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.

[Lisa723]

@Ben551 I've never heard of that. I just went to your listing and was prevented from entering any guest count above 4.  Was it 4 adults and 5 infants?  (Airbnb doesn't count infants as people, apparently.)

[Ben551]

Sorry @Lisa723 I just edited my previous reply after finding what they did precisely.

Still relevant to this discussion though, as it shows guests are willing to go to extremes to get a reservation request through, which puts hosts in the position of having to decline.

[Lisa723]

@Ben551 here is how I would have replied:  "Hi, X, thanks for your interest in our listing! Unfortunately our place accommodates 4 guests maximum, due to local ordinance and space limitations. Because Airbnb penalizes hosts for declining reservation requests [inquiries] I'm accepting [pre-approving] your reservation request [inquiry] for 3 adults, 1 child, and 5 infants. Should you arrive with a different configuration of guests, as your other message indicated, I would not be able to check you in and you would not be refunded; if that is your intention you can cancel the reservation penalty-free in the next 48 hours [if an actual reservation]. I wish you good luck finding another accommodation that meets your needs."

[Sandra126]

Ok @Ben551, I have two listings: one has 100% acceptance rate, shows up high in search, does all the right things. the second one has 17%, does none of the right things, shows up on the last page of listings.

I notice that when have declined in the past on the ''right'' listing, it takes a dip. So that is why I do as @Lisa723 does. Accept all the way. It works, sort of. You can get upset guests this way too and that is not what we want. I tell them that in the future, make sure you do enquiries rather than requests when asking for something out of the boundaries a host has set. But that is really where the tricky thing lies, with guest understanding of the system. It is low, and why would it be high? The guests just try to get something they want, and can't see a problem with asking.

[Lisa723]

@Sandra126 @Ben551 I often add an explanation. "Because Airbnb penalizes hosts who decline inquiries, I'm accepting..." I've never had anyone get upset, or want to book anyway. People usually just think they might as well ask, and why not?

[John1080]

I have been told a few times by Airbnb that denying inquiries has no impact on the listing or our progress. It certainly seems not to impact the 'acceptance rate,' but who knows, it very well could impact the ranking of our listings.

I had to decline a string of requests and inquiries recently and have seen a decline in my bookings. Of course, this very well could be due to the fact that its winter and the low season. My views have remained fairly constant. 

[Ben551]

@Sandra126 @Lisa723 I think I’m still seeing a potential issue here...

Situation:

1. Host has listing tagged as unsuitable for children.
2. Host uses instant book.
3. Guest wants to book with children anyway.
4. Guest sends reservation request for adults and children.
5. Host must either Accept or Decline.

In the case of the above, you’d recommend a host clicks Accept, then sends the guest a message along the lines of this one “Because the AirBnb system penalises hosts for declining, I’m going to accept your reservation request. However, should you proceed with your booking, it is on the condition that you will not be bringing children.”

Something like that?

[Lisa723]

@Ben551 yes.

[Ben551]

@Lisa723  awesome, thanks. Sorry if I’m being a bit dim... lots to learn.

[Sandra126]

Let me elaborate, having just had this as a request:

Accept: Because the AirBnb system penalises hosts for declining, I’m going to accept your reservation request. However, should you proceed with your booking, it is on the condition that you will not be bringing children. ADD THIS: You have 48 hours to cancel penalty free if this doesn't suit you. Because a request, once accepted, becomes a booking.

Now my ending this time was not happy, as guest became absolutely livid. Really, it is not ideal in any way but the best we can do, possibly? Guest said she should not be punished because I didn't want punishment myself, and that an infant doesn't count an yway (hers was a toddler) and she was planning to report me.

Tricky stuff. A request becomes a booking automatically, so you can offer for guest to withdraw request to avoid getting charged, which will be annoying for them as they have to wait for money to be reversed before they have it back in their pocket. This is what I did with guest above, and she said I was blackmailing her into withdrawing request. I was only being nice because she had stayed before, minus child.

For me this is a BIG DEAL. I don't want to have to carry on with this explaining and wheedling with guests.

[Ben551]

@Sandra126wow, that is a horrible situation.

Is there any way you can restore the situation?  Maybe turn it around and state the reasons for not accepting children.  Often I find parents react poorly to being told "no children" because they see it as intolerance.  You could try explaining to her that you "sincerely value the safety of her and her infant and that your reason for not accepting is for safety and insurance purposes".  People tend to "get it" when you say your insurance company won't cover you for liability of minors (mine doesn't).  So far guests to send me an enquiry tend to understand, particularly at the point I also add that my cottage is set in the heart of the NZ bush, therefore there are natural hazards that are almost certain to lead to injury (even death) of a child.  Now I don't want that for them anymore than they do.

Honestly, it's just the situation I was worried about in the back of my head with Accepting to save my search results, particularly because I'm not entirely confident that AirBnb would "back the host" if it came to a dispute.  By all accounts it's unlikely... she has a point too, seeing it from her perspective, which is why I was a little reticent. 

As much as it bothers me, I think I'm actually more comfortable rolling the dice and hitting Decline.... then duking it out with AirBnb later if they try to punish me for enforcing my rules; which are there to protect the safety of my guests at the end of the day.

[Sandra126]

All correct, @Ben551. And I do say why. But I get requests starting with ''I know you say you don't allow dogs/children/10 guests..'' You can certainly keep declining, until you are delisted. It will happen shortly after 17% (I have had the warning). I declined three in a row once, same request twice as they repeated themselves. Got a warning then too. I want to trade, and I want to trade well. So I accept as much as humanly possible.

[Lisa723]

@Sandra126 @Ben551 the children issue, and the infants don't count issue, are tricky I agree. I don't run into these because we accept children. Also, none of my spaces are shared so I've never had to consider declining someone just because I didn't want to room with them.

[Sarah977]

@Sandra126@Ben551@Lisa723  Another thing that's worth trying is to just message the guest back when they put in an inappropriare booking request, as long as you're still a ways away from the penalizing 24 hour window. Explaining to them why you can't accept and telling them that they should cancel the request ASAP, because otherwise you'll have to click on Accept before the 24 hour mark so as not to be penalized by Airbnb. If they are made aware that you won't let them on the property under the circumastances they're proposing (too many guests, children, party plans, etc) and that they have the choice to cancel the Request by XX hours, or have their credit card docked if you click on Accept, only to have to wait to be refunded when they have to cancel it , I think most would choose to cancel the request rather than the booking. If they cancel the request within the 24 hours, you are saved from having to click on anything.

[Lisa723]

@Sarah977 yes good point!