Reservation response rate

[Dan-and-Erin0]

I regret to inform the community that, as an owner-occupant, this is the response I am forced to give guests when I cannot commit to a booking around the holidays or too far in advance.  

"Dear Sharon, I am not declining your request for the reason stated by Airbnb. They have attempted to "refine" their platform by minimizing the options they offer - and they don't let you proceed unless you pick one.  I am declining because we may have family visiting at that time and I will not know the answer within 24 hrs. And... if I don't Accept or Decline you within 24 hrs, Airbnb penalizes me. The truth is that I cannot answer your request for another 2 weeks. Please do keep us in mind, and I'm very sorry that I am forced to decline your request rather than simply having the option to open a dialogue with you. Aloha, Erin "

I do not want to take my listing off the market for those time periods b/c I am usually able to work with my family and guests to accomodate everyone. I cannot do that if I simiply block my calendar for 3 weeks when my family will in reality only stay half that time. Airbnb keeps making it more and more difficult for me to use their platform. 

[Alice-and-Jeff0]

@Dan-and-Erin0 - As a responsible host, if you have unfinalized plans, you should take those dates off the market until you have them finalized.  Or better yet, don't allow for bookings farther in advance than 3 months.  You can change this setting at any time. 

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Dan-and-Erin0

My thoughts are the same as @Alice-and-Jeff0. If you can't commit beyond several months, why not just limit your availability to 3 months instead of, say up to a full year. Guests should not have to wait around for days while you discuss and finalize holiday plans with other family members. As someone who started as a guest user and is now a host, I really hated having to wait more than half a day for a host to get back to me about availabilty. I always though - If your listing is not available, just tell me asap so I can look at other options~ don't leave me hanging!

Because of this I've always tried to reply to inquiries as soon as possible and if I'm not sure about certain dates, I consider it my responsibility as a host to block those days off in advance before I'm sure. Uncertainty is worse than a decline.

[Dan-and-Erin0]

I'm perfectly happy to communicate clearly and quickly with guests, thereby allowing them to make their own best decision. My disappointment is that the platform doesn't allow you to decline the reservation request without designating a reason, for which they give a limited number of pre-determined responses, none of which fit my reason, causing my response to be a lie. The pre-determined responses used to have an option for "other", but it was removed. The platform doesn't allow you to continue without picking one of the canned responses. Further, the dates ARE available and we usually accomodate guests specific dates around family holiday visitors. As in the case above, we are able to accept their dates. But, that can only happen once a guest makes their request, and a conversation occurs b/t host and guest.  I would simply prefer the option to open an honest dialogue, stating my true reason for the "decline", regardless if I "decline" their dates initially. It would be nice if that option were still supported by the platform, as it was previously. The limited, and required, canned responses offer potentially unclear, uncommunicative and confusing interactions. 

[Jonathan6]

I don't think you fully get the ABB concept, they are trying to make this an easy experience for guests so they can browse dates and expect that when they send the inquiry it will be fulfilled.  They (and us other hosts) do not want guests declined unless there is a really valid reason (not that the host can't decide, but a problem with the guest).
 
Your approach is selfish, you need to block out dates that you are unsure about, it's unfair to potential guests and to us other hosts. We want our guests to have a good experience and come back again and putting up a listing that you may not fulfil on is not good customer service.
 
I think you need to review your perspective.

[Andrea9]

@Dan-and-Erin0

As everybody else has stated this isn't the way it works on Airbnb. You're not only giving a mixed message, by keeping dates open that might not be available you're not really keeping your calendar updated. Also know that if you end up declining too often you negatively influence your search algorithms. Worst case scenario with declining too often or several times in quick succession, you'll get Airbnb's message to update your listing and calendar to not have to refuse so often.

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Dan-and-Erin0

As a guest, I don't think I'd want to "haggle" with a host about whether the dates I want to book are available or not. While I agree that communication between host and guest is critical -  my experience as a guest/traveller is, dates I need accomodations for are not negotiable. (I'm not changing my flight itinerary or travel plans just so I can stay at a certain listing.) And I don't want to waste time "communicating" just to be told a few days later that a potential host won't be able to host me because their family decided to come on the days I was looking to book. 

Also I agree with you that Airbnb's canned options are too limited, and many times, I felt like my choice did not properly represent the facts - but to be totally honest, from a guest point of view, the listing is either available or it's not - and guests don't really care about the reason WHY the host declined. 

[Jann3]

Even as a new host-to-be I would consider @Dan-and-Erin0's method to be selfish! If @Dan-and-Erin0 requires guests to know the dates THEY wish to book, then @Dan-and-Erin0 should be responsible enough to do that as well for his family.

ie: If my property is open for a 3 month span yet I know that I will have family w/in that span I would take it upon myself to either tell my family to book it on ABB on a "special offer of $10/night (or something)" or I would block the dates. The first method I would hope they would understand would block the dates that they wish to stay so other people (guests) on ABB can use the property around them. It would also allow me to handle the property entirely through the ABB interface. The only other option is to block the property. You cannot have your cake and eat it too under the circumstances this host wishes to have.

What do other hosts think?