Booking confirmations

[Terence2]

Hi All

I have a pending booking of x amount of days, I respond to the guest to say that it is available. Another guests sends an inquiry and confirms booking before I can respond, I feel it is only fair to allow the first booking the opportunity to book before I 'Respond' to the guest who sent booking confirmation. I stick to the 24 hours policy but what do I do if the first guests wants to book and the other guest has tied up some of those days with their booking confirmation? Do I press 'respond' and then cancel the booking, I read their is a penalty but do not think I am in the wrong here as from a customer service point of view and not to upset people who inquire to allow them to book!

Let me know if you understand what I am trying to say here?

Thanks

[Dave-and-Deb0]

Hi @Terence2,

I don't completely understand what you are saying but I will take a stab at it.

You can pre-approve as many people who inquire and if you pre-approve, anyone can book your place and it then becomes confirmed.  I am thinking your first person was "pending" because they did not meet all the requirements (verified ID, etc) and therefore the first person who books, gets your listing.  I am also thinking that the second person sent you a "request" to book and once you accept that, they are automatically booked (see difference between "inquiry" and "request" below)

Now, you DO NOT want to cancel on the guest because you are trying to be fair to the first guest.  By you cancelling, your calendar will be blocked and therefore the first guest would not be able to book anyway.  One of the penalties for cancelling on a guest is the calendar gets blocked for the entire time the cancelled guest was suppose to stay meaning you cannot book out your listing during that time via Airbnb. 

Here are the penalties for cancelling: https://www.airbnb.ca/help/article/990/how-do-host-cancellation-penalties-work

You also really need to know the difference between and "inquiry" and a "request".

Inquiry vs. Request

When it comes to an inquiry, you have 24 hours to either respond (message) to the guest, preapprove or decline.  If you respond to them, that is all you need to do to maintain your response rate.  With inquiries, the guest could be sending out several inquiries to several hosts.

If you get a request, the guest is wanting to book your listing and if to accept, they will be booked.  When you get a request, you have 24 hours to accept or decline and if you do neither within the 24 hours, it will affect your response rating.

In the future, if you really want to save the place for the first person, you cannot pre-approve the second person.

Dave

[Terence2]

Thanks Dave and Deb.

I have no intention cancelling a current booking, it was more around the 'booking request' and the process to manage this when you are waiting for another booking to come through from a guest who inquired first.

All good, I declined the third booking that clashed with the 1st guest that was about to book, I will make contact with the other guests if this booking ends up falling through.

Regards

[Lisa7]

@Terence2 Careful about giving too much deference to guests who haven't confirmed their booking. You could end up with nobody booking. I made that mistake once, as have many hosts here. From a guests' perspective, I can see making an inquiry but also understainding that if I don't commit, I would be out of luck if someone else books. 

I have instant book turned on, and I always warn guests who inquire but haven't committed that anyone else can come and snatch those dates away. Before I had instant book, I would tell guests that I would let them know if I got another inquiry, but I would say that whoever books first gets the listing.

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If my answer helped you, please add my listing to your wish list!  https://www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/9285982

[Terence2]

Hi Lisa

Thanks for the help here.

What is instant book?

How does this whole 'wish list' thing work? We are still rookies when it comes to the site.

I managed to sort out my booking dilemma, the 1st guest ended up booking and the other two guests who enquired for the same period, I notified and totally understood.

Thanks for the help here, you helped me the first time also.

Regards

Terence

[Lisa7]

@Terence2 - I didn't realize you had replied because I only get pinged when you include my name with @ ... etc (unless I "subscribed" to the question, which I didn't)

Really glad to hear I helped. Too often on these forums it feels like we spend time to help other hosts without any idea of whether the response has been received, appreciated, etc.

Instant book, which is available after your first completed hosting, lets people instantly book without needing a response or confirmation from you. The upside is that you probably will get more bookings; the downside is that you can't screen guests and need to make sure your calendar is meticulously updated.

https://community.airbnb.com/t5/Getting-Started/Community-Help-Guides/m-p/23100#U23100

You can create wish lists pretty easily. I like them because it helps me remember listings for future trips. Helps me dream. Helps me plan. 

The wish list button is prominently placed on the listing under the Request to Book button. See here:

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If my answer helped you, please give me feedback on my listing!  https://www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/9285982

[Cecilia10]

If one clicks the "Contact Host" button to further inquire about a booking, I don't think Airbnb should allow a booking to be confirmed even though the host's listing is set to Instant Booking.  Because then if there is something about the listing that I am not totally comfortable with, then the Airbnb surcharge should not be applied because it is not fair.  I am just sending an inquiry.  

[Petra70]

I've had this happen to me: I think you need to turn off Automatic Booking, because when it's switched on, any guest can book your place immediately, regardless of what pending requests you might have...

Petra