Our Melbourne forum participants have notified us that if a host does not pre-approve sufficient inquiries, and declines them instead to get them off their message system, their listing will be suspended. This policy must stop. Firstly, many of us had no clue this airbnb procedural policy existed. It is unfair if it is not transparent and accountable. Secondly, a large percentage of my recent guests are first time users, in addition, many guests skim read the listing description and then ask questions already answered, or ask questions that reveals they are patently unsuitable for my listing. "Just double checking that you will not accept children." Seriously. Locked into the House Rules and repeated in the description.
If a host has replied to the guest in a timely way, this needs to be enough! Let the random inquiries float away into the cloud of meaninglessness. Unproductive guest inquiries should not be a statistical tool of punishment for hosts.
Instead, airbnb should focus on inactive listings and dump them off the system so they are not cluttering up the listing priority view algorithm for the hard working, regular hosts.
