1 Listing Need your attention

[Paul75]

Hello

So for about6 months now my main listing has displayed "1 Listing Need your attention".

Which I think effects the search rankings of my listing.

If I look at what I can do to improve this issue it says "What to work on"

Overall Rating:

Guests expect a consistent level of quality, no matter where they stay.  (I have a score of 4.4 target is 4.7)

Accepted Reservations:

Make guests feel welcome by accepting requests whenever you’re available. ( I have a score of 77% target is 88%)

-----------------------------

I don't have an issue with the first metric however the second metric is unfair.

For example my last guest was trying to make a booking on behalf or someone else (which is breaking AirBNB T&C's and invalidates host protection.)  I have been told this directly from AirBNB.

So of course I cancel the booking if it is someone who is trying to make a booking on behalf or someone else. Then I am getting peanolised for following AirBNB T&C's

Anyone expereinced this and what can I do?

Cheers

[Linda108 · Accepted solution]

@Paul75   You have over 70 reviews for the private room listing so your lower than target might require you to do a little investigation into what would warrant a 5 star rating.  Have you gotten private feedback or solicited feedback about what might improve the rating?  I have been doing this for over 4 years and find guest feedback to be helpful in making little guest oriented changes.

As to declining inappropriate reservation requests, it seems you have the third party booking covered better than most hosts.  If you have IB, you can cancel with no penalty, but it is best to involve Air BNB in that process.  If you are getting inquiries, not booking requests, that are not appropriate, then just respond to the inquiry without declining or accepting as it is not necessary to do so.  Hope that helps.

[Ange2]

@Paul75   

Re: the accepted reservation metric there are a few ways to deal with this:

1. If it is an inquiry do not decline just respond with a message, a message alone is an acceptable response as per Airbnb (you will notice the countdown clock stops ticking when you refresh the page).  I always do that with inquiries I never decline them.

2. If it is a reservation request which you have to accept or decline or be penalized - first send the guest a message saying you do not accept third party bookings (or whatever the reason is) and tell them if they cancel within 48 hours they will be fully refunded including Airbnb fees (double check that in case it has changed,  my policy is strict and these are the current terms).  If they cancel you do not have to decline.

I have found that both these methods help to keep acceptance rate high.

[Paul75]

Thanks guys very helpful will give all this a go 🙂

[Paul75]

So I've just had another guest leave me another bad review.  The reason for it is without doubt because he forgot to lock my back door to my house even though they are my house rules, on a label stuck to the door giving instructions how to lock the door, and I asked him to lock it when he asked to use my washing machine which is in the lean to behind the house.

When I mentioned it to him that he had left the door unlocked to his face he did not apologise or even car, to be honest, he just bumbled something about it been hard to lock.  He also failed to recycle which my local council can fine us for not doing.

The issue here is that Airbnb system lets any guest leave any review they feel fit even if it is made up.

Then my listing gets a marker put against it.

This is his review:

The house is clean, Paul is very quiet and lets you use his laundry machine. The house is located is a calm and safe area. There is a very long list of rules and Paul is very uptight about them. I suspected several times that Paul visited my bedroom (no keys to lock it). The bedroom is really small. During the evenings, Paul uses all the space in the living room shown in the pictures and leaves his stuff laying when he isn't there. House is poorly located if you want to reach Whiteknight's campus/are on foot. I can recommend for short 1/2 days stays, but not for longer ones, especially with the strict cancellation policy. I also strongly suggest to take a good look at Paul's list of rules to understand what you're getting into.

So he agreed to my rules when he signed up.

I respect guests privacy but it is my house if I need to get into the room to clean it for example I can.

The room is very small but he saw the photo.

The living room is my house as I can use it how I want.

The location of the listing is displayed very clearly if he did not like the listing why did he book it?

The reality is AirBNB is fast coming like eBay example as a seller you can't leave customers bad reviews as they will retaliate.