Request stay instead of instant book

Request stay instead of instant book

Good afternoon fellow hosts, 

      I have a question regarding a scenario that keeps coming up, and I wanted some of your suggestions on how to troubleshoot. 
       If you have instant booking on, and you get a request/message from a potential guests, expressing their excitement in coming to your place, but it’s not a booking it’s a request, why would that happen? 
        Is there a scenario where some cannot instantly book? Because at this point I need to approve her request. 
Is that possibility a red flag I need to investigate? And if so, how should I investigate? 
    Thank you for your ear! 
Paige Deale 

6 Replies 6
Debra300
Level 10
Gros Islet, Saint Lucia

@Mike-and-Paige0,

Depending upon the Guest Requirements you have selected, a guest may not meet all of your requirements for instant bookings (e.g., no host recommendations or a profile photo), and will be given the option to submit a booking request.  This will give you the opportunity to vet the guest, and decide if you want to allow them to book despite not meeting your booking requirements.

 

Debra300_0-1599323483275.png

 

Emilia42
Level 10
Orono, ME

@Mike-and-Paige0 

Guests can always click the Contact Host button to send you a message but if the guest wants to confirm their stay they HAVE to start the booking process. If the guest meets your parameters it will come through as an instant book. If not, it will come those as a request to book. There is no either/or. There most likely is something within your booking settings that is preventing this guest from instantly booking.

Okay thank you, I wanted to avoid the interrogation line of questioning but I did it nicely. She didn’t meet the age requirement. 
thanks for your help. 

Sarah977
Level 10
Sayulita, Mexico

@Mike-and-Paige0  As a host who has never used IB, I just want to say not to be scared of booking requests. The guest may not meet your IB requirements, i.e. they are new to the platform and have no reviews yet, but that doesn't mean they are necessarily red flags. It's just a matter of sufficiently communicating with the guest to make you feel at ease that this guest doesn't throw up any red flags.

 

I understand that having requirements for IB bookings is a safeguard for hosts who don't ordinarily communicate with guests before a booking is confirmed, but personally I can tell you that I have never had a bad guest in 3 years of hosting, and many of those guests wouldn't have met IB requirements. I judge primarily by how a guest communicates, whether they have bothered to write up a little blurb about themselves on their profile, and if they do have reviews, of course I read those.

 

I've also had several single female guests who've told me they would never IB- they want to have some communication with the host before committing to a booking so they don't have any red flags come up for them.

 

Also- it doesn't sound like you understand the difference between a booking request and a inquiry. For booking requests, you must either accept or decline within 24 hours. For inquiries, you do not need to either pre-approve or decline. Just answering the guest's inquiry message within 24 hours is all that's required of you. Even if you pre-approve an inquiry, the guest has to then go on to book, it's not automatically confirmed like a request is if you accept it..

Thank you I appreciate that insight. 

Mike-And-Jane0
Level 10
England, United Kingdom

@Mike-and-Paige0 There are also times when a guest wants a different check in time to that allowed. When, under IB, they request to book a request for a different time can be hidden towards the bottom.