Too much pressure

[Alain37]

I had a request for a reservation for close to two months. The guest did not give any my information about himself, no photos, nothing. I responded right away asking for more information. No reply. Meanwhile I was getting pressure from Airbnb ( both in form of phone call and email) to approve or decline guest within 24 hours or that time period would be blocked from my calendar. I replied to the email saying I had responded to the guest and was waiting for info but didn't hear back. I was forced to decline out of pressure of having my calendar blocked for 2 months though I would have been open to approving had I heard back from the guest. Is this some new strong arm tactic on the part of Airbnb? I never experienced  this before. it felt almost like a threat - Big Brother is here ? Supposed you're away from your computer for 24 hrs and fail to approve or decline, you are threatened with losing all these calendar days ? Weird. 

[ZenHomes0]

@Alain37 Yes it seems the 24 hour response rate for these things can work against the host interest. It was meant for hosts to respond quickly so guests can make their decisions better, this would increase the reliability of Airbnb. However in your case, it does backfire because hosts can't make a decision within 24 hours if there's insufficient information. You did the right thing, you declined and sent your reasons why - once the guest do what is necessary, you can ask them to send another request.

I'm not sure about the dates getting blocked if you do not respond :S Is that true? Hope someone here can answer that.

[Brittany1]

Yes @ZenHomes0 if you do not accept or decline a reservation request the dates are blocked out on the calendar. Pretty extreme if you ask me. I get that they want hosts to be on top of their calendar but I guess the only way to take a technology vacation would be to have instant book on or hire someone to handle your requests.

[Heather2]

I have a management company that does just this.   It used to be that hosts could be a little more lax in how they wanted to run their business.  Now if you want a break you def need to hire a manager to oversee or lose a lot of $$$. 

[Heather2]

I agree - super heavy handed.  I have had the same thing happen to me recently while waiting for the guest to give me basic info.  It's the guests that cause the delay so much of the time.  Really frustrating.  I just went into deny mode - although that has it's consequences as well.  

[Soren0]

Alain, 

I hear you. It is insane.

Don't feel bad about declining that guest, including a note why you declined. They can always comply and rebook...

Good luck,

Soren

[Kevin-s0]

About complying, as a host we must upload a lot of information.  Don`t guests have to do the same?  I would have thought that it would be a basic requirement, for the safety of hosts, that guests would have to upload a recent photo of themselves, as well as other identification.

I`m a big guy, so don`t worry too much about guests.  However, what if you aren`t?

Some of my potential guests use a teddy bear or a cartoon character as their profile picture and Airbnb obviously is either not aware of this, or simply allows it.

[Sam147]

@Kevin-s0 exactly. How did Mr. Doe Burger get verified with a picture of his neck tattoo? And he told me he was checking in at 6. Nope. 8.  Nope. 10.  Nope. It's 11:30 and it's clear this guy is planning on throwing a super bowl party at my place with 1000 people and then complain about not being allowed access to the place for two days beforehand. 

[Maria395]

This pressure to respond is unpleasant and unfair, specially in long term rentals. I have encountered the same problem. If Airbnb knows that I'm exchanging emails with a potential guest, why keep pressuring me? It is obvious that, if the conversation is ongoing, and the host has not clicked "accept" that there are important questions and valid concerns. It is our private home, after all. I may just drop out of hosting, even though, in my short experience, the guests and I have been have been in very good terms.