Do hosts get penalized for declining unqualified guests?

[Yan3]

Dear fellow hosts,

I'm sure this question has come up previously, but I'm relatively new to hosting and couldn't find a definitive answer for this.  Anyway, I have a question about pre-approving/declining guests.  Do we get penalized (i.e. lower search rankings) if we decline inquiries from unqualified guests who do not meet house rules?  I have gotten a few requests recently which were just begging to be declined:

1.  Booking attempts with number of people more than my place can accommodate for.

2. Inquiries from people who don't read house rules (no pets, no children, etc.)

3. People who attempted to communicate outside of Airbnb before a reservation is made.

4. People who don't respond after their first inquiries.

5. Lowballers asking for deep discounts.

I understand that I must respond within 24 hours, but is responding to the initial inquiry enough to avoid getting penalized?  Do we have to press "Decline" for it to be considered a full response?  Does declining an inquiry lower my search rankings?

Thanks,

Yan

[Amalia9]

We rent our home (where we live) when we go on trips. Unfortunately our schedule is erratic....so I have in bold "please do not send a booking request, please send us an inquiry first to tell us a little bit about your trip and if the dates will work with ours."

Unfortunately a lot of guests don't read ANYTHING. Not even the first sentence of your booking page.

So when I get a booking request that doesn't work for us, I write them :  "Hi Dear, thank you so much for your interest. Unfortunately these dates will not work for us.  We're very sorry and would have loved to host you both for your weekend visit to New York, you guys sound lovely! We hope we can host you in the future, It would be our pleasure.
If you don’t mind retracting the booking request for now I would really appreciate! We get a penalty otherwise.
Kind regards"

This technique ALWAYS works! just be super nice and they will cancel their request very quickly. 

[Susan1188]

Yes it is true, many guests might just be shopping around.
Maybe they have a dog and are trying to find an exception to the no pets rule.
Maybe they heard that hosts give discounts and they are bottom feeders.

It seems to me: double edge sword.  It's good that you got a click and an interaction.
But it is *always* bad if you don't "catch" that reservation.
Like fishing - you got a nibble, but you didn't bring home the fish.  

My suggestion is try to tweak your listing to limit undesirable interest - first thing would be improve your photos and listing, and increase the price.  Then try to refuse as few inquiries as possible while defending your interest and house rules.

When I get a shopping-around-tourist who I believe is abusing the system, I send a special offer at standard price and with standard house rules (so, without the dog or extra guest, whatever).  This will stop them from making multiple other inquiries.

Other solution is to block them as spam - they are spamming everyone searching for exceptions to published prices, that is spam.  

They will get a message saying they have contacted too many hosts and they have to decide on their stay.

[Angela104]

I agree with Adam.  i do not actually decline a guest, but just respond that it will not work, and explain why.  That always ends the conversation right there.

[Alfredo16]

Wow, ok, I am new at this and I guess I will follow your good suggestion.  I just started and felt uneazy about someone and cancelled the reservation a week before arrival.  I hated doing it but he said it was 2 or 3 people and well, I thought, you either know or don't.

I wonder how this works with Instant Booking???  😞  I set it that way to get people coming, but how can I select before they come without having issues?  Would you know, or is it the same answer?

Thank you  🙂

[Arturo-and-Cristina0]

Hi Alfredo, 

If you want to "select before they come without having issues?"..... then you have to remove Instant Booking.
That way guests will have to send you a request.... and now it will be up to you to either accept or decline.

Thats how my listing is setup.
It allows me to have a conversation with guests and ask them questions.

That way I know to approve them or not.

Hope this helps, 

Arturo.-

[Andrée2]

@Alfredo16,

While I have always understood that you will not be penalized for declining, you do get penalized for cancelling. It lowers you in searches as well as your stats which you can see on your dashboard. If you have too many cancellations in a 6 month period, they really can make it a dour situation as you are creating stress for your cancelled guests. Oftentimes, Airbnb contacts that guest and upgrades their stay to a higher valued rental in order to "save" their experience which means fewer booking for you and almost rewards those guests for poor communications with you. Only cancel when absolutely necessary and use your calendar to block dates that would not be convenient for you. Sometimes I will block a day after guests have a longer stay in order to give me more time to clean and assess as opposed to rushing for an incoming guest.

Instantbook is a nice tool but you really want to take the time to get familiar with the platform first as it can also send you into a frenzy and/or making exceptions because it would be too big of an issue to have to cancel. I would suggest that you use Airbnb as a host for 6 months, determine where your "blind spots" are in your listing that you need to clarify to potential guests, see what changes you want/need to make, THEN start adding Instantbook to your toolbox. 

[Ash-and-Dasha0]

There is no penalty for declining reservations or inquiries. But you would get lower ranking in your response rate if you don't accept/decline a reservation. It's better to decline than to say why a guest doesn't fit your accomodation than leaving the inquiry hanging for over 24 hours. 

[Ange2]

@Angela104

What if they have already booked?  The only option is to  decline if the listing is unsuitable.

[Mark-TP0]

Hi Angela.

I do the same as well but Airbnb continues to press me for accceptance within 24 hours when the guest has withdrawn.  Do you decline or not these people? 

Mark

[S31]

I once 'DECLINED' few booking (DECLINE button you see when the guest places inquiries)  and it hurt me for months to come.  Do not decline when people INQUIRE. 

[Ange2]

@S31  

You do not need to decline an inquiry (i.e a question about your space)  but you do need to answer within 24 hours

Check out this video:

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Hosting/VIDEO-Inquiry-vs-Request-What-s-the-Difference/m-p/77153...

[Rachel477]

I thank everyone for adding their thoughts on this topic.  I am a new host and had my first inquiry that made me feel uneasy because the person would not chat and did not have a profile picture.  This is not required of guests.  However it makes me feel better to have a small conversation first.  Fearing bad stats, I went against my better judgement and approved the booking.  Later, I had an inquiry where the person said they were bringing small children.  They may have not see this in my listing, so I explained my home has antiques and breakables and would not be suitable for children.  I then selected "decline" and gave those reasons. I did click the reason of not being suitable for children.  I have been wondering about how this would affect my stats.  My views have been low, I did reduce my rates for the next 30 days.

[David126]

You just need to respond to inquiries.

I have never had to decline a booking, there are ways of working around it.  Lowballers I pre approve, they do not book.

[Julie788]

Hi everyone - they now have a Superhost requirement called Accepted Reservations. I have only declined reservations unsuitable (too many people, trying to get bring children, don't meet my minimum requirements) and this has brought my acceptance down below average. In future, I will not decline. Thanks for the tip everyone.

[Ryan424]

I normally skip the entire problem and come out on top by politely replying to the guest sincerely apologizing, and stating that I cannot accommodate the guest and why, the reason behind my rules and if it's out of consideration of other guests also.  Then in a separate next message for emphasis I tell them that if they could cancel their request with me I'm sure they could find a suitable host in no time, thank them for their interest and wish them a great summer/winter etc. Works like a charm and I never have to decline anyone or worry about rankings, and the guest's profile is also not affected.