Response rate decreased from 100% to 99%

[Kwesi0]

So I called AirBnB today after I noticed that my response rate had decreased from 100% to 99%; 99% shows on my Performance stats but still 100% on the listing page. I asked AirBnB to look into whether this was a data error and if not, to identify the particular guest inquiry which resulted in a delayed response. From my side that number is exactly zero. Below is the exchange that followed after AirBnB was done with their two minute research:

AirBnB: “

Hi Anthony, I was checking the information in the account and as I can see here the slight reduction in your response rate was because of the conversation with Andy, additional I would like to share with you the following link that explains how the response rate works in Airbnb:

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/430”

Me: “I responded to Andy's initial message... within 1 hour. His next message, within a minute of my response, was an acknowledgement (Andy: "Thanks so much") that he had received my response. Per AirBnB policy on response rates, I had no obligation to respond to Andy's response to my response! That would be stupid and would lead to a never ending conversation. Please research further and call me to discuss as you indicated you would.”

As I’m sure you all know, AirBnB’s policy on response rate only requires that the host responds to the initial inquiry or message from the guest within 24 hrs.  Responses to subsequent messages do not count for the purpose of calculating the response rate. But quite frankly even if they did, who really wants a response to “thank you” such as “thank you for the ‘thank you’” or “you’re welcome for the “you’re welcome’”.  I believe AirBnB has actually created a policy to avoid this needless back and forth (or the host feeling compelled to have the last word to the annoyance of the guest) but the their staff are ill trained to interpret this policy and can’t admit that they may have a data issue brewing in the background. I would love to hear your thoughts and experience.

[Pat271]

Sometime in the last few days, my response rate changed to 99% as well.  I think your Airbnb agent is just grasping at something with which to rationalize this anomaly, when in fact it is a software defect that needs to be brought to the development team.  If I were you, I would call again and try to get an agent that will at least open this as a defect for the development team to look at. If enough people complain, maybe they will fix this.

[Sarah977]

  It's a known glitch. Several hosts have reported this here in the last week and there are several threads on it already (always a good idea to peruse a page or so of topic posts or do a search here before posting to see if there is already a thread running on it). 

As Pat said, the CS rep was just cluelessly blithering- you only have to message back to an inquiry once within the 24 hour window for it not to affect your response rate, and either accept or decline a request within 24 hours.

@Kwesi0

@Kwesi0

[Lizzie]

Hello @Kwesi0 and @Pat271,

Sorry to hear you are experiencing this with your Response Rate. As @Sarah977 mentions, there is currently an issue with this, which is being worked on. I've just shared an update here and will continue to follow up on this with the Product Team. 

Thanks for sharing and speak to you soon.

Lizzie

[Cassie178]

I have a situation where I was never prompt through message, email, or phone prompting on a reservation request. I found it in reservations but not in messaging. When I tried to get into it there was no message, it just says something went wrong. I couldn’t accept or decline this guest or message him. Airbnb agreed it was a glitch with the computer but my response rate is now 99% in hosting but 90% on my listing page. Prior to this it was 100%. I am a super host with 51 five star rating in 8 months on Airbnb. They said there was nothing they could do.

[Joana450]

100% agree.

im a new host and was helping a family who had turbes up at another AirBnB property only to find it extremely dirty. They weee dealing with the issue, hoping to get into my property post AirBnB confirmation of the refund.

My property required 24 hour advance booking g but they were in a pickle and I rushed to get it perfect to welcome them sooner.

I was communicating with the wife, who included her husband on the chat channel.

i then received a seperate message from the husband, simply acknowledging that I was already in touch with his wife on the other channel and expressing how thankful they were and that I was looking to help them out.

because I didn’t respond to this seperate message- I was penalised.

i called the help centre- no luck.