How can you keep response rate when needing more info?

[James165]

As happens often, I got an inquiry from someone with no information and no reviews. I am not a hotel, so I want to know more about someone, so I ask for more but hear nothing. Meanwhile the threatening response rate clocks ticks, explicitly saying accept or decline. If I decline, none of the reasons given applies since they don't allow for "lack of information". Plus I know too many declines will penalize me. I realize Airbnb increasingly just wants to generate transactions and seems to have less concern for owners. I get that - it's where they make their money. But any suggestions on how others are handling this? I see one post saying a response is a response, regardless of whether you accept or decline, but NONE of the Airbnb help screens back that up and I don't want to try it and lose my superhost status.

[Letti0]

@James165 One of the things I include in my reply is that we are on property and can be at the Guest house in moments if they have any issues. The party idea is killed and they cancel. Unfortunately not all hosts have this option, but even saying you're close by if issues arise may help. 

[Omri0]

As far as I experience, you just need to respond.
You don't have to accept or decline as long as you wrote back something...

[Letti0]

@Omri0 This was a request to book, not an inquiry. 

[Omri0]

I understand. 

As long as you answer within 24H your response rate won't be affected.
(even though the clock is still "ticking") 

[James165]

Are you sure? Everything in the Airbnb FAQs say it requires accept or decline. I don't want to test it then lose superhost status due to delay in response.

[Omri0]

I had few cases when I asked my guests questions and they didn't reply on time.

My response rate remained at 100% even though I didn't confirm or decline the booking yet. 
(Inquiry or booking request)

[Letti0]

@Omri0 Hosts that have not replied one way or another to a booking request have had their days blocked for not responding Accept or Decline. It's considered a cancellation then by AirBnB.

Expired reservation requests

If you don’t accept or decline a request within 24 hours it expires and the dates of the request will remain blocked in your calendar. You can go to your calendar to make these dates available if you’re able to accept reservations on those days.

If you’re still interested in hosting the guest, you can send a Special Offer .

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/28/what-do-i-do-after-i-receive-a-reservation-request

[Letti0]

@Omri0 What is your Acceptance rating % ?

[Omri0]

Hi,
I have three listings.
My average acceptance rate is 88.8%
My response rate is 100%

[Clara116]

@Letti0@Omri0 I believe what you are writing about is not totally clear.

Booking request - guests want to book your place and have given credit card etc. You just have to accept or decline- we can ask questions, etc. BUT if we decline it matters and affects our ratings. Since guests is ready to book if we accept, ABB does take notice of this and our actions. 

Inquiry about booking - guests are shopping and probably asking and looking at several listings. We have to respond within 24hrs and best within 1 hour. As long as we respond with questions, want additional info we can just let the clock tick down..............we do not have to decline or accept if we don't want to.. It doesn't affect ratings if you have responded and guest went silent. This is my experience and my ratings are 100% on about 60 groups in the last year. hope this makes sense. Happy Hosting, Clara

[James165]

I just sent Airbnb a support request about this. I've done three declines in the last 10 months, since turning on instant booking (which Airbnb all but forced on us). 2 of those were cases where the guest made the booking request, but had no profile, no reviews, and did not respond to any questions I sent. One was a case where a guest did not read my information and tried to reserve an entire summer. I since changed my settings to where I think that won't be possible! So it just sucks to be penalized when I always response immediately and am eager to accept once I know that someone is a real person and agrees with our conditions.

[James165]

Here was the customer support response:

Since the acceptance rate does not affect your Super Host status, you can always decline when you feel uncomfortable with the Guest

The acceptance rate is just there so you can now more or less what is your % of declined reservation 

(complete with smiley face)

Today at 10:07 AM

[James165]

Just had another one. No bio, no reviews. Did booking request with one line "We are looking forward to staying in your house." Said "one person" even though "we". I messaged right away. 20 hours later, no response. So, I can decline and let Airbnb yell at me, or accept and hope for the best. The situation is really not acceptable. 

[Letti0]

@James165  I would call AirBnB. Tell them you have not heard back from him and your response time is almost over. Mention the 1 person booking and the "We" in the message. Ask them what to do because you don't want to get dinged for declining because they haven't responded. I have had them decline it for me once with no penalty to me and they called the guests another time.

AirBnB number:

United States and Canada

+1-415-800-5959 +1-855-424-7262 (toll-free)