Cheap price, weird enquiries

[Linda640]

Hi everyone! 

I am new to hosting and have started offering my large spare bedroom in my place in Mexico City. My apartment is a bit further north and so it's quite a bit cheaper than the super trendy areas. I love my place, it's very unique and I have a lot of pride in it. 

The Airbnb system recommended a lowly sum of $10 a night and at first I went along with it only to discover I started getting enquiries from locals wanting to rent my room for months at a time (basically people wanting share acommodation). 

Even though my listing said max 7 nights it didn't stop the enquiries which of course I had to respond to and constantly say no, sorry. 

I then put my price up to $15 and was still getting these enquiries (a couple of other weird requests, too). So I went up to $20 and now I get no enquiries. Haha.

I took my listing down and have since put it back up. 

Does this happen to everyone? Getting enquiries that do not at all meet the requirements of what you have put on your listing?

Is this just a matter of playing with pricing?

It's very time consuming replying to messages. It would be nice to get more legitimate ones. 

😕

[Farah1]

@Linda640 maybe there is a glitch in the system if you are receiving an inquiry for more than 7 nights stay while you already set up your place for a max.7 nights stay?

My only recommendation is to see what are your competitors around you doing and then go from there and adjust your listing accordingly. Good luck!

[City-Limits-Ranch0]

@Farah0, if it is an inquiry they can inquire about anything.  They can pick random dates and then inquire about dates you have blocked. They can say I see you only allow stays of 7 days or less but I need a place from now to mid January.  Even if you preapprove an inquiry they are not committed in any way.  An inquiry is not a request.  If you approve a request they will be booked without any more action on their part and if they didn't want those dates they would have to cancel and depending on the host's cancellation requirements they may lose money.

[Linda640]

That's it exactly, I get enquiries asking me different dates, longer dates etc and even though my listing states everything I still have to spend time replying to these messages. Gah.