Anyone else notice guests arent responding lately?

Zappa0
Level 10
Key West, FL

Anyone else notice guests arent responding lately?

Is it just me, or are guests not responding any more?

 

I get a reservation request and ask my usual questions since my listing involves kayaking. I write back immediately and I get nothing back. I send follow ups but no response. The request expires.

 

I'm noticing this way more frequently lately. Is it because of instant book? 

11 Replies 11
Linda108
Level 10
La Quinta, CA

I think guests are sending multiple inquiries to see what they get back.  They are not really invested in your listing so if another host just accepts, they go with that listing.  

They absolutely are...especially last minute. I now say to dame day requests "do to the number of people contacting multiple hosts, I need a response to these questions in the next 30 minutes..."

 

I have several listings and one guest sent me thee booking requests...not inquirys..requests for the same dates. How is this allowed? I had to get dinged for declining one. She finally cancelled the other and i accepted one.

Sarah977
Level 10
Sayulita, Mexico

@Zappa0    I think some guests may not be receiving notifications.  Whether this is due to a platform glitch, or a glitch with specific guest's notifications, who knows. I recently had a booking and sent numerous messages and an email to the guest with a map attached and never got any responses. Airbnb was finally able to contact her after trying for 3 days. She ended up cancelling due to a death in the family, but sent me a sincere message of apology and said she had never received any notifications of my messages, nor did she receive the email. When I told the CS rep this, he claimed that she was receiving notifications, simply because he had a record that they had been sent. ????

I pretty much know for sure that she's not getting her notifications, because I messaged her offering a partial refund (I did get paid for her cancelled booking according to my policy and she never asked for a refund) and she hasn't responded. I think it woud be really unusual for a guest not to be grateful and respond to a message offering to refund some $.

@Sarah977 @Zappa0 I have at times found 'missing emails' (and emails I never knew existed, so they could not be missed) in my 'All Mail' folder under 'More' versus my regular 'Inbox' on Gmail. This happens quite often to many gmail users, only they don't know it, because most don't even know that the 'All Mail' folder exists - it is very well hidden. I just found a whole bunch of important emails in there today, in fact. So perhaps this explains the supposed absence of notifications. If the guest uses gmail, they may have ended up there. Which gmail would fix this...

It was odd..in one case it was .24 hours of silence (on a request 48 hours before a check in date) then as soon as they saw I declined (since I hadnt received a timely response and thought they were "fishing," we went back and forth without issues. 

 

So...maybe it is both. Guests not receiving messages and guests getting used to instant book and thinking they dont have to respond and that the deal is sealed once they send that request? 

John1080
Level 10
Westcliffe, CO

@Zappa0, I have been experiencing this issue lately too, particularly among instant bookers. Many of my recent instant bookers have gone the entire trip without ever responding to my messages and me never hearing anything from them other than their initial short message when booking.

 

Recently, I had an issue where someone broke something in my space, so I had to get in touch with the next guest in line to explain the situation to him. I could not get him to respond to my messages on AirBnb, so I went ahead and texted him. He said he had not gotten any of my messages and would check at once. 

 

Come to find out, he had not received any notifications. I didn't ask him because I didn't want to bother him too much, but I'm assuming he hadn't turned on notifications, hadn't checked the email linked to the account or a combination.

 

I think perhaps many guests are in the same situation, where they are unaware they are receiving the messages, especially if they are newer to AirBnb or infrequent users. 

I would think Airbnb would auto set to on when they sign up.

 

Me on the other hand I cant get them off. Ive tried contacting tech and all that did was record the bu ( setting to off in settings doesnt work). During busy season I wake up to 20 or more overnigh messages feom them..

Jess78
Level 10
Eugene, OR

I’ve noticed people not getting notifications lately. Seems like some kind of change afoot or something.

If I don’t hear back from a guest or future guest after I’ve asked a question and waited a few hours, I always use their contact # to text them directly.  I cannot stand noncomminivative guests, if it’s willfully ignoring their host’s inquiries to them— pet peeve of mine. But lately, I believe it’s some change in the push notifications coming from the app of something. 

@Jess78, it drives me absolutely up the wall when a guest does not reply. So much so, I have recently turned off IB to make sure all guests respond and interact with me, answering my questions. 

I will do that too(need some idea when they are coming), but if they have an international number it is an issue and when I am trying to ask them questions about their kayak experience etc...I cant text or call before a booking

Letti0
Level 10
Atascosa, TX

Gmail is the biggest issue, the emails get sent to the spam folder as they consider AirBnB emails to be advertising spam. AirBnB really needs a way to show the difference between their reservation emails and their constant advertising ones to stop this. Anytime I see a gmail address I warn them to check their spam for any notifications. Had a sameday booking today. She did not get any notifications after the first one. She was texting me for information I had already sent via the AirBnB messaging system hours before. Guess what she has a gmail email address. She finally found them all in her spam folder after I told her to check there.