Why doesn't answering a simple question NOT count as a response????

[James165]

It is very frustrating that an interested person can ask a simple question, you can answer it from your dashboard, but unless you pre-approve or decline, Airbnb acts like you've not responded. When a client simply says "hi" and all of a sudden they have a proposal in front of them, it kind of freaks them out - especially if they said "hi" to several properties. Why doesn't a response count as a response???? If they actually submit a booking request, then yes, I see that they should get an approve or decline within 24 hours. This is very frustrating as a host since it forces me to respond in ways that the potential guest is not asking and it makes Airbnb look silly!

[Robin4]

 @Alice-and-Jeff0 @Marit-Anne0 @James165

Well, maybe things are happening differently in some parts of the world, who knows with the Airbnb platform but, here is a screenshot of my procedure to contact James! @James165 I did not proceed with the sending of this but I could have...the option was there!

I hit the contact host field, I do NOT put dates in I simply put in a guest or two and as soon as I type a message into the message box, the option appears to send that message.....no dates are required...the send message field becomes active!

Alice, I do use this contact option often, and the reason I do it is to not put the host on the other end under response pressure....all I have done is ask a question. It works for me and it forms part of advice I have been giving to others!

This is not a recent change and I would be very surprised if you do not have the same option available!

Cheers.....Rob

[Lawrene0]

It must be a different-parts-of-the-world thing then, @Robin4, because in my test (my husband's guest account trying to contact my host account so I didn't interfere with another host's response rates), when I hit SEND, an error message popped up telling me to enter dates. Here is a screenshot of the error message:

[Robin4]

@Lawrene0

Hi Lawrene, yeah this is the thing that sh*ts me about Airbnb....we all seem to work to a different set of rules! 

The IB canellation rules are entirely different to US hosts than they are to hosts in other parts of the world......why!

I am going to take this up with those contacts I have to try and get a definitive ruling.

I do not get the error message you do....and this makes it so hard to give accurate information!

Like you Lawrene, all I want to do is help others, and I got my backside kicked for passing on sensitive information on the CC a couple of weeks ago!

I will pursue this and try and establish why your set of rules are different to mine!

Cheers Rob.

[Fred13]

I tried it too @Lawrene0, same results; ' inquirer' must enter dates. Interesting. Do you also get 3 choices - Pre-Approve, Decline and 'Reply' to address Inquiries?

[Lawrene0]

Yes, @Fred13 those are my options, too. I don't trust the assurance that a reply is enough for an inquiry. That has not been my experience. Clock kept ticking and warning messages popped up last time I tried it.  

Looking forward to hearing what you learn about the no-date inquiry, @Robin4. You can use me as a test subject if you like. I'll just pre-approve you 🙂

[Fred13]

  Funny you should say that @Lawrence0, I think you are onto something. I always just 'Reply', never 'Pre-Approve' or 'Decline' when answering Inquiries and my Response Rate clock goes slowly down by 1% about every other day, since i answer 25-30 inquiries a day (out of ~15k views a week). So eventually it plummets all the way to < 50%, then they reset it back to 100%, and already in the Stats it is at 97%, though 'Respond Rate is 100%. So of course will be below 90% by April 1st, and wouldn't make Superhost again, which frankly I no longer care. 

[Marit-Anne0]

@Robin4

Getting the same error message as the others when hitting the send button. 

[Alice-and-Jeff0]

@Robin4 - would you be so kind as to send me a message using this method? I'd like to test it out to see what it looks like on my end.  Thanks!  

[Gracia8]

As someone who to this point in time has only been a guest at airbnb's, I agree that it's kind of creepy and annoying to get those hyper emails inviting me to book, when all I've done is ask question.

[Cherie-and-Bill0]

I don't understand why I have to decline or accept a booking if the guest does not provide any information beyond a phone number in their profile. I have sent two messages politely requesting they fill out their profile, with no response from the guest.  I use instant booking, require an ID, but do not require reviews. I assume this will be one of my 3 'free' declines for the year. Also, is it true that this guest can rate me for 'booking experience'? If so, the cynical me could imagine a rival property (we just became Superhosts) making up a bogus account to sully our 5.0 stars. 

[Lauris-and-Gene0]

Thanks for bringing this up. This has been driving me crazy. Everytime someone sends me a simple request for information, I answer right away. And then I get hounded over and over by AirBnB to respond.

I also continue to be irritated that someone can make a booking request and provide absolutely no information about themselves. I seem to recall that way back when we first used AirBnB as guests, I provided my gov't issued ID as well as a bio, but then my husband had to provide the same information for himself because I had made a booking request for both of us. That would make it so much better than constantly having to write back to ask who the other person (or persons) is.