"First Come, First Serve" Philosophy & Reasons for Declining

[Doris46]

Hi, I just started hosting this month and I tried searching for my question but have had no luck, so I apologize if a previous thread has already answered it.

So I had 3 inquiries for overlapping dates and I pre-approved all of them and notified each person that there were others who I have pre-approved, so now it's on a "first come, first serve" basis. Although they weren't the exact same dates, the inquired dates were set up so that if 1 person booked the other 2 would have to change their dates because some of the dates would not be available. Once person 1 booked, I had to decline the other 2 people who were also pre-approved. When I decline the other 2 people, I have to give a reason and I always select the one that says something along the lines of "These dates are not available" because someone has booked overlapping dates and thus makes the dates they inquired about not available anymore. But the issue I have with this is that when I choose this reason Airbnb then blocks the dates from my calendar. This does not make sense to me because these inquiries had overlapping dates and not the EXACT same dates, so now Airbnb is blocking dates that are perfectly free.

Should I be using the "Other" reason and then explaining that 2 other people were pre-approved for this listing and one of them had booked first? Would it be smarter of Airbnb to add a reason for declining that captures the "first come, first serve" philosophy?

[Andrea9]

@Doris46

When you pre-approve an inquiry, then it's up to a  guest to use it and book or not. You can pre-approve as many people as you like for the same days. If somebody books, you don't need to do anything else - the system takes care of everything because the dates will be automatically blocked. If nobody books, then you don't need to do anything and they remain open.

[Doris46]

Thanks @Andrea9! I did not know the system took care of it all. Do you still send them a message explaining that someone booked it as an act of kindness? Or would that be unnecessary?

[Andrea9]

@Doris46

Many inquiries are only people shopping around, so writing them again is overkill. Unless you had a more detailled conversation with them. But then, their indecision lost out to commitment by somebody else.

If you are pretty sure somebody will book or want to hold it for them and don't care if you might lose out on another booking if your preferred inquiry doesn't commit, then you can send the preferred potential guests a  Special Offer (you don't need to change anything in it) and check off the little box underneath to reserve/hold the dates. But again, if they don't make up their mind within 24h, the dates are up for grabs again.

You can of course also add to your response message that you're preapproving them for booking, but it's not a reservation and on first come, first booked basis only.

[Steve143]

Hello @Doris46,

Once you pre-approve several guests who have sent reservation inquiries for overlapping dates you just accept the first booking request that comes in if you're happy with it. You then either let the other pre-approvals expire or you withdraw them if you like.

There's no need to go through the process of actively declining the other guests.

It can also happen that someone, who hasn't sent an inquiry which you've pre-approved, comes straight in with a reservation request while all the pre-approvals are still pending.

If one of the other pre-approved guests does try to send a reservation request it won't succeed and they'll be told that the dates are no longer available.

They can then send a new inquiry or an actual reservation request for any of their dates that are still available, if they so wish.

One point to note with pre-approvals is that if you pre-approve a guest who doesn't book within 24 hours but does decide to book much later, they get the price you had at the pre-approval time, even if you've changed your price in the meantime.

For this reason I always withdraw pre-approvals after a day or so.

Steve.

[Doris46]

Thanks @Steve143! I was not aware that I did not have to actively decline the guest. I am not really sure why Airbnb gives me the option to decline if there is no benefit to do so. Since I don't have to decline them, how would they be notified that the booking is no longer available?

I did not know that Airbnb honored their initial inquiry price even if my prices go up at the time of their booking, so thank you for sharing that tip!

[Steve143]

Hello @Doris46,

If someone books before another pre-approved guest tries then the second guest will just find that the dates are no longer available.

Since you advised them that you pre-approved others then they know that someone was more decisive than they were.

The "Decline" button is there so your first response can be to decline rather than pre-approve. It stays there so you can still actively decline the request after pre-approval if you want to. This may happen if subsequent conversation with the guest makes you uncomfortable.

The usual procedure is to just let pre-approvals expire and then withdraw them if you like.

Steve.