Responding to an Inquiry vs Reservation Request

Margot55
Level 2
New York, NY

Responding to an Inquiry vs Reservation Request

I've been hosting for only 2 months and it's going well. I'm now getting requests for Christmas/New Year's. My house sleeps 13 and I don't want it to be a party house, so I always ask the guest to tell me a little about the group. Sometimes I hear back, and sometimes I don't. My questions are:

 

 

1. What is the difference between an Inquiry and a Reservation Request?

2. If I'm only messaging and not Accepting or Declining, is that hurting my Response Rate?

3. If the guest never responds to me, should I just Decline the Inquiry or Request?

 

Thank you. 

15 Replies 15
Emiel1
Level 10
Leeuwarden, The Netherlands

Hi,

1. Inquiry is just asking, you must repsond at least once within the given timelimit, otherwise it will effect your response rate in a negative way. That's all. If no further communication happens, remove item from dashboard. BTW You also have opportunity (but not the obligation) to grant them to book, but that's on your decision.

2. Reservation request: You can exchange message(s) first , but you MUST accept or decline (and provide a reason) it within the given timelimit, otherwise dates will be blocked. (For all: the sooner you respond the better for your respons rate).

best regards,emiel

Thank you. Very helpful. 

@Margot55, it can be a bit confusing.

1. A Reservation Request is an actual request to make a booking. These must be either Accepted or Declined in the time frame so as to not affect your response rate. If you accept it, the booking is made (pending payment by the guest).

 An Inquiry is just a message being sent to you about a potential booking. You do NOT have to Accept or Decline these. If you just send a message back, that fulfills your responsiblity to respond.

 

2. If you are just messaging in response to Inquiries (instead of Accepting or Declining) that does NOT affect your response rate.

It is different for Reservation Requests; for those you must Accept or Decline (or send a Special Offer).

 

3. If the guest never responds to your response to an Inquiry, you need to do nothing more.

If the guest never responds to your response to an Reservation Request, you still have to either Accept or Decline.

 

Emiel1
Level 10
Leeuwarden, The Netherlands

Hi  @Matthew285 ,

 

About inquiry: It also does effect your repons rate if not answerring. I quote AIRBNB here from a recent inquiry message:

 

"You have 24 hours to respond

A prompt response helps guests finalize their trips. If you don’t respond to Dave’s inquiry within 24 hours, it could negatively impact your response rate and your listing’s placement in search.

"

 

Best regards, Emiel

 

@Emiel1, Yes! If I was not clear, you do have to send a message in response to an Inquiry, like Emiel says.

But you don't have to Approve or Decline.

 

Matthew -- Thank you. Very helpful. 

Lucy-and-Loic0
Level 7
Lyon, France

This thread is helpful to me because we have recently switched to instant book, and have had some inquiries that we felt had to be accepted or declined.  In some cases, if a person is not able to instant book because of a thumbs down from a previous bad stay, they have to inquire or request and get my approval before they can book.  It was never clear to me why I was being asked to pre-approve or decline an inquiry.  We thought if we didn't pre-approve, it might affect our search rating.  Now I know I do not have to pre-approve an inquiry, and it will have no effect on my rating.  Thank you.  

Hi @Lucy-and-Loic0

 

Do have a look at the Airbnb Help Centre and the useful community guides. You will find the majority of questions around hosting answered there.

Sandra224
Level 2
Bath, United Kingdom

I've put it in house rules that it's a family home & I live also live there & no parties, it's only way, if they know upfront that I live in the hse I tend to get "nice people"    :)) 

Lorne-And-Marian0
Level 2
St-Nicholas, Canada

New as well to AIRBNB.

 

Had several inquiries and responded as AIRBNB states to within alloted timeframe.

 

Also pressed declined button after responding as I did not know if this could affect the response time.

 

Now am worried from reading other threads that either way pushing decline affects my ratings.

 

Any help on this much appreciated.

@Lorne-And-Marian0

Welcome to hosting!

You are doing a good thing to try to follow good hosting practices; and you are not the only one to be confused by the whole Response Time / Pre-Approve / Decline issue.

First things first:

Of all the options available to you, pressing the Decline button for everyone is probably the one option that would hurt your ranking the most... not to mention hurt your bookings also!

 

On to the details:

The conventional wisdom has been that for Inquiries (where the buttons say "Pre-Approve" and "Decline") you just have to send back a message to fulfill your obligation to respond. Experienced hosts replied via a message, and did not touch either the "Pre-Approve" or "Decline" button, and their Response Rate was always 100%. (This is my preferred course of action.)

 

Recently, the Airbnb help page about Inquiries was changed to say that a host had to press one of the buttons within 24 hours for it to count as a host response; a message was not supposed to be enough. However, subsequent testing by hosts demonstrated that the old method of just sending a message still worked. For some hosts, after sending a message they could even refresh the page and the countdown clock would be gone.

 

If you *do* have to push a button, don't just press the "Decline" button. Only press the "Decline" button if your really do not want the guest to stay with you. Otherwise, I just press the Pre-Approve button but send a discouraging message. An example: "Thank you for your inquiry! We do not offer any discounts; we feel our price as presented represents a great value." but send a Pre-Approval.

 

Don't worry too much though; pressing the "Decline" button for Inquiries is not a big deal.

However, pressing the "Decline" button for Booking Requests *is* a pretty big deal. But that is another topic for discussion.

 

Lorne-And-Marian0
Level 2
St-Nicholas, Canada

Hi Mathew': just found this feed after posting you the following message...still so much to learn!

 

Hi Mathew,

 

Your response is very helpful. Thank you for taking time to respond.

 

The emails came in as inquiries. I responded via email and then declined. 

 

A further question:

 

Wil the incoming email state clearly that it is a reservation request rather than an inquiry? Is this highlighted? 

 

We have instant booking on and so do these reservations also appear in my inbox? Do I need do anything?

 

Want to ensure a quick and accurate response is sent where necessary.

 

Hoping to minimize mistakes..........and be helpful to possible guests................lorne

@Lorne-And-Marian0

"Wil the incoming email state clearly that it is a reservation request rather than an inquiry? Is this highlighted?"

It should be obvious, once you learn to recognize the difference. For me the most obvious sign of an Inquiry is that the button says "Pre-Approve".

 

"We have instant booking on and so do these reservations also appear in my inbox? Do I need do anything?"

If you receive an Instant Booking you will receive a notification in your Inbox.

No, you don't need anything except prepare for the arrival of the guest (at the appropriate time). Many hosts like to send a welcome message anyway to let the guest know that a human has seen their Instant Booking and is aware of it.

 

BTW, if you want to make sure a person sees a message on these discussion boards, use the '@' thing to tag people.

 

@Lorne-And-Marian0   It is confusing. Not least because of the terminology Airbnb chooses to use.

Pending Reservation would be so much clearer than Reservation Request.

 

Anyway,  I digress.  The easiest way to tell the difference is look at the options for response.

I usually go the Airbnb site and I do not use the App so it might look different there.

 

In an email the INQUIRY email has two options:

Screen Shot 2018-03-30 at 8.41.14 PM.png

On the website an INQUIRY has three options:

Screen Shot 2018-03-30 at 8.15.55 PM.png

BUT there is a  fourth (4th) option -  send a message within 24 hours and that stops the clock (you must do one of the four - if you do nothing you will be penalized). Re-cache the page to double check the clock has in fact stopped.   After that you just wait for the guest to respond to your message. Many don't bother so I just dismiss it from my dasboard.

 

 

 

A RESERVATION:  You only have two Options – 1. Accept or  2. Decline,  and you have to click one of them within 24 hours to stop the clock or you are penalized and the dates are blocked to other guests and your response rate goes down.

Screen Shot 2018-03-30 at 8.42.08 PM.png

 

N.B. Airbnb have a habit of changing the rules without telling hosts. I occasionally check to see if anything has changed or go to the relevant article to check for any surprises.

 

NOTE: If you are using Instant Book you will just receive a message saying the Reservation has been Confirmed.