Decline inquiries

[Anne975]

My listing with Air was extremely successful for awhile, now months later, not even ONE inquiry.

Looking over my Inbox, however, there were 6 inquiries that were Not Possible-------5 of which were

not my fault:   It must have affected my inquiries, I am sure.    I responded immediately by email personally but never Pressed the DECLINE button,  My remiss, I thought the email response was adequate. These inquiries were questions which

my listing does not allow.   Is there someway I can be forgiven as it appears I was neglectful, but I

was not, these people Did Not read the conditions.    Please open my inquiries and confirm that they

were inappropriate and they have affected my listing placement.   I had 19  5 star review in just a few month,

Super Host and now nothing

 had 2 infants        My Listing does not allow infants because of Stairs

Elliot     had a 30 pound dog.    My listing states No Pets

Marianne:   I could not accept because her departure date (which was blocked) coincides with a

     midnight check in-----there would be not enough hours to clean and prepare

Millie said she would confirm in a few days, she never did,   she forgot.

Andrea wrote in Portuguese, the subway is 4 blocks away, too far for her.

Maya, was absolutely my fault, it was for New Year, her inquiry months ago, and I had decided to entertain

    in the apt before that but did not block the calendar.

Can you please tell me how to rectify this situation?

Thank you,

Anne Elizabeth

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Anne975Inquiries do not affect your search placement, only declined requests do. Bookings and prices dropped this year, it's global. When your listing is new then you are on the top of the search for a month but after that, you are in a pile with all others.

[Anne975]

Thank you, impressive that you take your precious time to respond.   At least I have a better understanding now,  back to the bottom of the pile, I think it is rock bottom now.  So, it was

actually better that I respond to inquiries rather than Decline them?  Are you stating that if

I cannot accept the booking for reasons inappropriate to my apartment, I Should respond

by email and Not formally decline???   Thank you again,  Anne Elizabeth

[Sarah977]

@Anne975  Yes, do not click Decline on Inquiries, just message the guest back within 24 hours explaining why your place isn't suitable for them and wishing them luck in finding a place which meets their needs.

You haven't done anything wrong.

When you see an Inquiry which says NOT POSSIBLE, that has nothing to do with whether you declined the Inquiry or not, or anything to do with the message you sent the guest. It means the Inquiry has expired as it normally does 24 hours after it is made, or the guest has withdrawn the inquiry on their end.

So the lack of Inquiries, as @Branka-and-Silvia0 say, has to do with something else.

[Yadira22]

Hi @Anne975 @this is a global issue- in parts I think it’s due to over saturation of the market (at least this is the case in London).

Something I notice which pushes the listing position and increases views- increase chance of conversion- is updating listing in particular booking settings. I suggest spend 10 mins updating these every other day or so. Even it’s just proofreading your rules, or whatever.

thank you and good luck to you! 🙂

[Anne975]

Yadira, Sarah, Branka and Silvia:   Indeed the world is undergoing monumental challenges, London for sure is in a very precarious situation.   Buenos Aires, has incredible political, corruption upheavels and inflation which now is around 50%.    For travelers with access to US dollars, it is so inexpensive here at this point, over 60 pesos to one dollar, the city should be full of tourists, it is not.   Your comments have been invaluable for me, most appreciated.

[Anna33]

I have been told by Airbnb that I do have to 'decline' enquiries, otherwise they remain forever at the top of my inbox. I find this utterly pointless, annoying (when do we make the decision that an enquirer is not going to book?) AND it does seem to affect my acceptance  % .

[Sarah977]

@Anna33  Whoever you talked to at Airbnb gave you incorrect information, which isn't unusual. You do not have to pre-approve or decline an Inquiry. Just message back. I've done this many times. I never decline an Inquiry. It has never affected my acceptance rate to just message back within 24 hours, but declining will.

The Inquiry will expire in 24 hours and the pesky proddings to pre-approve will disappear if you clear your cache. If you want, you can archive them out of your inbox.

[Anna33]

Thanks, Sarah977,

I do always message back, but the enquiry remains at the top of my page, even if there is no further conversation, until I actually 'decline' it. Then I also have to explain to the guest why I am declining!! 

[Sarah977]

@Anna33 I don't understand why you are bothered about it remaining at the top of your page? Just ignore it. If you want to believe you have to decline, that's up to you.

[Sandra856]

@Anna33 When you have answered the inquiry and are ready to get rid of it, you can unfold the inquiry by pressing on it - it will then have a link saying  “you have answered the inquiry or something like that and that you can remove the inquiry from the dashboard pressing the link. Try that 🙂 Don't ever decline an inquiry as it will most likely have an impact on the algoritm and it is not nessecary to keep a 100 % response rate. 

[Anna33]

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@Sandra856 wrote:

@Anna33 When you have answered the inquiry and are ready to get rid of it, you can unfold the inquiry by pressing on it - it will then have a link saying  “you have answered the inquiry or something like that and that you can remove the inquiry from the dashboard pressing the link. Try that 🙂 Don't ever decline an inquiry as it will most likely have an impact on the algoritm and it is not nessecary to keep a 100 % response rate. 

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Wow from me too! I will look for that link next time.
I have been declining enquiries (after responding and waiting to see if a booking ensues) to stop them piling up at the top of my inbox, but it does seem to have impacted on my acceptance %.

[Shaun270]

Wow. So I don’t have to actually decline/accept? These message reminders from AirBnb seem to suggest that I have to make a choice within 24hrs. Interesting. 

[Sarah977]

@Shaun270  The choices for an Inquiry are not Decline/Accept- those are the choices for a Booking Request. The choices for an Inquiry are Pre-approve/Decline. What they don't tell you is that simply messaging back fulfills your response obligation. Just ignore those annoying messages from Airbnb to pre-approve.

If it's a Booking Request, you do have to either Accept or Decline within 24 hours unless you can convince the guest to withdraw their request.

[Shaun270]

My apologies @Sarah977  Thats the option terminology that I meant.