Keeping up with your response rate

[Lizzie]

Hello everyone,

When you are busy hosting, keeping on-top of all the different tasks you have to do can often be a bit of a juggling act. One important part of hosting is responding promptly to new booking requests and enquiries from guests, who love the look of your home and are eager to hear if they can stay.

It is understandable, that your guests wants to hear from you as soon as possible so they can plan their visit, however as a busy host there are often many reasons why it isn’t always that easy.

What are you tips for keeping your Response Rate high? Do you dedicate a certain amount of time each day to reply to messages or do you have handcrafted templates to speed up your reply process?

We look forward to hearing your tips!

Thanks,
Lizzie

[Rene-and-Zac0]

Or maybe a QR code as your profile pic HA! LOL

[Rebecca181]

@Lizzie Good question. I prioritize anything 'Airbnb' because this is our main source of income so I spend as much time on my 'business' as needed. First I block off time in the morning, grab a second cup of coffee after feeding the dogs and check for messages and respond to people. I then check for message / inquiries / bookings every couple of hours or so as I go about my day. I take a break at the barn when I am with my horses because I don't get a signal there (and the break is sorely needed - Most days I am doing all the cleaning and maintenance of our Airbnb). I check messages again after dinner, and then before I go to bed. I am a night owl, and I have responded at 1 or 2 in the morning to people writing me at that time (usually they are in a different time zone!) It does help a LOT that I am getting text messages again when I get messages from prospective guests or booked guests - I lost that feature for awhile and it was a challenge to not have this impediment affect my response rate. Hope we hosts don't lose the text feature again for it for sure would slow some of us down.

[Fred13]

I notice you are not alloting much time to come here and give us the benefit of your good company (raises eyebrows).

[Randy-and-Barbara0]

I’m confused by response rates. I answer every single inquiry and instant book I receive, yet on some of my listings, my response rate shows 97%. Not a big deal, unless you want to qualify for one of these new “groups” that Airbnb is launching. 

I understood that that there was a 24 hour window in which to respond and most times I respond within an hour. 

Anybody know what the criteria is?

[Sarah977]

@Lizzie    I had a 100% response rate until the day airbnb stopped sending me text notifications, so I missed one inquiry (I responded in 25 hours instead of the 24) I notified airbnb right away about the text message glitch, which was not my fault, yet I still lost my 100% response rate.

I then started checking my airbnb account daily so I didn't miss anything. This is not easy from my end-I live where I have to use cell signal for internet, it is a metered connection and expensive, therefore I can't just leave it on all the time.

Text notifications started back up again two months after the glitch after numerous back and forth with Support. But there is still an unexplainable glitch in the system- guests who are in my time zone or an hour off, will message me at say 9PM, but the text notification doesn't come through until 3 in the morning. As I am not going to get up to answer at 3AM (and the guest will also be asleep) I do not, in fact, have 24 hours to respond, more like 12 hours from the time the guest sent the inquiry or booking request.

So hosts' response times are also dependent on the airbnb system working properly, which it doesn't.

[Keila0]

I also use IB but always keep an eye on the app. Lately, my Airbnb app has been failing on notifications. Hope it's fixed soon or during the updates made for the latest announcements.

[Alexandra316]

@Lizzie I have the app on my phone that notifies me when I have a new message, and I try and reply as quicky as I can. I also check my messages once a day to make sure I haven't missed anything. I just incorporate it into my routine: I wake up, feed the dogs, and check Airbnb calendar and messaging. I personally don't use any of the automated messaging options, because I feel like it's too generic; I want to specifically address any of the comments or issues that the guest has mentioned in their inquiry/booking.

I really don't like it when I message a company and you get an instant message back that says something along the lines of: "Your message is very imporant to us. One of our representatives will get back to you sometime between 24 hours and the next ice age. We highly value your business (ha!), now go away until we find the time in our busy schedules to get back to you." So I try not to do something similar to my guests: I like to keep it personal. I've also found that responding quickly helps get more bookings, because it doesn't give guests an opportunity to start talking to other hosts.

[Fred13]

^^^ " ...now go away until we find the time in our busy schedules to get back to you."

Haha. You know that is exactly what they really want to say.

[Antonella243]

I don't want to be rated badly and I've had a guest request via SMS but when I logged into my app the message isn't there. How do I respond to say, I am unavailable at this time?

I tried to respond to the SMS and checked the Help pages but can't seem to find the answer. Does anyone know?

[Peter743]

Other hosts are sure to mention this: I had a great deal of trouble staying on top of inquiries until Airbnb introduced instant booking.  I was careful to list the requirements for booking and have the house rules clear and complete.  I also include as much information about my place as possible to avoid unnecessary questions. 9 out of 10 inquiries consist of a question that is answered in my listing.  I try to bite my tongue and reply cheerfully to the questions. Then I look back and double check if the information I put in my listing is as clear and complete as possible. I also saved a few variations on a reply to an instant booking guest.  Now, most of my interactions with guests consists of notification of instant booking followed by a saved reply, followed by a more personal reply when I have time. This means a few minutes once each day and an hour or so at most once a week updating my calendar and writing longer replies to guests. Now my response rate is always 100% within an hour or a few hours. 

[Tammy-L-0]

I am a Virtual Assistant and co-host with many AirBnb hosts to make this process seamless and efficient.  By adding a co-host/Virtual Assistant you save yourself a lot of time as your VA can accept the reservation, send the necessary messages, arrange housekeeping (and maintenance if needed) and even organize concierge services based on your guest's needs. 

My business is DaisyBnB Virtual Admin and Cleaning Services.  If you are interested, please message me at daisybnbservices@gmail.com.  

Thank you!