Need for clarification by Airbnb regarding Response Rate

[Kathleen616]

I am a new host and very much enjoying the experience. I have maintained a 5.0 star, with zero cancellations, and a 100% response rate (in under one hour). I had just gotten a Diamond with the sweet Tag, "This place is a Rare Find".... when I received two reservation requests simultaneously. Neither had verified government ID, which I require. I immediately contacted both and followed up as well, but heard nothing from either. I did not want to decline the reservations, I wanted to give them every opportunity to book. Being new to Airbnb, and having sufficiently responded to BOTH of them multiple times, I thought I had covered my bases.

Now my response rate has gone from 100% to 93%;  I have had a blocked booking date; and have had ONE reservation in an entire week; and my listing is barely findable in the search. This is devastating to a new venture that I have pointedly cared for. My first three weeks filled at 83%, with a fairly high number of bookings over the next couple of months. I was booking almost daily. 

This hurt my business significantly. Is there some way to obtain a new-host, one-time grace from Airbnb when my record of service to my guests has been 5-star with d100% response rate... and I actually did respond?

Thank you.... 🙂

[Anonymous]

@Kathleen616   To keep a 100% Response Rate, it's not enough to just write a message - you have to either Accept or Decline a Reservation Request within 24 hours.  

Inquiries are different - you don't have to pre-approve or decline them; just writing a message is enough.

Not sure if you're aware of this, but when a new listing goes live it has a temporary, artificially high boost in the search results for the first few weeks. You've probably just phased out of that time period, so your current results are going to be more reflective of the norm for your market and time of year.