I'm a relatively new host. I have instant booking turned on, with the all the available safety-net requirements enabled (good reviews, government id etc.) Unfortunately, I made the dreaded newbie mistake of declining "inquiries" that come in from people who do not meet my instant book requirements, and now my "acceptance rating" has dropped to 85% which is below their 88% and "could" cause my listing to be removed. (Customer service declined to reset it for me, despite a fall-on-my-sword plea for not understanding the differences between inquiries and requests.)
My biggest frustration is not the confusing nature of the "inquiry" vs "reservation" requests (although I think it would be good for some UX improvements there,) but the fact that customer service also told me that participating in instant book WILL NOT positively impact my acceptance rating. They explained that the only way to improve my acceptance rate score is to turn off instant book - or accept inquiries that come in from people who do not meet my minimum criteria.
Is that correct? Did customer service miscommunicate that? That seems completely counter-productive to AirBnB's desires to push hosts to instant booking - and also seems VERY unfair, since I've actually taken the extra step to AUTO-APPROVE nearly all the reservations that are submitted through the platform for my property. Their inbox lists those reservations from instant book as "approved," so they are acknowledging in their platform that I approved those reservations (even if it's by default.) Shouldn't those acceptances count positively toward my score to help me correct my initial user error?
Any thoughts? I submitted this as product development feedback, but I'm super frustrated about it as a new host trying to maximize the success of my listing.
Side note - I don't think a host should ever be penalized for not approving a person who does not meet those baseline instant book requirements - whether it's through a reservation request or inquiries.
