[VIDEO] Inquiry vs. Request: What's the Difference?

[Dave-and-Deb0]

Hello fellow hosts,

As many of you know, I have created well over 30 Help Guides (to help hosts navigate the Airbnb landscape.  I am now taking these Help Guides and turning them into video format via my YouTube Channel call The Helpful Host.  I hope you will take the time to like my videos but more importantly, subscribe to my channel and then you will be notified when new videos are released.  You can also comment below the videos for suggestions you would like to see in future videos.  I am hoping to release a new video at least once a week. 

Here is a link to The Helpful Host channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCati9mIFiW1JCYsTIy7MzUQ

You can also follow the Helpful Host on Twitter at https://twitter.com/helpfulhost or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/HelpfulHost

Here is the latest video which clarifies much confusion hosts have in determining the difference between an inquiry and a request and what they need to do to keep their response rating.

All the best and thank you for taking the time to watch the video and subscribing to The Help Host Youtube channel.

[Lizzie]

Hello @Dave-and-Deb0,

Loving the new video format of your Help Guides. 🙂 

For anyone wondering how to see Dave's other guides here in the Community Center, there are many in our Tips and Tutorials board, take look at this overview here. 

Thanks so much for sharing this.

Lizzie

[Jeet0]

This is amazing @Dave-and-Deb0.

Hope Airbnb is paying you in some form for your great work, becasue ideally Airbnb should have made all the Help Guides in text and video format, developed and pubshied as a user education and outreach initiaitve. Instead of leaving the burden on you and other helpful hosts. 

[Dave-and-Deb0]

No, no payment @Jeet0 but I would gladly accept any money Airbnb wanted to send my way.

Thank you for your kind words.

[Ange2]

@Dave-and-Deb0  

Great video, a good book mark for the many who ask what the difference is.  It has been a confusing, and costly problem for many (in terms of hitting decline and being penalized, etc.) due to Airbnb's word usage, which is always somewhat nebulous : inquiry is understood by many as a synonym for request, and vice-versa.

@Lizzie   Better would be something that is clear and precise.

For example:  'question'  instead of  'inquiry',  it is instantly understandable that a question is being asked and that a request to book aka a reservation request  is not being made.  Although, I have noticed that many companies indulge in nebulous word usage. I just had this conversation with another company. They sent me a long article to read defining what the company meant by a word they had used because it was in no way the commonly understood definition of that word, and neither was it a 'legal term' whereby companies decide what a word means:  up is down and black is white.

[Lizzie]

Thanks @Ange2, it is so good to hear your thoughts on this. Do you think amending this would cause further confusion or what do you think?

[Ange2]

@Lizzie   There is a lot of confusion about how to respond to 'inquiries' vs 'requests' there are numerous posts about it.  

I think it would be clearer if 'inquiries' were called questions or even 'inquiry questions'  if you want to maintain some consistency with what appears now,  and the  text should read "you have 24 hours to respond to the question with a message to the guest", rather than pushing people to decline, an action for which hosts are penalized.

But, maybe others will disagree.

[Dave-and-Deb0]

I do agree with the wording that should be changed to what you indicated @Ange2.

I just had an inquiry last night just after I went to bed and I usually respond right away.  I did receive an email that said, "Maintain your response rate and help Sabyasachi finalize their trip. Respond by 20:33 MDT on 03 Aug.".  Maybe it should be changed to something like, 

"Maintain your response rate by messaging Sabyasachi back by 20:33 MDT on 03 Aug so they can  finalize their trip."

[Fred13]

Intuitively, I have always thought that the names of these two should have been from the very beginning:

"Information Inquiry"

"Booking Request"

Airbnb, for some reason, oftentimes creates conventions that are inherently 'high-maintenance' for themselves. In this case, they require 1,000,000 hosts individually to learn a new meaning (Airbnb's particular meaning). The word "request' by itself is not self-explanatory. This shouldn't have passed 'their  good-business committee' in the first place. 

P.S. Love your work @Dave-and-Deb0

[Te0]

1 ) "Inquiry" should simply be "Question".

2) "Decline" button should simply be removed:

          - If a guest just asks a quesiton, why the host has to decline that question? That's non-sense.

          - If a response is sent, the host's obligation is done. Why the button is still there? Is it encouraged to be used? So rude.

          - If there must be a button to replace "Decline", I think, it's "Archive".