Why should I have to specify why I'm declining a persons reservation request?

[Bruno610]

Sometimes they have a terrible profile, with bad reviews or no reviews at all. Sometimes they have no verification.

Sometimes its simply that your gut tells you not to accept their request. Why should I give them a specific reason for declining when I just don't feel like accomodating them?

What are some vague or generic responses you guys use for declining guests you just don't feel like hosting? I've used "Sorry those dates are not available" before but then I get "Why are they open in the calendar then?"

I guess I just don't want to be rude.

[Bruno610]

I have no issue saying "no" to guests. I work in the luxury property management business as well as photography work, so declining requests or poor paying projects has never been a problem.

My issue is mainly with airbnb as a company and some of their practices that make homeowners feel pressured into accepting every single booking request - like reminding you that declining guests can be bad for your rating, having to respond withing 12 hours or it affects your response rate, or in this case, forcing you to give a reason for declining.

From what I've read in this forum post, a lot of you accept almost every request you get, and that's great! But I'm afraid I can't do that so easily. 

You see, I live in a little tourist town called Cabo San Lucas, a place where people literally come  here to get absolutely hammered, **bleep** faced and whatever other word you can find for getting destroyed. I've had guests seconds after I've greeted them asking me where the strip club is. I went to check an apartment I managed after guests checked out only to find blood and used condoms all over the floors, including ruined towels and sheets (outside of airbnb). 

None if this stuff scares me and most people are not like this. In fact most people are great. 

But these kind of experiences make you a little bit more critical of who you are accepting. Specially if you might manage a property that's isn't entirely yours. 

[Rebecca0]

Lots of interesting perspectives here!  I am with @Sam0 - I only ever turn away people who want something that is not on offer.   I don't care what a guest looks like so the profile photo means nothing to me.  I no longer care whether a guest has a written profile.  Government/official ID means nothing to me - it doesn't stop anyone being a nightmare guest.   You still have to chase them down after the fact (yeah, good luck with that) and the worst ones will have fake ID anyway.

I used to be more attentive and "screen" people but after a few hundred guests I realised it made no difference.  You never know who is going to show up and what they'll be like, you just never really know. 

Like the wise @Anonymous says, the tone of correspondence is probably the best predictor.  But even that is no guarantee. In fact, my biggest red flags now are:

1.  "We are really clean"   

Okaay....  you actually need to specify that? That tells me you're really not very clean and tidy at all, are you?

2.  "We are very friendly and laid-back people"

Again.... you actually need to specify that?  Guaranteed miserable feckers.

In conclusion.... some of my absolute Best Guests Ever have been monosyllabic with weird profile photos.  My absolute worst guests have ticked all the usual screening stuff. 

[Paul154]

@Rebecca0,

Your experience is like mine. My worst guests are the ones that say "We're very clean"

 or "We're really nice" .

The red flag goes up, because they have had an issue with this before.

The scammers are the ones who talk a good game, cuz they have studied it.

I want the guests who aren't oh-so-cool. They just want to spend money, sleep and go visit the city. 

The truth of the matter is most all guests are good and I never turn anyone away without good reason (it's happend twice out of 500 requests). My love of money overlooks many imagined imperfections in guests.

[Bruno610]

**This is a response I typed for a comment but I will also post it here because this post has gone a little off topic**

I have no issue saying "no" to guests. I work in the luxury property management business as well as photography work, so declining requests or poor paying projects has never been a problem.

My issue is mainly with airbnb as a company and some of their practices that make homeowners feel pressured into accepting every single booking request - like reminding you that declining guests can be bad for your rating, having to respond withing 12 hours or it affects your response rate, or in this case, forcing you to give a reason for declining.

From what I've read in this forum post, a lot of you accept almost every request you get, and that's great! But I'm afraid I can't do that so easily. 

You see, I live in a little tourist town called Cabo San Lucas, a place where people literally come  here to get absolutely hammered, **bleep** faced and whatever other word you can find for getting destroyed. I've had guests seconds after I've greeted them asking me where the strip club is. I went to check an apartment I managed after guests checked out only to find blood and used condoms all over the floors, including ruined towels and sheets (outside of airbnb). 

None if this stuff scares me and most people are not like this. In fact most people are great. 

But these kind of experiences make you a little bit more critical of who you are accepting. Specially if you might manage a property that's isn't entirely yours. 

[Anonymous]

@Bruno0  While you can't control the choices your guests make when they go out on the town, you can certainly make choices to protect your property and determine what kind of stays you are going to accommodate.

You can choose to only accept long-term stays by increasing your Minimum Length of Stay. You can choose to offer a hosted listing, with yourself on site to supervise the property, rather than an entire-home listing, if your property accommodates it. You can eliminate breakable or valuable items, get a robust mattress protector, and impose strict rules against additional/unpaid guests to minimize the potential damage from hard-partying visitors. You can add cameras at the entrance to monitor who's coming into the house (as long as it's disclosed to guests). You can block your calendar during Spring Break or whenever the peak season is for bacchanalia. You can make your property available only to solo guests. You can take your listing off Airbnb altogether, and choose a service with settings that fit your needs better. 

Any of these possibilities seems more realistic than making snap presumptions about prospective guests' alcohol/drug consumption or nightlife interests. 

[Victoria567]

@Bruno0

It appears that your  location as party town central, attracts what we the U.K. call Stags and Hens or guests with party animal traits who want to have fun, fun, fun!

You've really had some experiences at the shallow end of the guest gene pool, regarding this type of booking and you really seem tired about the frequency of this type of guest who obviously wants to let their hair down and everything else too.

You’ve  unfortunately had to clear up after them etc etc.

My solution to this, from my own experience,  is Instant Booking and I know several other hosts, are currently experiencing problems, with this Instant Booking as evidenced in these threads.

In my personal experience, Instant Booking allows you to decline a booking after its made, no fuss no anything, no financial penalty to you or your listing.

Have a strict cancellation policy.

Security deposit.

Have a strict set of house rules.

No alcohol, no drugs etc etc.

Spell it all out clearly, what your additional rules are.

If you lose a few bookings from rogue guests, don’t lose a nano second of sleep over it.

Ive refused several Instant Bookings this season ( I only host 4 months per year).

My home, my choice .....period.

I’m  sure other hosts will welcome this type of business. as somehow miraculously, once this type of party animal enters through these other hosts doors, they somehow experience an epiphany and become better behaved......really?...

.....it really depends, on how desperate you are for that tourist dollar and pressure from air bnb, stats etc ......you obviously are not, so decline your booking

......it depends on whether you’ve got a But and Ben or a luxurious dwelling, your shabby chic accomodation might just do with some extra shabbiness, if that’s your thing as a host, but not appreciated in your luxury accommodation....

.......it depends if you’re doing air bnb as a full blown business ranging from one room in your own family home or a room in a student flat to a business comprising several ‘units’.......and everything else in between.

.... it depends whether it’s helping you pay off your bank loan/ mortgage to get your foot on the property ladder and so on 

There are many reasons why hosts join air bnb and this can be reflected, in their hosting style.

Same goes for guests.

Id try Instant Booking, if these guest refusals are impacting on your listing and giving you increased worry which you can do without.

But I’d also ask some other hosts advice or experiences who have stopped Instant Bookings as there do seem to be some problems surfacing lately.

So far from my own experience of 3 seasons, I’ve found Instant Booking suits me, but then I would never host a holiday apartment, where I’m not on site as having read a few things on this forum,  just give me the heebies.

[Bruno610]

Thanks for the advice! 

[Rebecca0]

@Bruno0, please be aware that Victoria's advice to use Instant Booking as a solution is the absolute OPPOSITE of what the majority of experienced hosts would advise.

You DO NOT get to easily cancel IB bookings.   In your circumstances, having IB is the worst thing you could do.  You will spend all your time on the phone to Airbnb trying to persuade them to cancel when, in their view, there is no justifiable reason to do so.

*[Content hidden in line Community Center Guidelines]

[Letti0]

@Bruno610  I do have instant booking turned on and like @Rebecca0 states it's not easy to get AirBnB to cancel a booking. I had two bookings I had a gut feeling were going to be trouble and they would not cancel either penalty free, both turned out to be disasters for me. @Victoria567  must have a horseshoe up her a$$ to get so many bookings canceled penalty free because I have not found that to be the case nor have most hosts. 

[Huma0]

I wouldn't turn down a guest who has no reviews. We all have to start some place and I've hosted lots of first timers who were great.

Even if the guest has a bad review, I will ask them about it to give them the benefit of the doubt (I'll also have a look at the review the guest left for that host and the ones the host has left for other guests). There's always two sides to a story.

Here's a recent example: around the same time, I received requests from a young woman travelling alone and a young couple from Germany. Both had a bad review/ratings for cleanliness. In the case of the young woman, it was due to an accidental spill on a carpet which she paid for. She had several other positive reviews. In the case of the couple, this was their only review, wasn't good at all, but no specifics were given by the host. When questioned, the couple said they were totally baffled by the review and that the host was actually abroad at the time they stayed.

On the surface of it, the girl looked like the safer bet. However, the couple communicated well and I decided to give both a chance. It turns out the couple were no problem at all and left everything clean and tidy. The girl, on the other hand, left numerous stains on the sheets, duvet cover and bedspread (some black marks and also blood stains), most of which wouldn't wash out. She also left rubbish all over the floor. She broke quite a few house rules. She wasn't the worst guest, but she wasn't the best.

So, had I heeded the previous reviews, I would have avoided one messy, annoying guest and lost some perfectly good ones for no reason. The couple also would never have used Airbnb again if I had declined them as they had already been stung by their first and only prior experience.

I used to think that it was safe to judge a guest based on reviews, but now I'm not so sure. I recently hosted a couple who currently have 35 reviews, almost all of them glowing. They were the rudest, most demanding and unpleasant people and broke several house rules.  They deliberately tried to intimidate me through some pretty extreme tactics and scared the living daylights out of my other guests. Their behaviour was bizarre, bordering on psychotic.

My only consolation is that at least one of their other hosts didn't find them to be 'perfect guests' and simply wrote 'Ok' in her review. I wish she had given more detail though. I can only imagine the hell they might have put her through, but other hosts reading that won't.

[Victoria567]

@Huma3

My ghastly industrial laundry guests, had terrible reviews as both a host and a guest herself.

I had accepted an instant booking for this guest, but somehow I could not access her reviews, but I foolishly did not follow this up, as it was near the end of of my second season and I had been extremely fortunate in that, I had a long uninterrupted run, of truly fabulous guests for nearly 2 seasons.

Plus I never really thought,  I’d get a guest that was so creative in washing and drying their laundry....it was something I’d never have dreamt of, as it was beyond my ken.

So as a host I appreciate a factual review of what happened, the main sources of a last hosts discomfort in the form of a factual review

Guest XYZ drained my hot water tank and my 2 large back up cold water tanks leaving me with a £200 plumbing bill.

I really don’t need to know from a fellow host, that this potential guest is better suited to a hotel, from fellow hosts.....just the facts will do me, thanks!

So I can make my own reasoned judgement on whether a particular guest behaviour will be, my red line drawn in the sand!

What some guests may think is acceptable in their home may not be acceptable in another hosts home and that’s why a simple factual review is the best way forward.

Preferable to me, rather than trawling through a heap of vague “double speak”