Declining a request seems to have a very negative impact on listing views.

[Ryan368]

I have noticed a significant drop in my listing views every time I decline  a reservation request. I understand that it is AirBnB's job to put guests in houses and they want approvals, lower prices, etc... That said, I only really reject guests who are obviously going to be an issue. For example... The last guest's message was that he was having a 30th birthday party and wanted to use my house for seven of his friends to have a 420 friendly weekend borthday bash. Now everything about my house says that it is in a quiet, family friendly neighborhood and that it is non smoking, and no parties. So, he literally asked for two things that are very clearly not allowed and he had zero rental review history. Why on earth am I being punished for declining something that will obviously not be good for me, my neighbors, or this guest. I'm not judging him. I hope he finds a place to have his birthday party, but my house isn't the right place. It seems like AirBnB wants hosts to approve requests at all costs.

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Ryan368

it is automated, Airbnb has no idea why you had to decline the request.

I agree that it is not fair that your listing drop down in search results for this reason but with so many listings Airbnb had to find a way to line them all up in some order, this is just one of them and not the worst one.

It seems Airbnb is pushing easy bookable listings on the top. For example, those who have instant booking, allow pets and kids, 1 night stays, have open calendar indefinitely, are in the city center, have low prices without cleaning fees... etc etc...

[Ryan368]

Right, and that is part of my issue. Everything they do is in favor of getting the guest the cheapest, least restrictive rental possible. Then, when things go south the host is left to figure it out. It seems like the more I open up my listing to all of those things, the worse my reservations are. If it were up to AirBnB, they'd be renting my 2500sq ft, 4 bdrm, 2 bath house next to Garden of the Gods for 50$ a night. I just wish they appreciated hosts a little more. I've been a superhost for two years, and it seems like the longer I do this and the more five star reviews I have, the more I still have to strugle to compete with brand new listings.

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Ryan368

I am afraid you are right 😞

Here in Croatia, due to business-unfriendly climate, we have an explosion of short term rentals and consequently, the competition is stronger every single day. Prices are already rock bottom in the strict city center and all listings are beautiful. Taxes went up this year so many hosts already stopped with STR and decided to rent long term. But , it is very risky due to bad justice system so we will see where it goes... but, it is not good...

[Ben551]

@Ryan368 @Branka-and-Silvia0  I don’t quite get this, but I’m quite new and might be misunderstanding. 

I recently had to decline my first guest because, in her request, she requested to break the rules for my property (and the local laws actually). Our house has an occupancy limit of 4 people. Local laws do not allow more than that for the floor area we have.

However, in a request the guest tied to book for... **drum roll please**..... 9 people. 

Needless to say I clicked decline. I was then presented with a drop down list of options, allowing me to tell Airbnb the reason I was declining.  I went ahead and selected the option that said the guest did not meet my listing rules. It then gave me a window to write a short message to the guest.

I then started a conversation with Airbnb customer support and asked, directly with no room for misinterpretation, whether my listing would suffer in search results from declining a guest booking this way. They replied, emphatically and three times, “no”. Apparently when a guest does not meet my rules and I choose that option in the drop down to let them know, there is no impact.

The decline was on 03 Jan and the views graph is absolutely fine. In fact it’s even shot up since then. On 05 Jan we got 3 bookings in one day and now we have the “this property is on peoples minds” badge showing because people have viewed it so much...

Am I missing something?

[Mark116]

@Ben551  Airbnb customer service personnel are often, "misinformed" about how things work, even to the point of giving people completely wrong, eroneous information about airbnb's own policies.  But, I think only the "request to book" declines are factored in, it's still unfair though.

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Ben551inquiry and request are different things.

When you get inquiry you can decline it , no problem

When you get a request and if you decline too much of them then your search ranking may drop. But declining just one request occasionally, shouldn't have any impact ... but who knows, Airbnb is changing things and rules all the time...

here is a more detailed explanation

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Hosting/Reservation-Inquiry-or-Request-What-s-the-Difference-A-C...

[Ben551]

@Branka-and-Silvia0 Ahhh ok, I guess I got the ok kind of request. It was the first time I saw the “Accept” or “Decline” buttons on my screen though. Plus Airbnb started spamming me telling me I needed to choose one, or else face consequences in my response rate... is that not a booking request? How can I tell if I look at it now?

Edited: just noticed the link, I’ll have a read now. Cheers.

Edited: ok I just read it. See the screenshot at the bottom (very last image) of that post? That’s what I had to fill in after hitting Decline. It also showed an accept button. So yeah, it does ask you what the reason is before you decline, so Airbnb will know the reason but it’s not shared with the guest. That’s definitely the type of request I got mate.

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Ben551

yes you got request... a bad thing 🙂 ... as I said if you decline too much of them then your search ranking may drop. But declining just one request occasionally, shouldn't have any impact

at least that's what ABB says...

[Ben551]

@Branka-and-Silvia0 Oh ok, thanks for clarifying that. Yeah I hadn’t seen one of these before because I have Instant book turned on.

The guest in question had to send it manually because she didn’t meet my instant book rules. So that’s why I started a conversation with Airbnb CS, because I thought it would be unfair if (say) a whole bunch of parents decided to spam me with bookings requests... that I decline because our listing isn’t suitable for children (as stated)... then I get penalised in search rankings. They were really clear that it doesn’t, quoting all manner of detail on the topic.

One thing we worked through as a scenario was : if search results were impacted for declines related to rules, I could actually target and take down my competition (systematically) by doing just that. Spam them to the eye balls with requests that don’t meet their rules.... that I know they will decline.... they plummet in search results... yeehah ?!

If you’re telling me it does work this way and AirBnb are wrong, then I foresee abuse...

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Ben551

this is all foggy... nobody knows how many requests you should decline to affect your search ranking... if at all... Airbnb is not clear about it

The same is with acceptance rate... it is listed in progress and we all thought it does impact super host status but then a few days ago one host wrote she has very low acceptance rate and she is superhost again for the last quarter

[Lisa723]

@Ryan368 @Ben551 @Branka-and-Silvia0 @Mark116 for this reason I never decline inquiries or booking requests. I accept with the proviso that they will adhere to rules, so it's up the guest to obey the rules or not book (or cancel). For example, "Can I book your place for a three-ring circus, please?" "No, I'm sorry we can't allow that. I'm pre-approving your inquiry for two guests with the condition that there will be no circus."

[Ben551]

Lmao @Lisa723 that’s hilarious. I love it.

The trouble with using that approach in my case would be : “I’m approving your booking for 5 adults and 4 children, with the condition that there will be only 4 adults and zero children.”

I can foresee AirBnb not wanting to support me if they show up on check-in day claiming they had approval for 9 guests... they would also be charged for 9... eek, this broke my brain. 

[Lisa723]

@Ben551 guests are not able to officially book more than your max guest count. So in your scenario the request would be for 4 guests, and you would say "I'm accepting your booking for 4 adults, only. If this reservation does not meet your needs you can cancel it penalty-free in the next 48 hours."

[Ben551]

@Lisa723 ...  but the scenario I describe above actually happened. On 03 January. In my conversation with AirBnb CS I mentioned quite vocally that I was staggered that their system allowed a reservation request for more than the limit of guests I allow. They recommended I make an improvement suggestion and gave me a link to do it... but this happened!

9 guests... requested for our 4 guest listing...my wife and I were utterly stunned. I didn’t post about it because I’m new and I believed the CS person telling me “that’s how it works”. The explanation was that they wanted to give hosts the option to make a decision for themselves... sounded ok at the time I guess. But then my brain flew into what I said above about possible abuse to flog your competition...

Edit: Ok this was bugging me so I dug deeper.... I know what the guest did to get the reservation request through. The cunning bastards said in “text” that they would be bringing 5 adults and 4 children, but in the reservation itself they had entered 3 adults, 1 child, and FIVE INFANTS!!! Hahahahahaha.... no. Just no.