Recently I have had several inquiries about the rooms I have posted on Airbnb, but none has resulted in more than the initial inquiry. So when I keep getting reminders, several per inquiry, that I can accept or decline a person, I am perplexed. I tried "accepting" some of them, knowing that they had no interest, just so that my response rate would not be affected.
How does this work? Why would I have to accept or decline if the person only had a question or showed a slight interest, or as the last one, in which I had to tell the young lady that my location was quite far from her work, and unless she still wanted to be in the "hip" part of city, it would not be convenient for her, and that the room was available. Got no answer which I did not expect, but the airbnb system keeps on reminding me to accept her... I see no point and it is 1) misleading 2) an irritant or bother to the guest who was just asking.
So please, if I do nothing than my response rate goes down? How do I handle this, I do not want to decline as looks bad, and if I accept it is being pushy, they have no interest, had just made an inquiry.
I also had an issue that I believe was handled incorrectly. A young man asked me a question a full day before, I answered and then made the error of accepting him ( I think), just so it does not affect my response rate. He did nothing, until later the next day, he just suddenly reserved. Wel,l unfortunately a guest I had staying here had an issue and begged to stay on. I was not going to boot a guest with an issue who is already lodged here, and since I am not a hotel, I could not offer an option to the young man who had just booked. So I then cancelled within 2-3 hours of the reservation having been made, and after trying to notify him! I had looked up what to do on airbnb and that was what the site indicated, I was to advise the person. I did, and that is what caused more of a delay.
And yes, the reservation was cancelled 2 days ahead of time but I notified the other party as soon as issue occurred, within a few hours of him having made the booking.
I believe that if an annotation that I canceled a reservation is made, it should include in that the verbiage that I cancelled it almost immediately, as soon as my current guest notified me and I had access to my computer!
I apologize for the lengthiness, I just find some things that I have run into that really do not go well with the AIRBNB "culture or idea. Most of us hosts are not hotels, do not have extra rooms to provide, are hosting, in a friendly manner, not all business as usual like a Hotel chain. And guests do run into issues, especially in Mexico, where visas and documentation is rarely, almost never, ready when it was promised.
So where does one draw the line? Am I a business that has other room options and have no problem with a guests change of plans or booting the guest, as there will be plenty more or is my first duty to the person who is already here and going thru an issue in their life, as happens to ALL of us, STUFF HAPPENS!
And lastly, I have noticed a very sudden drop in guests, and in more listings being available. Airbnb does not seem to want to disclose if the drop is due to the Zika Virus misinformation ( all Latin America, as of the US/ Mexico border) that is being propagated by the media, or is it something I am missing? I had inquiries and guests last year, don't think this is normal for this time of the year, I am very surprised.
Reason I need an answer is that I may have to rent out to long term local renters as Airbnb is just not bringing in guests.
Thanks for any answers you may be able to provide. Up to now, whenever I wrote Airbnb I get a vague answer and the issues are skirted.
Sincerely,
Nancy Collawn
