Reservations

[Jacqueline104]

Hello all!

I'm new to hosting and trying to rent my place for this New Years weekend.  I received a request which I pre-approved and still waiting for them to accept, its only been 1 hour though.  However I received another request, I've advised I just approved a request but if they do not accept I'd reach back out to them.  I know through airbnb its 24 hours but Saturday is close and I do not want to miss out on renters, I also do not want to pull my pre-approval and receive a bad rating.  Any feedback on an ample amount of time to give??

thanks so much for the help!

[Linda108]

@Jacqueline104  This business can be frustrating when you have to allow a traveler time to make the decision as the date is blocked for 24 hours no matter what you do.  Last minute is always more difficult.  You could message the current requester that you are looking forward to their response asap because of other traveler interest.

[Ellen33]

Correct me if i am wrong. 

Can't you send a message to the pre-approved guest telling them that you have other travellers interested and that you will give them 2 hours to get back to you to finalize. 

The others you could send a message to explain and tell them that they might still get the room if others dont respond in 1 or 2 hours. 

You could also decline the pre-approval of the first guests and let the second one book. Because we had it a couple of times that even after pre-approval people just didnt book and waited 24 hours for pre-approval to go off. So basically no income for you

[Jacqueline104]

Hi Linda -

Yes I sent a follow-up just wasn't sure if it was bad to not give them the full 24 hours but exactly I do not want to miss out renting!

thanks much, big help!!

[David126]

I assume that most people looking to book at short notice and requesting a pre approval have contacted many hosts, how many, who knows.

Never kept track of the conversion rate,  certainly less than half. ABB does give you the option to take your listing down for that period, not something I would suggest you do if it is short notice, nobody else will see your availability.

[Linda108]

Thanks @David126  Didn't know you could pre-approve multiple travelers.  Never had it come up for me.

[Jacqueline104]

Yes it was becoming a challenge today with the date being blocked, then not etc!  this forum has helped and good to know multipl pre-approvals can be sent before finalizing reservations.

[David126]

Approve both, first to book gets it.

[Jacqueline104]

thanks David!!

[Gerry-And-Rashid0]

@Jacqueline104 The lesson here is pre-approve everyone who enquires about overlapping dates. I can gurantee you that if you go down the route of only pre-approing one request, the you will be left with peopl who have change their mind about their travel plans, etc...

First come, first served is the motto you should live by - but do let other potential guests know that you have other enquiries for those dates as well.

[Jacqueline104]

great thank you!  that was approach I took, nice to get confirmation!

[Dede0]

@Jacqueline104 You can pre-approve as many requestors as come in. After that, the first one to "accept" wins the listing. Don't hold yourself hostage to the first person to request pre-approval! (If requestors are really serious, they wouldn't request pre-approval in the first place, but would request to Book instead.)