Response rates

[Katie144]

Why does Airbnb not consider a response without pre-approval or special offer as an official response? I answer inquiries immediately but continue to get the warnings from Airbnb that I need to either pre-approve or dismiss in order to maintain my good response rate. I did respond! Often I am waiting to hear back from the person inquiring so am not able to pre-approve or make an offer because they haven't input the number of people correctly or the dates. This makes no sense to me. If a response has been sent then it should count towards my response time. 

[Karen-and-Brian0]

HI @Katie144 As unfair as it seems, I think it's done that way in order to put a deadline on requests & keep things moving. Otherwise, you could be waiting for days to hear back from someone who booked elsewhere. To be considered a response, you must either pre-approve or decline within 24 hours of the request. If the guest hasn't got back to you within 24 hours with enough information for you to decide to host them, decline - you can send them a note along with it inviting them to contact you again & they can always send you another request. Hope that helps! Karen

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

The problem is when you decline to many requests ABB punish you with a bad position in search 😞

[Scott80]

@Katie144 What is the source for your belief that AirBnB does not consider a response without pre-approval or special offer as an official response?

As I have posted before on this board, I have replied to several inquiries with neigher a pre-approval nor declination and according to my stats page, my response rate is 100%.

This page states that sending a message without approval or declination counts as a response: https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/430/what-is-response-rate-and-how-is-it-calculated

[Lori-and-Peter0]

When Airbnb says "reply to messages from guests", I think they mean current guests.  I've responded to an inquiry, am waiting for information from the potential guest, and the timer is still counting down.  It says "Respond within 01:31:09 to maintain your response rate."  So I'm guessing that I need to pre-approve or decline, even though I haven't gotten a response.

[CariandNate0]

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@Scott0 wrote:

@Katie144 What is the source for your belief that AirBnB does not consider a response without pre-approval or special offer as an official response?

As I have posted before on this board, I have replied to several inquiries with neigher a pre-approval nor declination and according to my stats page, my response rate is 100%.

This page states that sending a message without approval or declination counts as a response: https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/430/what-is-response-rate-and-how-is-it-calculated

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Hmmm - I read that page to say you have to accept or decline... not just send a message.  Is that not how you read it?

"Your response rate is the percentage of new inquiries and reservation requests you responded to (by either accepting/pre-approving or declining) within 24 hours in the past 30 days."

[Simona97]

Hi I have the folllowing problem. A client made an enquiry and then booked. I still have the enquiry pending and airbnb will downgrade my response rate. What shall I do? If I try to preapprove the system is telling me that the dates are not available. Anyone knows what I shall do?

[Scott80]

@Simona97 Just click on 'dismiss' After you have responded once, it is considered responded to for your response rate calculation. 

[Anne153]

I have the same question. I had a request to book from someone new to Airbnb, so there are no reviews for them, no info on their profile and they sent me two words in their message ("my birthday"). I responded within 45 minutes and asked if they could tell me a little more about themselves or their plans, or asked if they had any questions for me before I approved or declined their request.

So even though I responded right away, I keep getting reminders like this, now:

Robert requested to book your list

Respond within 08:37:28 to maintain your response rate. 

How can I reasonably accept or decline a booking when the guest hasn't replied in a timely fashion? It seems unfair that I would be penalized for lack of effort on their part. 

[Martha-and-Dennis0]

I am getting a lot of newbies also. When I send them some questions about why they are coming to my city and what are the full names of people in their group, often times I never hear anything back from them. So in order to keep my response rate up I have to decline them before 24 hours passes or I get 'text nags' from Airbnb about responding. I thought I had verified ID requirement enabled for bookings. These inquiries are from people with only a phone or email verified by Airbnb.