Is there something new in the guest booking process ?

[Michelle53]

Hi all

Lately, I've been getting a lot of requests from guests who joined in the last 12 months, but with zero reviews and zero profiles.

By itself, this would not be a concern if I could get them to respond in Airbnb messaging.   I've had many newbie guests who were lovely.

It seems to me, though, that folks are routinely ignoring, or not receiving, Airbnb messaging.   Is this an App issue ? 

My last guest had to be contacted by text message, as she never responded to any of my messages within Airbnb messaging. Turns out she was a less-than-stellar guest.  This is, of course, concerning, as there is no message history for communication outside of Airbnb, in case of issues needing the resolution center. 

I rely on pre-acceptance conversation to help me decide whether or not to accept a booking. 

I have a week-long booking request pending, right now - Joined October 2019, zero reviews, zero profile. I responded to the request within 8 minutes with some basic follow-up questions. Zero response. 

I'd really like to take a full week booking, but since I have no full kitchen, it could be problematic for some guests, and I don't want complaints afterwards. 

Of course, I could always accept and sort this all out later. but that doesn't feel right, either. 

What is one supposed to do when people  don't respond to Airbnb messaging ?

[Michelle53]

I decided to contact CS and see if they could get a response out of the guest. They called and left a voice mail, and sent an email to have the guest check Airbnb messaging.  Half an hour on the phone. 

CS was very nice and helpful, but, of course, reminded me that "declining has consequences". 

[Ian-And-Anne-Marie0]

@Michelle53 

"declining has consequences"

Don't decline then. Instead, this is what I do... Accept and list all the conditions in which you will only accept. Use Airbnb messaging. This goes to guest email, text and App if your guest is using it.

In your situation listing those conditions might be more difficult as you rely on pre-acceptance conversation. You might give it a try?

After you have accepted under those conditions, allow your calendar to remain open. Within 48hrs if your guest does not accept, then the offer lapses.

[Pat88]

I would say over 50% of my guests are new and or have no reviews.. One guest had five five star reviews and absolutely trashed my house..I had to have the bedroom doors re-hung because her kids ran wild. It was New Years eve, they destroyed all my holiday decorations.. Sometimes I think the guests have "fake reviews" but I don't know how they would get them??

[Emilia42]

@Michelle53

My observation, in this day and age, is that we (as people) are tied to our technology devices and we receive the information instantaneously but we don't actually communicate. For instance, if I was to text my 27-year-old sister while she is at the grocery store and say "Please get me some bread for dinner." I will not receive any response. She will turn up with bread an hour later but I get no reassurance that she has actually received the message or that she will or will not bring home the bread. I find myself operating this way as well. It took me 4 days to respond to simple questions e-mailed to me by a private tour company that I booked for my vacation, even though I saw the e-mail sitting in my inbox multiple times a day.

I have three sperate listings now and that gives me the advantage of moving guests around to different places. When I message a guest via Airbnb and tell them I want to offer them a free upgrade (many times weeks before their arrival,) I always get a response within the hour.  So it goes to show that people are instantly reading the message and will respond when it is a direct benefit to them. If not, it's on their own time, unfortunately.

[Michelle53]

@Emilia42  That is an interesting thought - maybe I ought to try and put something more attention-grabbing in the first line.  "Prevent denial of your request by responding to this message within the next 30 minutes".  "you have 60 minutes before this message self destructs".  Something like that.

I'm only half-joking.

[Sarah977]

@Michelle53 No joke, I do think it would be helpful to state something re consequences to the guest if they don't respond in a timely fashion. Since we have only 24 hours to accept or decline a request, I might say something like "I will need a response to this message by XX o'clock (time zone mentioned as well) or I will,unfortunately, have to decline your booking. Thanks for your prompt attention." If it's a matter of trying to ascertain their arrival time-" Hi XX, please respond to my request for your ETA ASAP, so all will be ready on your arrival and to ensure that you will be able to access the unit."

I've had to ask Airbnb to contact non-responding guests before, but thankfully, most of my guests have been good communicators. 

[Michelle53]

@Sarah977  It's a good idea !   I am going to do that.Thanks !

[Helen350]

@Michelle53 I think it's just the new breed of newbie not knowing the history of Airbnb & how it started as a mutual respect, good 'fit', co-operation between two parties thing.... I'm sure many newbies see it as like other booking services & don't understand that mutual exchange of info is an integral part of the process.

I've recently discussed a guest who arrived, saying "I got your messages, but couldn't be bothered to reply, cos I couldn't be bothered to log in" - or words to that effect, seeming annoyed that he even received my messages & that airbnb were annoying him with allowing my messages to disturb him - On the thread 'Mediocre guest - What would you do?'

[Michelle53]

@Helen350  It certainly seems to be worse of late.  I've always had a few poor communicators, that I would never know if or when they were going to show up.   But it seems like it's almost every other one now.   Just lackadaisical - no reviews, no profile, and no response to messages.  I'll go read your post. 

[Michelle53]

@Helen350  Just read your post over there. My guest is opposite end of the spectrum. Young. Tech savvy enough - but probably distracted, and unfamiliar with putting a full response together. Response to my having sent two messages, then having Airbnb track him down by phone and email was "thanks for reaching out".   After which, I asked him a list of questions which elicited two-word answers, and "you got it!" after I confirmed the booking. 

Sigh....mine's a whole week. I hope he actually read the listing properly. I told him to look out for a message with entry instructions. 

[Michelle53]

Just to update everyone, I had yet another instance of this, where I had to call CS to track down the guest. 

Guest joined in 2016. Zero reviews, no profile. 

First, he sent me an Inquiry, on Sunday afternoon, but by the time I got the notification, and sent a response back, he had turned it into a Request to Book. 

I had several of the usual questions for him, but never got any response to Airbnb messaging. 

Yesterday morning, Monday, I contacted CS to give him a call. 

He responded in Airbnb messaging right away, answered all my questions, and seemed like to good fit, so I accepted. 

It was interesting, though, that he thought that once he sent the Request to Book, he was all set, and didn't have to think about it any more.  He also turned notifications on for the app, after our chat. 

I wonder how many other people are confused first-timers that don't know the difference between "Instant Book" and "Request to Book" ?

[Emilia42]

@Michelle53 I would gather a ton. A lot of new hosts don't even know these terms.

This is the screen that a guest sees when they "Request to book." The only difference with an instant book listing is that the button says "Confirm." So there really is no indication that a guest needs wait for a host's messages. I remember the first time I was a guest and I thought I had booked a place. Only to find out that 24 hours later I got an automatic e-mail that says the host didn't respond/declined and I was back to square one. I was really confused and started my search over again. 

[Michelle53]

@Emilia42  I've always thought there should be a "Guest Primer"   which takes a newbie through a couple of basics.     It wouldn't need to be so detailed as to (Heaven forbid) delay the guest getting to the book-and-pay part. 

Just common sense - 

Before booking a "Request to Book" :-

1. Complete your profile

2. Tell the Host something about your trip
3. Turn notifcations on, and respond to your host within 24 hours if they contact you

Would this be so difficult ?   (Rhetorical)

[Emilia42]

@Michelle53 

All I truly want is a statement from Airbnb about why it is so difficult for them to incorporate something like that. There has to be some great reason . . .