB and expecting them to 'get the flic' is chancy.

   If you do not have IB on, then it means this was no more than an Inquiry,  which I doubt it would lower your 'Acceptance' %, since that rate only pertains to rejected or non-rejected Requests.  

[Laura2592]

@Lulu89 we have also deemed our listing not suitable for infants as there are some safety issues such as very steep stairs with "not to building code" cut-outs on one side just large enough for a cat or baby to crawl through, reclaimed wood cabinets which are very rough-hewn and can be splintery if a little one bangs against them,  etc. I have had more than one request from a guest who insisted that they book anyway and got miffed if I rejected the request.  I frankly don't care. I would feel a lot worse if the child was injured than that the entitled parent doesn't get their way.

I have said before that Airbnb needs a pop-up when a guest sends a request and is trying to input infants on a reservation that does not allow it "This property is not suitable for infants. Instant book is not available for your request. Send an inquiry instead." That way the host can discuss the rules with the guest and the guest is not rejected so much as just told politely that no, the property is not a good fit, best of luck.

Same thing with pets-- we desperately need a selection for pets and numbers like any human guest. Same idea with a pop up if you are trying to book a non-pet friendly listing and indicate that you are bringing your dog. Both of these seem very elegant and easy programming solutions which would make everyone's life so much easier. Why we don't have them? Your guess is as good as mine.