Feedback/experiences with booking people that JUST joined ABB

[Steve2584]

I kinda feel uncomfortable being host to someone who's just joined. Nearly all of my inquiries and bookings are for a month or longer, since I began. Does declining a lot of inquiries adversely affect my listing or penalize me? I end up declining a lot because I dont know if a room is available until I know if the current guest wishes to rebook, which I feel is fair, should they wish. I could book ten rooms if I had them, it seems. 

[Pat271]

I’m assuming you know the difference between an inquiry and a booking request.

What I do with inquiries is neither accept nor decline. Just make sure to answer the inquiry in a timely fashion, and then just leave it there.

A booking request is different, but I don’t think even those count against you when you decline.  There used to be a metric displayed for the percentage of booking requests you’ve declined, although I don’t see it currently.

What you really don’t want to do is cancel already-completed bookings.  Those will count against you in a big way if you have Instant Booking turned off.  You will be fined, lose any Superhost status, and the days you cancelled will be blocked so no one else can book.

I think it’s a bit odd to hold off on accepting future bookings for open dates, to allow for extension of current bookings. I think guests understand that free dates are open season and might be reserved by other guests

[Steve2584]

@Pat271, help me understand how/why you feel it odd to prefer to let a current guest rebook as opposed to having a new guest? I also tend to neither accept nor decline, as you said you do, and I let the inquiry know of the possibility of it not being available pending current guest decision. I am still somewhat new here and appreciate any insight that I may not be aware of, especially since it feels many of the site requirements result in a "choosing the lesser of two negative effects" and dont allow for giving the ideal customer service that I'm accustomed to providing. ALL but 2 of every guest I've ever had, has asked to rebook, multiple months in a row. This possibility is usually stated to me initially, therefore I know it may be asked. In fact, My room 1 has had the same guest in  it since It was first listed, 7 months ago. Maybe I wasnt clear in describing why I normally feel it's appropriate to let them have first chance.  Fewer people does lessen the covid risk and reduce turnover cleanings, plus there's no difference in earnings since EVERY inquiry I receive is for a month or longer and I feel that showing them that consideration results in respect and appreciation back to me. I often feel I may be unique here, being that I'm always booked for month long stays or longer. I was initially surprised by this, but now see why it occurs. 

   My main reason for the posting was to get insight/ideas/experiences from hosts regarding booking people who literally just joined ABB, and have 0 reviews and apparently have never used an ABB space. This is about 85% of my inquiries also.

[Pat271]

@Steve2584There is no right or wrong with regards to rebooking the same guest vs. opening the dates to new guests. If most of your month-to-month guests rebook, then of course it is reasonable to reserve subsequent months for them if you think they have been a good fit. Perhaps you should block subsequent months on your calendar and only make them available when you are informed a guest is checking out. That way you won’t have to deal with incoming inquiries for those months.

You said your main reason for the posting was to get insight/ideas/experiences from hosts regarding booking people who just joined ABB and have 0 reviews.  I don’t see that you ever  asked any questions about new users in your original post.

That being said, you’ll definitely get a lot of different views on that. For me, I typically ask more questions of new users in hopes of increasing the odds of a good fit, and check that proper  verifications have been submitted (ID, email, etc.) Past that, I accept guests with 0 reviews, and have found most of them to be some of the best guests I’ve ever had, so I don’t use newness to the platform as a criteria for denying a reservation.

However, for month or longer stays, I would do a lot more verification (like checking credit and references), especially these days. Because of Covid, there is a federal ban on evictions until Dec. 31, and some local states and jurisdictions have additional bans as well. Someone who stays longer than 30 days is considered a tenant, not a guest, no matter how you break up the stay. Your worst nightmare would be to get stuck with a squatter.

[Steve2584]

@Pat271... I wish there was a way to let current guests rebook without having to make the calendar show as available to everyone. 

My headline referred to new members. Sorry. 

And the squatter reference, one of many  concerns I was hoping to get insight about. 

Would AirBnB assist in any way with removing such if it happened? Law enforcement? 

[Pat271]

@Steve2584 

You’d have to contact your local jusirisdictions and law enforcement agencies to determine your current eviction bans and processes. I know that there have been hosts here that, even during normal times, have had trouble getting support from both Airbnb and the police to handle guests who overstay, even for short-term stays. However, I think Airbnb would at least talk to them.

In general, although Airbnb advertises various offerings to make you feel like you will be supported should things go wrong, I have found that it’s best to assume that Airbnb is mainly a booking site, and that you have the responsibility of handling the other aspects of running your business on your own, just as a traditional landlord would. Airbnb may help if you call them, but no guarantees there.

[Sarah977]

Yes, declining Requests lowers your Acceptance rate. And hosts get warnings from Airbnb for declining too many requests.

But as you say, no need whatsoever to waste a decline on a Inquiry, when just messaging back within 24 hours fulfills your obligations.

@Pat271

[Pat271]

@Sarah977  Declining requests lowers your Acceptance rate, but does that affect anything, like search placement, superhost status, etc.?

By the way, where is the Acceptance rate displayed currently?  I can’t seem to find it. 

[Sarah977]

Acceptance rate isn't counted for Superhost status, and as far as I'm aware, it shows up on Basic stats. I know I've read posts here from hosts saying they got threatening messages from Airbnb about declining too many requests, but what constitutes too may, I have no idea.

And what bumps up search placement, aside from using IB, is some convoluted algorithm that hosts have never been privy to.

@Pat271

[Pat271]

@Lizzie (or anyone) - Does anyone know where the acceptance rate is displayed currently?

[Emilia42]

@Pat271 

Performance --> Superhost --> Basic requirements Tab

You will see "Accepted Reservations" which is the percentage of all reservations you're accepted. 

[Pat271]

@Emilia42 Many thanks, Emilia! I completely missed that tab.