Automated Questions for Instant Booking function removed

[Alice-and-Jeff0]

For those of you who relied on the automated questions being prompted to guests who Instant Booked, Airbnb has removed this function.  Therefore, none of your guests are being prompted to respond to, well, anything.  And the space for a "welcome message" in the booking settings section, has a character limit less than a Tweet - so you can't ask them there. 

You could try using the "saved messages" section, which is what we've done.  We've also made our "greeting" say: "Within the next 24 hours you will receive a message that will require your response and attention.  We look forward to hearing from you."   There wasn't even room to tell them to make sure they have message notifications turned on.  

Once again, @Airbnb2 pulls a function and does not communicate it to ANYONE!!!! @Lizzy0 @Quincy0 @Admin0 @anyonewhowilllistentothehostsinanyway

[Emilia42]

These automated questions disappeared a few months ago for me 😞

[JJ48]

Me too!  (but I sensed my guests were still getting them) And then I couldn't edit my Welcome Message. I've just found them in the app! You can edit them and everything. 

[Susan653]

Update:

I'm about to decline a booking inquiry because the person (a) wants to book my larger space, which accommodates 6 people, for ONE person; (b) she asked how close I am to one of two huge local casinos; and (c) she has neither prior host reviews nor government ID.

That's two (possibly three, if you consider the likelihood of a single woman traveling alone to visit a casino) red flags right there--but, had my screening questions still been in place, my concerns may have been alleviated by her responses, since she would have seen my questions BEFORE making her inquiry. I figure if people don't feel comfortable with the questions, they won't go ahead with the booking, which is fine by me. Unfortunately, the current situation leaves me in the awkward position of answering her question and THEN having to ask my screening questions, which seems weird to do when someone's just inquiring.

Of course, the decline process is stressful in itself, as Airbnb wants to know precisely why I'm declining. Why isn't there a "not enough information about guest and/or trip" category? There isn't, so I'm stuck choosing "uncomfortable" and then having to explain, chapter and verse, why I'm "uncomfortable". And then Airbnb wants me to write a note to the declined person to alleviate potential hurt feelings.

Really? It's not enough that this platform has protected guests so much that I, as a host, have trouble feeling safe when accepting bookings; now Airbnb wants me to justify my decisions about who I have on my property?

Plain and simple: I NEED MORE INFORMATION FROM PEOPLE WHO WANT TO STAY IN AN APARTMENT ATTACHED TO THE HOME WHERE MY CHILDREN AND I LIVE.

Yes, I just yelled. Because I feel like nobody's listening.

[Moby0]

Totally agree! I feel Airbnb is more favourable to guests than hosts and that sucks!😭

[Oomesh-Kumarsingh0]

@Alice-and-Jeff0 Thank you for sharing this information! I have been using the automated question since quite some time and this feature was very helpful.I wonder why this option was removed without any notice? 

[Lizzie]

Hello @Alice-and-Jeff0, @Allison2, @Oomesh-Kumarsingh0, @Susan653, @Ruthie12, @Kelly149, @Jenny-and-Tom0, @Emilia42, @Ben551,

Thanks again for sharing more details on this. Just to let you know, I'm still looking into this, but I'm hoping I'll have more information soon.

Thanks,

Lizzie

[Huma0]

I noticed some weeks ago that the questions had disappeared and mentioned it on another thread in the CC (can't remember which but it was one of the many on guest profile photos no longer showing before booking confirmation).

So, I edited my welcoming message to include my questions, but this of course has made it rather curt and not as welcoming as I'd like it to be. I've had to remove things like the link to the guidebook and "I look forward to hosting you!" because the word count is so limited, but these questions are too important not to include upfront.

Now it reads:

Thanks for booking! Please could you tell me:
- Who you are travelling with
- Your arrival time (between 3 and 9pm)
- That you have read the full listing/house rules, especially re the cats & smoking

Sure, many guests do not answer the questions anyway when they book, so they have to be asked again, but I did find that quite a few answered at least some, if not all, and whether they answer or not gives me a good indication of the kind of guest they are.

Now, another host responded to me on that other thread that the questions still get sent to the guest, they just don't show up in the host's settings anymore. I don't know if that is true or not, but it seems rather silly seeing as the host then has no way of editing them should they need to do so.

[Ben551]

@Huma0  yeah we have the same issue as you.

Only we can't edit our Welcome Message to compensate because we need to make a specific disclosure to guests (before they book) about hazards on our property that prevent us from accomodating children.  The hazards are no joke, with a NZ bush setting and a bunch of external an internal stairs, so I can't compromise it and replace it with the standard questions.  It was Airbnb that told me I needed to make the disclosure in that box in the first place (their bright idea to comply with local laws). 

Interestingly, my current message is way over the character limit for the new smaller text box.  But, it appears that if I don't edit it, it allows me to keep the old larger message.... so I aint touching it.

[Huma0]

@Ben551that's interesting. I realised the old message had been cut off because that is how the text appeared when I saw it on my settings. It had been chopped in half, saying something like, "please answer the following questions," folowed by... no questions! Also and the questions that you could automatically tick a box for separately had also gone. So, I felt like I had no choice but to edit it so that it made sense and wasn't cut off mid-sentence.

[Ben551]

@Huma0  Ah interesting.  Ours is all there still (tested it) and still shows to guests, but if we go into the page where we could edit it, it spits a red error box demanding that we change it.  If we close the web page and ignore it.... it seems to remain as it was lol.  I doubt this will work for much longer.

[JJ48]

Huma,

I just now found them in the app and was able to edit them and all.  I too had been frustrated with not seeing them but seemed like my guests were still getting them.  Anyways, I guess this an old post now but wanted to help.  

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

I just got a booking with the typical message: "Hello Branka & Silvia! I look forward to staying at your home! "

Great! Me too... but.....

The exact time of arrival?

Need parking?

Need airport transfer?

Bed arrangement? Single, double, how many rooms...?

So I have to send a message and wait until they answer...

and they answer "Yes, we do need a parking"  Other questions were not answered, of course...

so,I sent another message ... and they answer : " ok, thank you " 

Oh my good... ! 😄 😄 😄

 It should be automated... guest has to answer the question to be able to proceed with bookings because as it is now it is frustrating and too time consuming for us and for guests!

[Ben551]

Wow @Branka-and-Silvia0  that's ridiculous.... utterly insane....

[Mark116]

Ugh.  This is depressing to read.  I guess it could be another of their 'glitches' but in all probability it is simply airbnb removing yet another tool,  maybe the only tool left for IB, to allow hosts to get information about their guests.  

[Lizzie]

Hello @Alice & Jeff, @Allison, @Oomesh Kumarsingh, @Susan, @Ruthie, @Kelly, @Jenny & Tom, @Emilia, @Ben, @Huma0, @Mark116 , @Alice491,

Just wanted to keep you posted. I don't have a huge update, I'm afraid, but I've highlighted this to our Product Team and initially it doesn't look like this feature has been removed. They are going to look into this further. 

I will let you know, when I hear more.

Thanks,

Lizzie