Pre approvals and Decllines

[Richard146]

If you do not pre approve or decline in 24 hours does it go against your hosting status?  Yesterday I had an inquiry from China.  I think the guy was really confused because he said he wanted to stay in my place and wanted to know how far it was from the Vail resort area.  I'm in Indiana.  I sent back a message telling him we were about 1200 miles from Vail.  He didn't respon in about 6 hours so I assumed he had been looking in the wrong city so I declined his request.  Is this the right thing to do?  

[Cynthia-and-Chris1]

If you receive an INQUIRY, all you have to do is respond to it within 24 hours.  You don't HAVE to pre-approve or decline, just merely respond.  If you feel strongly about not renting to the person, go ahead and decline. 

If you receive a booking REQUEST, you need to either Accept or Decline within 24 hours.

[Richard146]

Ok, I didn't realize there was a difference between requests and inquirys but now that I think about it, it makes sense.  If a person can't instant book it comes as a request when they try to book.  If they don't try to book but send me a message it is just an inquiry.  

[Clare0]

Yes @Richard146, and to complicate things, sometimes a guest will send a Reservation Request when all they wanted to do is ask a question and should have sent an Inquiry instead.  It's very important that the host understand this and after answering the question be sure to either (a) Accept, (b) Decline or (c) tell the guest to cancel their request.  

I've run into this situation several times so I have to be careful to take the appropriate action with Reservation Requests. 

[Helen3]

Yes if the inquiry isn't suitable  or you are messaging with a guest and they don't confirm with 24 hours you need to decline.

[Clare0]

@Richard146 I would recommend that you do some research on the difference between Inquiries and Reservation Requests.  Here's the difference in a nut-shell: 

Inquiries: When you get an Inquiry, the minimum you have to do is simply respond to the guest's questions within 24 hours and you have satisfied the response requirement.  Airbnb would like hosts to send a Pre-Approval or a Special offer as well, but that is optional.  You can also decline Inquiries with no adverse affect to your stats. 

Reservation Requests:  These are made (usually) by guests who are ready, willing and able to book.  Since Airbnb places an authorisation hold on the guest's payment method (to verify that they can pay for the reservation) Airbnb has a requirement to Accept or Decline within 24 hours so the guest will know whether or not their request has been accepted, and if not, can look elsewhere and the authorisation hold is released but can take up to 7 days to process.  Declining many Reservation Requests can have a negative affect on your response rate if it appears that many guests can't book easily.  Failure to Accept or Decline within 24 hours is disasterous to your response rating and Airbnb will  block the dates on your calendar for future reservations. 

As many guests don't understand the difference, it is very important that hosts know. 

Here's more information from the Community Help Guides: 

https://community.airbnb.com/t5/Hosts/Reservation-Inquiry-or-Request-What-s-the-Difference-A-Communi...

I hope this answers your questions.  🙂

[Richard146]

@Clare0What usually constitutes a "special offer"?

[Clare0]

@Richard146 A Special Offer is a tool whereby you can send the guest a discounted rate for their stay and hopefully the guest will then book with you.  

Since guests can send Inquiries to many hosts at the same time, many saavy guests then sit back and see who wants their business by either sending a Special Offer or Pre-Approval.  These can only be sent as a reply to Inquiries, not Reservation Requests. 

For instance, if I see 10 listings in Paris that appeal to me, I can send them all Inquiries.  I then wait to see what kind of response I get from the hosts and if one is willing to discount their price, I'd probably book with them. 

Here's more info on Special Offers: 

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/1349/what-is-a-special-offer

All the best!  Clare

[Paul4]

A "Special Offer" can also (ridiculously) be an increase as when you can "Special Offer" the traveler an up-charge to pay a pet fee or taxes (among other things)  neither of which has an optional line item in the system. Not criticising, just noting for accuracy.

[Clare0]

@Paul4 Yes, of course.  You are correct.  One can amend the cost of the reservation  to include additional services such as a pet fee.

[Leah21]

Your Dashboard will also have a "Inquiry * Sam" in red just below your response rate. 

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[Gloria101]

I got dinged for something similar.  I thought you had to approve or decline.  You must not have to.