Does rejecting requests result in your listing appearing lower in searches?

[Chris156]

Dear fellow hosts,

As I have been forced to reject the last few requests due to reasons mentioned below, I was wondering if someone can tell me whether doing so means that my listing appears further down in searches?

The first request was either a hacked Airbnb account or spam, it was a person offering services to Airbnb hosts and after I rejected the request, the account was blocked by Airbnb shortly after.

The second request was from a couple with a 1yr old baby. I state on my listing that my room is not suitable for children.

The third request was from a couple who wanted to come for 5 nights in total but split into 2 bookings of Dec 1st-5th and then Dec 9th which they couldn't even request correctly as I only accept bookings for a minimum of 3 nights.

I requested to the guests for them to cancel the booking request themselves but they failed to do so so I had to cancel myself to prevent any issues with the 24 hour response. 

Does anyone know if this has an effect or does anyone have any advice in such situations?

Thank you!

[Robin4]

@Chris156.....Hi Chris, you have probably not got off on the right foot!

The short answer is yes, Airbnb will penalise you by either suspending your account or 'burying' your listing if you decline too many guest enquiries or booking requests! But the reasons you gave are legitimate reasons which should not have involved any penalty as long as you made it clear why you were declining!

The host cancellation though....gee Chris, that's another matter!! Under no circumstance must a host cancel a guests booking!

Although it is not showing up yet, you will have an automated posting put on your reviews that says 'This host cancelled a guest booking*****days before arrival' and that will have a big impact on your enquiries. Guests tend to stay away from hosts who cancel bookings!

You will loose your Superhost status for 1 year from the date of the cancellation!

You will receive a financial penaly which will be taken from your future hostings.

You must at all times get the guest to cancel once a booking has been accepted! If you cancel yourself you will be penalised....no exceptions!

You can  phone Airbnb in Germany on +49 30 30 80 83 80 and plead your case and if you can offer a good enough reason, they may release you from the above penaties but Chris, you have done enough hosting to have achieved Superhost status, and by now you should understand the impact of the various aspects of hosting.

I hope you can sort things out Chris but call Airbnb and see what they can do!

Cheers....Rob

[Chris156]

Thank you for your answer!

I never accepted any of the requests, just to make that clear, I simply declined their requests.

It's sad though if I am punished for this.

[Robin4]

@Chris156.....Ahh, well that's different....if they were ALL only enquiries!

You said....."I requested to the guests for them to cancel the booking request themselves but they failed to do so so I had to cancel myself to prevent any issues with the 24 hour response."!!

That indicated to me that you cancelled a booking request, and Chris, that would be bad news for you!!!

Once again as @Marit-Anne0 has said if you repeatedly decline booking 'Enquiries' Airbnb will (at their discretion) suspend your listing or move you way down in the search results,! But they will warn you.....they will send you an email stating that you are declining too many enquiries and if you continue to do so they will take action against you.

So glad that wasn't a booking request Chris...that truly would have been the 'kiss of death'

Cheers.....Rob 

[Robin4]

@Chris156   Just a point of clarification there Chris, you can receive either a booking enquiry or a booking request and you are free to 'pre-approve', 'accept', or 'decline'. Once you offer a pre-approval you are not committed to a booking! You are just stating that, as of that moment, your listing is available and the ball is in the guests court! They have 24 hours to confirm a booking or the pre-approval simply drops off the system. 

You can decline the booking request but in order to do that you must check a reason for doing so from the drop down list of options before you hit decline. You also have 24 hours to respond to that request.

Lastly you can accept the booking request and at that point, both you and the guest have entered into a contract with Airbnb as the booking agent. If  (from that point on) you then proceed to cancel that confirmed booking for any reason, the penatlies I refered to in the previous post will apply.

Hope this helps Chris....good luck mate.

Cheers.....Rob

[Marit-Anne0]

I believe that certain declines will push you down in the search results. 

[David-and-Fiona0]

@Chris156  To answer your original question no one really knows if this effects your listing. It is just speculation. I have declined numerous enquiries and my position in the search rankings stays much the same. If anyone has real proof of this 

[Marit-Anne0]

@David-and-Fiona0

There has been quite a few reports on the forum from hosts who have received warnings from airbnb for having too many declines.  

[James1]

@Marit-Anne0 is, as usual, absolutely correct 🙂 I myself once received one of these warnings, that I had declined several recent inquiries (many  years ago) and warning me it would ultimately lower my search ranking or cause my listing to be temporarily "deactivated"! It was rather threatening and clearly the product of a software 'robot' and not from a human being.

I have since followed a different strategy when I get "inquiries" asking for different dates, less than my minimum days, wanting me to make them a cheaper special offer, trying to sell me something, etc.

I now instantly "pre-approve" these inquiries at full price. I've had probably a dozen of these in 5 years and so far not a one ever booked. The guy trying to sell you something is not going to book. Pre-approve him!

https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/350391

[Chris156]

@James1 Great suggestion that I tried out straight away. I woke this morning to the notification that "xxx no longer needs accommodation for those dates!"

[Zacharias0]

I've wondered this myself. Why should we be penalized for declining a request from a person who clearly hasn't read the entire listing? I've declined my fair share of left field inquiries and am TIRED of having to answer their asinine questions only to have the say "Sorry, we found a place elsewhere." If you're not Instant Booking 9 times out of 10 you're not going to book.

[Mia27]

Oh man, do we also get penalized for declining a salesman.

A girl send inquiries for carpet cleaning, of course I declined her to get it out of the que.

I have several inquiries seating after my answers nobody has done anything.

I keep getting the "It's the last day to send offer, send booking, etc" Hate it.

Do I just leave them there idle so I don't get penalized?

[Marit-Anne0]

@Mia27

Never, ever leave them idle - then your response rate will take a hit.  Spammers you can preapprove and then the request will simply expire.  Then make sure to report the message as spam and report the listing too.

Guests with questions you can preapprove and if they do not book, the request will expire and no harm done. If you do not want their booking you must quickly remove the pre-approval.

[Mia27]

Thanks Marit,

I'm still trying to understand how to get rid of the emails on the que.

I usually answer right away when I get a request.

After than the request stays in yellow as inquiry.

Should I just pre-approve, decline or send offer?

[Mia27]

Also, what do you do with the ones who say too much for all of us, etc, thank you but no, after you answered?

Can you decline them, or do you still have to pre approve?