Reason for reservation request vs instant book?

[Chris1699]

Is there a way to see WHY a booking comes in as a request vs just being instantly booked? We have instant book enabled and almost all of our bookings are just confirmed straight away, but occasionally we get a request. I would like to know why the guest couldn't instantly book it? For instance, if it's due to our setting of not being safe for kids under 2, I want to talk to the guest first about the fireplace and potential dangers, etc. If it's because the guest doesn't meet a requirement, I want to balance the risk out against the nightly rate and see if it's worth it. If it's because it's a close-in booking (given my settings), or blocked off dates, I want to know that that is the only reason and not a problem with the guest's profile, etc.

This seems basic, am I missing something? Is there no way for us to know why the guests weren't instantly booked?

Thanks in advance,

Chris

[Ana1136]

@Chris1699 you set up the rules as to what you need for a guest to instant book. 

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/484/how-can-i-control-which-reservations-i-get-with-instant-book

There is more info on the link above. 

[Chris1699]

Yes, I understand that, I'm trying to figure out which rule/setting has triggered the request vs instant book so that I can discuss it with the potential guest.

[Ana1136]

@Chris1699 go with the process of elimination, see what you have selected and whether the guest has that requirement, it is a small list of possibilities 🙂 

[Chris1699]

It isn't possible. Airbnb doesn't give enough information for a host to be able to easily deduce the reason. If I knew child guest ages, I could maybe get there, but that would still be a pain to have to look through everything for each request.

[Mark116]

@Chris1699  Is the idea that they just had a question they wanted to ask too simplistic of an answer, LOL.  Or, perhaps they too wanted to get a sense of the host and so they chose not to use IB.

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Mark116 

no, if you have IB enabled and I meet your booking criteria then I can either send you an inquiry via "contact host" link to get an answer for my questions or I can instantly book. I can't send you a booking request .

[Sarah977]

@Chris1699  I  have the same take as @Mark116. Although it's of course possible that they didn't meet all your IB criteria, just because you offer IB doesn't mean all guests are interested in using that option, in spite of Airbnb's idea and assertion that all guests just want to be able to IB.  Personally, I would never IB a place. I'd want to get some sense of the host before booking. And I've had guests, particularly single women, who have told me they would never just IB a place.

[Chris1699]

I guess I could see that, in my case though, the messages from the last 2 of these have simply been:  "Hey Chris. Looking forward to spending time at your condo. Looks beautiful" and "Thank You." No questions, no vetting me, etc. Also, my property is a Ski/Mountain Rental Condo, I'm not actually involved at all with the guests, not on location.

I've been able to deduce that it was a lack of gov ID holding this one up, but I wish Airbnb would just tell us the reason so I don't have to go digging around to see exactly what the property settings are, ask the guest for addl info, etc. What is the harm in telling us why it went to pending vs booked? Anyway, thanks for the thoughts, everyone.

[Emilia42]

@Sarah977, @Mark116, @Chris1699 

If you have instant book enabled, there is no way for a guest to request to book unless they are given that option because they do not meet your requirements. If all requirements are met and the guest simply wants to send a message to the host to get a feel for them, they have to send an inquiry. 

[Sarah977]

@Emilia42 Thanks for that info- I didn't realize they had to send a message as an Inquiry.

[Rowena29]

Hi @Chris1699 

I completely understand and agree with you! I've only had a few like this. ( the first three were because there was a glitch in airbnb and my IB had been turned off - took me a while to realise!)

The last time it happened I just rang CS and asked WHY the guest had not been able to IB. The guests was an overseas superhost with heaps and heaps of  guest reviews so I was perplexed. Turns out she herself had not gone through providing the government ID verification process. Go figure!

Anyway, if you really want to know and it's not immediately obvious from the guest profile you can always ring Cs - they answered me pretty promptly, They tend to be pretty good at very straightforward things like that.  Irritating though...

[Chris1699]

Cool, good to know they'll help. Thx!

[Emilia42]

@Chris1699, I used to have instant bookings hung up quite a bit because the guest did not have a verified government ID and it would come through as a request to book. I hated this because I then had to go chasing down the guest to upload their ID. I am not sure if this is what you are looking for in an answer . . . . . But I found a little box that I checked which requires all guests to go through a verification process so they cannot process a request/instant booking unless they are verified. This did away will all those requests to books because there was no ID.

There is no easy way to find it but search "Can I require guests to be verified before booking" in the help section then follow the steps and check the box. 

 

[Joan376]

Fantastic find! Thanks for sharing this.

It's crazy that this page can't be accessed from anywhere else.

For anyone wondering, the page is at https://www.airbnb.com/hosting/requirements

This is a host-wide setting, not per listing.

I wonder how many other hidden settings can only be found from obscure links in the help pages.