Basic requirements issue

Shannon176
Level 1
Halifax, Canada

Basic requirements issue

I've been hosting for a few years, and really take pride in how I present my space and interact with guests. So today, I was very dissapointed to learn that I'm not meeting basic requirements because I declined a booking last week. I'm a superhost, so this really bothers me that it could effect my status come April 1st. I'm starting to lose trust in Airbnb, as all these small changes are making me feel less like I'm in control of my bookings. I rarely decline people, but when I do I shouldn't be penalized for it. It's my apartment, and it should be my decision who I feel comfortable with in my space. I'm now thinking about taking my listing down. It's unfortunate that Airbnb doesn't value it's relationships with long term hosts, as I've put a lot into my listing and giving guests a great experience.

10 Replies 10
Gillian19
Level 10
St Leonards, Australia

@Shannon176 Unless they (Airbnb that is) have decided that a TV is now an essential?!

Edie9
Level 9
Canada

@Shannon176 I too have been given the "1 thing to work on" in Basic requirements/accepting reservations and was a little bit more than "very disappointed "! I regularly get people who have no profile, no picture and no reviews. As well they don't answer questions and the only email accompanying the request is, "Is this space available? "! Airbnb needs to take into account the very real and good reasons why hosts decline a request or inquiry. I am beginning to question if $ is their motivation rather than having a positive experience for hosts and guests.

James165
Level 10
Atlanta, GA

The changes they have made are bad for hosts. Whether pushing us to book without knowing the guests or determining what is "essential" for us, even thought guests and hosts prefer something different. It's been a good run for me for two years, but I'm guessing I'll be leaving Airbnb by the end of this summer.

Sharon427
Level 2
Gerringong, Australia

I totally agree with all of the above and would like to add our issues with this.

We are currently Superhosts and have been Superhosts for 8 consecutive quarters. We are proud of the outstanding experience we provide to our guests and our reviews are testament to that. It is disappointing to us that we haven't met the 'basic requirements' though, because we are slightly below the expected rate for accepting booking requests. The only reason we decline requests is when people request a booking that does not adhere to our clearly advertised host rules. For example, we have a limit of 2 guests and some booking requests ask us to allow additional guests. We don't allow pets and we have had people ask if they can bring their cats. Our space is not suitable for infants but some booking requests ask us to allow guests to bring a foldaway cot and bring their babies. We clearly advertise that we don't accept single night stays on weekends yet people still send requests for one night stays on weekends. Due to our house rules, we decline most of these requests and we do so promptly so that we maintain our excellent response rate. I don't see why our basic requirement percentage should be affected because guests are requesting bookings that are outside of our house rules which are clearly articulated and highlighted in our listing description. This really should be fixed at the hosting platform level so we are not disadvantaged as high quality hosts. When we decline requests, we always very politely explain why.
When we called Airbnb to discuss this issue, the person we spoke to couldn't find a resolution but acknowledged our problem as legitimate.

I just recently fell below because I declined a person with no picture, no reviews, and no attached government ID. I am sorry but as a female-bodied person who will be alone in the house with someone else, I need some credentials about who you are, especially if you have no reviews lending credibility.  Heck, even if they are lacking all of those things, but leave a very detailed message about the trip and explaining it is their first time on airbnb, it puts me at ease and I will book them. But when I get nothing, I shouldn't be expected to give something in return - this is first and foremost MY SPACE. Furthermore, a person with no credibility attached to their profile should not expect the same reception as someone who has put time into their profile, provided Identification, and stacked up favorable reviews. That is just how things work. 

 

I also agree with you that most of my declines have been people trying to bring babies and cats - Sorry. I live in an old house , and while it is clean and charming to the nines, probably needs to be lead paint tested like all houses built prior to 1977 (mine was built right after WWI), not to mention all the potential death hazards considering my house is not in the slightest bit baby or toddler proofed. Furthermore, sometimes I have to decline last minute reservation requests because I had a guest depart while I was at work, and a new guest wants to check-in. I can't take a reservation if I haven't been home to switch over the rooms. I am not sure if declining a request counts as such, but if it does that is also annoying. 

 

My new way to go about this is rather than me declining, I ask them to cancel once I explain why my listing doesn't meet their needs. Most of the time they are very good about it.

Also - I get people trying to book for family and friends from their profile. I have declined quite a few of those because that lends no protections on my end given the person I will be hosting is not bound by any contractual obligation. This is how you get a squatter. 

I agree with Shannon, We have been Superhosts consistently from after the first quarter 2 years ago and the direction Airbnb is taking is essentially cornering hosts into prostituting their property(ies).

My latest "Basic Requirements" notification was for 55% accepted reservations with Airbnb allocating a target of 88%.  Last I looked I did not sign an employment agreement with Airbnb so why should I be put under a performance review.

I refer the statement thretening to remove listing if perormance is consistently low. Airbnb exists only because of the "Membership" of hosts and relies heavily on Superhosts for credability so who in the organisation thinks they have the right to bully their clients (aka hosts). Talk about "biting the hand that feeds" !

My property is a prime target for young clubbers to party on before and after a night out on the town. Why do I have to pretend in cancelling a reservation request when any fool can see from the request received that I might as well hand my keys over to a drug dealer as at least then the traffic through the place is less likely to trash it.

 

Chris1634
Level 1
Maslin Beach, Australia

Air BNB don't seem interested, obviousley by the number of people posting about this issue, I declined two guests for late and unreasonable requests, one wanted to book at 5pm and check in after 23.30 the same night after attending a birthday party, no profile picture etc tc , mirroring similar to what been listed here, another wanted to bring her dog when the house rules cannot accept pets. To AirBNb that's irrelevant to the basic requirement score, i refused a guest no marks. There should be an opportunity to state the request was unreasonable and no change to the rating should occur. I am new to hosting but this kind of indeirect control from a third party is not good. I will see what happens and look to promote via Stayz, or booking.com

Hey guys,

i have about 20 active listings in Airbnb and pretty much all of them do not meet the basic requirement percentage of accepted reservations(88%). Yet nothing has happened in the past three years.

i guess Airbnb understands the fact that it is something illogical that’s why there is actually no consequence for not meeting this criteria.

 

Emma339
Level 2
Laax, Switzerland

Coming late to this but I'm thoroughly puzzled by our AirBnB overall ratings. On the listing and Superhost progress, our overall rating is shown as 4.8. Yet on the basic requirements progress, it's showing 4.4 with the same threat of removal of the listing as others mention above. How can two different pages on the dashboard for the same listing have two such widely varying overall ratings? There must be a glitch...