selling service disguised as a booking

[Annie506]

Hi community,

I recieved this message this morning disguised as a booking for 14-15th May.

I have subsequently had several emails from Airbnb prompting me to pre-approve.

I wrote her a message but was still prompted to pre-approve. I hit declined, which I rarely do, and was asked to explain why I was declining her.  I told her in my 'explanation' for declining her that perhaps it was not a great way to promote her business!

Just thought I would ask how I should have dealt with this. Here is the disguised booking:
'Hi my name is Danielle Webber and I am a local business owner and massage therapist. I am reaching out to you as I thought you may be interested in upgrading your Airbnb offering to add another luxurious level with in-house singles or couples massages and spa treatments. We also cater to groups. The massages can be performed indoors or outdoors under the trees, and we bring all equipment with us. Touch of Peace Massage Therapies is well established in the area and you can look us up to see what we offer, our pricing and our reviews from our past customers.
We are happy to offer a commission too, so if any of this appeals to you please feel free to get in touch!'

[Corliss2 · Accepted solution]

@Annie506 ,

You could always be cheeky...

Send her a message stating that you are not interested in her services but will happily pre-approve her booking unless she withdraws her request. If she does not respond, then preapprove and let her sort it out with ABB.

[Annie506]

Thank you Corliss,

It did cross my mind to Pre-approve her and see what happened but I was concerned that she might take that to mean that I wanted to engage with her about her business.

It is only the second time I have had to deal with a request I could not accept so I have learnt a lot from you and Sarah. Thankyou both.

[Sarah977]

@Annie506  You say you were asked to preapprove, which means this was an Inquiry, rather than a Request. Declines count against you on Acceptance rate, so you shouldn't have declined. On an Inquiry, all you have to do is message back, you don't have to Pre-approve or Decline and you can ignore those prodding messages from Airbnb. 

So I would have just messaged back, as you did, telling her that it's inappropriate to use a host inquiry to drum up business for herself. 

And like @Corliss2  suggested, you could have Pre-approved, it's not like she was going to book anyway.

I'd also report her to Airbnb. Tell them she's making fraudulent booking inquiries for the purpose of advertising her massage business.

[Annie506]

Thank you Sarah,

I had not really registered the difference between an Inquiry and a Request until now. I did message back but at the prompt I also Declined her. I thought that was the only alternative to a Pre-approval (without being prodded every 5 minutes to Reply). I thought if I didn't do one or the other in 24 hours that would count against me.

I am reluctant to report her as I think it possibly seemed like a good idea at the time but she may have realised subsequently that it was not a very smart way to drum up business!

It is only the second time I have had to deal with a request I could not accept so I have learnt a lot from you and Corliss. Thankyou both.

[Helen3]

I agree with @Sarah977 

I would also report her profile to Airbnb and tell them she is using it to promote her business.

[Annie506]

Thanks Helen,

As I said to Sarah I think perhaps the woman who sent the Inquiry may have thought it was a good idea at the time.  I pointed out to her that I had had to Decline her because she did not want to stay in our studio and then justify the decision to Airbnb. I went on to suggest, politely, that it was probably not a great way to promote her business.

I hope she might have second thoughts about doing it again.

[Helen3]

Sadly I doubt it. @Annie506 Look at the number of people selling their services and products who regularly spam this community .