Guest's reqesting long term rentals

[Suzie20]

Hi

We have a holiday rental in a small town in NZ that is full to capacity. I am having a lot of requests coming through for two night stays whereby the guest is only putting dates in to email me about a long term rental.

What should I do in these situations as if I decline does that block out my dates and the traveller wasn't actually wanting those dates in the first place? And will this affect my host status.

I'm confused, please help 🙂

Many thanks

Suzie

[Hilary-And-Ed0]

Hello @Suzie20,  

I have had something similar happen.  A prospective guest has inquired about dates, and then stated that they were really interested in other dates.  Assuming you would be approving these people, just approve the dates they are requesting (they won't book them), and then in your message stream,  tell them you would be happy to rent for longer if they put in the request for the dates they really need (or, you could tell them that unfortunately, you do not accomodate stays longer than two weeks, or whatever works for you).

[Suzie20]

Thank you Hilary & Ed, I really appreciate your comment.

That is what I will do from now on.

Many thanks & Regards

Suzie

[Rick25]

why advise to approve a request that one knows the requestor really doesn't want? seems dishonest.  In a similar vein, I've had requests for long-term stays (which might be Ok with me), but in the message, they say they can only pay a fraction of what the charge would be. Why would I approve these, knowing they won't pay?

[Barry-and-Lera0]

We get this often. Peak season for us is January-April and guests will book long term stays (3-8 weeks) with us well in advance (6 months out). There are always people that will input dates (that they are not looking to travel) to inquire if those dates are actually booked or just blocked.

Since there is never actually a booking, declining these requests does not go against you as it is never a "confirmed booking".    

[City-Limits-Ranch0]

When you decline there is an option to choose: guest is asking about dates that are different than those guest requested.

So decline and write a note explaining what you can offer the guest and choose the above reason.