2 inquiries for overlapping dates

[Lucia152]

Help! I received two inquiries for overlapping dates. The first is for a full week - AUG 3-10 - and the second is only for 2 nights - AUG 3-5. 

I Pre-Approved the first Inquiry (for the full week) almost immediately, and the potential Guest said she would Accept/Book it tomorrow. When I Pre-Approved it, I did NOT notice an option to BLOCK the dates, or I would have!

Then, a few hours later, I received the 2nd Inquiry for the 2 nights. 

Obviously I would like to honor the first inquiry (for the entire week),  but I immediately messaged the 2nd inquirer (for the 2 nights), and said that I was sorry, I have already pre-approved an Inquiry for the entire week and THOUGHT it would BLOCK those dates, so I was sorry about any confusion, and I asked him whether he had any flexibility with dates. 

My hope it that he will WITHDRAW his Inquiry so that I don't have to DECLINE it - as I know this will penalize me - and maybe even re-Inquire about different dates.

My question: If the first inquirer (the full week) DOESN'T Accept my Pre-Approval and Book within the 24 hours, then will I have to Decline the 2nd inquirer? And if I do, will I be penalized?

What do you do in these situations? I want to do the right thing, but I also don't wish to be penalized. 

Also, how can you BLOCK dates when you receive an INQUIRY for a booking?

Many thanks,

Lucia

[Sarah977]

@Lucia152  You don't have to decline or pre-approve an Inquiry at all. Just a message back to the Inquirer within the 24 hour time slot counts as a response and you won't be penalized at all. You'll get proddings from Airbnb to pre-approve, but you can just ignore those.

The guest doesn't have to withdraw the inquiry- it will just expire in 24 hours, and you don't have to decline.

There used to be an option to block the dates, just above the Inquiry message in the Pre-approve/Decline box, but not sure if it's there anymore. Otherwise you just have to manually block th dates. But I wouldn't do that unless i felt very confident that the guests was really going to go ahead and book.

[Lucia152]

@Sarah977 I looked at the email I received from Airbnb and the first (the week-long) was a REQUEST, not an inquiry - so it's even more mysterious! I thought if you Pre-Approved a REQUEST it automatically BLOCKED the dates? And of course now she accidentally cancelled her request, so I messaged her letting her know. I don't understand why so many people send requests when they're not ready to book. It's nerve-wracking for hosts and we're the ones who get penalized.

[Ian-And-Anne-Marie0]

@Lucia152 

You might like to message the first inquirer asking whether they are interested in booking your place for 3-10 as you have a second enquirer wanting to book the same date (3-5). Their response will help you, and hopefully lead to a booking from one or the other inquiries.

[Lucia152]

@Ian-And-Anne-Marie0 yes, already did that. She accidentally cancelled her request (the first was apparently a REQUEST, not an inquiry - so it's even more mysterious why it didn't BLOCK those dates when I pre-Approved)! So I sent another message letting her know. Meanwhile, how long do I have to get back to the second without being penalized? Since I messaged him did it stop the clock?

[Ian-And-Anne-Marie0]

@Lucia152 

If it was two requests rather than 2 inquiries I think you need to approve/disapprove within 24 hours. You have done that with your first inquiry already so your second inquirer should be dealt with when the first is concluded. It doesn't help that the first cancelled... Is the first going to book? If so, (and you have confirmation on the Airbnb messaging) I would inform your second guest that its likely you will need to disapprove her enquiry.

[Lucia152]

@Ian-And-Anne-Marie0  No it was just one Request (the first, for the full week) and the second (for 2 nights) was just an Inquiry. So I messaged the second and asked if he had any flexibility on dates; he doesn't.

Since the First Lady accidentally withdrew her Request,  I sent a Special Offer for the booking amount to the first lady, and she hasn't responded yet...

If she flakes out, then I will have probably lost the other guy - AND I paid my housekeeper a bonus to do the cleaning on such short notice as well as scrambled to get my handyman out there to do a minor repair quickly.

Why oh why do people keep doing this - making requests and then flaking out?

It's bad enough that they don't READ the listing and House Rules and inquire about pets first (and I've basically given up on screening out pets because EVERYONE in the US has a darn giant dog and I'd be Declining so many Requests I'd be kicked off Airbnb) -- but I don't understand why this keeps happening - I message them, everything seems fine, they say they'll pay, and then they don't!

I'm so frustrated with Airbnb right now because they make everything so difficult for hosts...

[Alice595]

@Lucia152  You have a stunning beautiful vacation home!

When you have accepted a booking request, your calendar should have been automatically blocked. When the second inquiry came, they would not be able to book.

It depends on the reason why the first guest canceled. If it was accidentally canceled, she might re-book your house.

Inquiries I received normally only about 50% or less actually booked. Large percentage of people sending inquiries are bargain hunters. Therefore, I don't put very high hope on the inquiries.

[Lucia152]

@Alice595  Thank you for the kind words!

So this is what is so bizarre: When I got the first message, yesterday afternoon, it said "Inquiry," but then I got another message at 4:50 am that said "REQUEST" (see the screenshots attached). 

But when I Pre-Approved, it did NOT block the dates.

I'm so confused! Maybe I Pre-Approved the first Inquiry and then she sent the Request at 4:50 am, which she then accidentally withdrew (she wasn't aware that she withdrew it)... and then today, she sent another, which I then Accepted, and she still hasn't booked...

[Sarah977]

@Lucia152  I think your last paragraph above must be what happened.

As to why guests send Requests instead of Inquiries when they're not actually ready to book, I think that has more to do with Airbnb not making it clear to guests what the difference is, rather than people not paying attention. Or if they're savvy and conniving, they'd do that because they know it will block the dates so no one else can book until they make up their minds.

And the "Request to Book" is prominently displayed, whereas the "Contact Host" (it doesn't say "Send an Inquiry") is in tiny letters hidden under our listing description. I'm sure that's by design- Airbnb wants people to book, not just ask questions.

[Ramona2]

Hello @Lucia152 

Yes, as long as a guest hasn’t already booked your place. Otherwise, there are no penalties for withdrawing a pre-approval.

https://www.airbnb.ie/help/article/840/can-i-withdraw-a-preapproval-that-ive-sent-to-a-guest

If you withdraw a pre-approval you will not be penalized.

If you have two pre-approvals and one of them pay and book, the automatic system causes the second or other pre-approvals to become NOT possible, you do not must to denied, the system is automatic.

Penalties exist when you cancel an ACCEPTED reservation.

Have a wonderful summer!

Ramona

[Lucia152]

@Ramona2 I don't wish to withdraw the Pre-Approval (the potential guest did it accidentally) - but that is very useful information to have for future reference - thank you!

And thanks for the information about the Pre-Approval. I assume you're referring to a case where you have 2 REQUESTS and Pre-Approve one. 

As far as penalties, it's apparently not only Cancellations that cause penalties: if you Deny too many requests or inquiries you can be penalized as a host. Likewise, if too many of your GUESTS cancel. Or if you have a low Response Rate. This was conveyed to me by several people in Customer Service when I was inquiring about another matter: A number of people have had their "Instant Book" setting overridden by Airbnb as penalty for this (there are several threads about this in Community). It happened to me, even though I have 100% 5-star ratings, 0 Cancellations, and 100% Response Rate. I still don't know why it happened but some of the reps said it might have to do with a guest cancelling, or with not having enough bookings (even though I have more bookings this year than last), but no one has been able to tell me. Thankfully, I am now out of the IB override doghouse. 😉