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

[Sven60]

If I understood the airbnb help section on the topic "how to become a superhist" correctly, the calculation for the "response rate" does not really make sense to me.

As far as I understand, for a host to become superhost, I have to reply to ALL messages within 24h ... but sometimes a guest just sends a message to give some information and does not expect or even want a follow up message.
Do I really have to send a message back to the guest, even if his does not want or it or it might even may him, just to keep my response rate up?

[Susan869]

Interested in the answer to this? I have responded where necessary, but if the conversation has naturally ended, for instance, enquirer says “ thank you” or “will book shortly” I don’t respond as it would border on hounding! I’ve never noticed any decline in my response rate which is currently 100%?

[Sabrina301]

@Sven60 I believe your initial response to a guest inquiry is what counts toward your response rate. No need to always be the one to have “the last word” in order to maitain 100% response rate.

[Sven60]

Can somebody (maybe even airbnb staff) confirm the experience from @Susan869 ?

[Lawrene0]

I'm not Airbnb staff, @Sven60, but I can confirm that @Sabrina301 is right. Often conversations go like this: guest asks question, host answers, guest says thank you. No need to add anything to that. It does not count toward response rate. It is booking requests and enquiries that are the big thing.

You can confirm it for yourself here: https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/430/what-is-response-rate-and-how-is-it-calculated

[Sarah977]

@Lawrene0   He is refering to an Inquiry. Submitting an Inquiry is the only way a guest can message a host. Asfar as I'm aware, answering the inquiry within 24 hours is all that is required. You can pre-approve or decline based on what the guest has written, but I don't think you have to as far as it affecting response rate (there is some debate on this, as airbnb is not clear, as per usual, but I believe Lizzie confirmed this not long ago).

A Booking Request has to be approved or declined within the 24 hours.

[Lizzie]

Hello @Sven60, @Lawrene0, @Sabrina301, @Susan869,

As @Sarah977 mentions here, I recently got more details on this from our Product Team as there was a little confusion on this. Take a look at my response here. 

I hope this helps.

Lizzie

[Fred13]

Remember, once you respond, the 24-hour timer goes away.  That tells you the host has met the minimum requirement, which is: Pre-Approve/Decline/Reply