Just a few days ago I let my timeshare listing go online again. I got over 30 requests within the last 3 days - and unfortunately, as most of them asked for dates or rooms which were not available anymore, I had to decline the inquiries or requests. Even the inquiries or requests with ongoing communications I had to decline, as the Airbnb policies ask us to pre-approve within 24 hours. And this is definitely not always possible. Especially when you are communicating with somebody in another time zone. So, I had to decline the inquiries.
You can ask people to cancel their inquiry, but not everybody does this after you tell them that you don't have something available. So, you are on your own as host and have no other way than declining, as otherwise you will have a bad response rate.
Today I received an e-mail, that, when I go on declining, my listings might be deleted. I WAS SHOCKED!
I called the customer service. They told me
- that declining inquiries or requests has a negative influence on our approval rate (I can't find this rate by the way) and therefore
- I should block the days (which in a lot of cases doesn't make sense, as there might not be a 2 BR available, but a studio or 1 BR...) and
- change the description and ask people to just contact us via the CONTACT HOST link (which I did, but unfortunately people don't seem to follow this, or it still seems to be an inquiry - which I should not decline, right?).
As my timeshare is flexible in dates, number of rooms and even category of rooms, I am not able to keep the calendar of this listing up-to-date (there is a huge and complex portal behind where I can check all kinds of constellations depending on the guests wishes!). Therefore blocking my dates really doesn't always make sense.
Does anybody here have the same problem? How do you guys handle this?
I think there should not be a so-called 'approval rate' - we should be able to decline as many times as we want. It's our listing. And as long as we don't discriminate somebody, it should be possible to decline without consequences.
I think this kind of procedure (sending an e-mail with a threat to delete listings), is not a nice way to superhosts. It really makes me sad and I don't know what to do now. I just try to help people to find a nice vacation place!
What is your opinion on this?
Thank you in advance for your feedback! 😘