Would you accept this guest?

[Zacharias0]

I received an inquiry from a potential guest below. Usually the long drawn out ones that are short on offering details about themselves and why they are visiting are an instant decline. They focus on what they want and the world revolves around them. These visitors are better suited to a whole house or a hotel room. Having no picture, reviews and just joining doesnt help their case. You cant get a good deal on the price AND send me a list of demands. I already declined him. What would you have done?

Hello,
I am interested in ur place from June 1 to July 12 and I have some questions:
1. Is the AC thermostat just for the room itself or does the entire house have 1 common AC unit? In other words, do all guests have to be on the same page as far as to when to turn the AC on/off or does each room control their own AC?
2. What is the exact mileage/distance from ur place the RIO?
3. Any car/street traffic noise in the room?
4. I will be coming home very late every night and will need to sleep-in until noon sometimes. Will this be a challenge during the day due to noise or pets or neighborhood kids around your place?
5. Even though I will be booking for 42 days from 6/1 - 7/12 I will be gone for about 2 wks throughout that time. So overall I will only be physically there about 25-30 days. Will u be willing to pro-rate those unused days? Or consider a discount?
Thank you so much for ur time and I look fwd to hearing back from u.

[Niel3]

Definitely decline (or put him off giving unsuitable answers to all his questions). The 6th word of his query would get my back up before even getting to his questions.

[Ann72]

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@Niel3 wrote:

Definitely decline (or put him off giving unsuitable answers to all his questions). The 6th word of his query would get my back up before even getting to his questions.

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I had the exact same reaction!

[Lawrene0]

You were right, @Zacharias0 , to have wished him the best in finding a place that is shared but private, close to downtown but dead quiet, perfect in every way but discounted.

[Amy-and-Brian0]

Declining using Airbnb's "Decline" button always makes us hosts seem like the bad guys. I tried it just today because the person wanted dates a year in the future but inquired about a date in April. There's no good canned checkbox on Air's list of reasons for someone asking a question with no intention of booking for the dates they selected to make the inquiry...

In  your case, we'd have said "Sorry, but our place doesn't sound like a good match for you. Good luck in your search!" and then archive the inquiry without declining or approving.

[Ben551]

@Zacharias0  Oh HELL no. There is no way I would host a guest like that. The first questions are ... whatever... but the last one is a deal breaker.  Guests who ask for a discount up front are a known red flag. Most often these are the types that have unrealistic expectations and belong in a hotel.

From a business perspective, a discount is given in exchange for a benefit. What benefit do you get from this guest leaving their bags in your space and preventing you from hosting other guests at full price? Maybe a $5 electricity saving. You still have to pay the same insurance and overheads... and you could get other guests at a higher rate, so you’d be foregoing revenue... 

Guests have money, but not sense.

[Alexandra316]

@Zacharias0 I'm betting that he just sent the same generic message to every host that looked vaguely likely because he doesn't want to spend the time to look at listings properly.

I wouldn't have declined, because I wouldn't waste a decline on him. I would just send a message saying that I don't think he's a good fit and leave it at that. For me, the neediness and the request for discount would mean he wouldn't be staying with me.

[Sarah977]

@Zacharias0  I don't find any of the questions particularly off-putting, although just asking questions without introducing himself or anything about his trip definitely makes it "all about what I need". But the last question for sure makes it a decline or message back "no go".

@Amy-and-Brian0  Why would you decline an Inquiry just because the guest entered dates that were not the actual dates they wanted? They have to enter dates to send an Inquiry, and if someone's calendar isn't open far enough into the future for them to enter those dates, there's not anything a guest can do about that. You don't have to decline or pre-approve Inquiries- all you have to do is message back within 24 hours. Declining affects your acceptance rate, avoid it where posible. And if they're entering dates they don't actually want, you can go ahead and pre-approveit- they won't go on to book those dates and your calendar won't be blocked.

[Amy-and-Brian0]

@Sarah977 As I said, we didn't decline them. We just messaged and archived the inquiry. Which is what we do unless it's spam.

My point above was that declining for a legitimate reason such as not asking for the correct dates still makes the host seem like the bad guy.

[Sarah977]

@Amy-and-Brian0  Thanks for clarification. But "Declining using Airbnb's "Decline" button always makes us hosts seem like the bad guys. I tried it just today because the person wanted dates a year in the future but inquired about a date in April" sure sounded like you did Decline- "I just tried it today". 

[Amy-and-Brian0]

@Sarah977 You're right. I should have said, "I tried it and abandoned it" because there was no "matching" reason that AirBnB allows for declining someone who only wants to ask you a question.

For instance, we have gotten people asking us if they can be our management company by inquiring on dates. That's just spam and frankly an illegitimate use of the system. But you still can't decline it without using something that doesn't match and also paints the host as negative. Host's should be able to mark something as "Not a real inquiry" or some such.

[Sarah977]

@Amy-and-Brian0  Yes, the choices in the drop down menus on many things Airbnb are severely lacking. It's like whoever comes up with them can't think past some very limited scenarios.

[Lawrene0]

@Amy-and-Brian0 , when it is an inquiry like your management company example - an advertisement or a reporter  - I pre-approve them. They aren't going to book anyway, and the system thinks I'm the good guy. 🙂

I save the answer-and-ignores or answer-and-declines for not-good-fits who might actually show up. 

[Noel102]

I've had people do this as a request before, not realizing there is a difference between an inquiry and a request, and I'll approve the request just to teach them what happens when they do that.  I had someone do that close enough to the date that they lost money.  No, I didn't feel the slightest bit guilty about taking their money.

[Kath9]

@Zacharias0, as @Ben said, hell no. Let me address his points in the order that he has listed them:

1. Is the AC thermostat just for the room itself or does the entire house have 1 common AC unit? In other words, do all guests have to be on the same page as far as to when to turn the AC on/off or does each room control their own AC? = the guest is probably going to have the AC on high, costing you a fortune in electricity.
2. What is the exact mileage/distance from ur place the RIO? = he can't be bothered just looking it up. Instead, wants you to go out of your way to look it up for him. This is actually the question that irks me the most out of all of them.
   
3. Any car/street traffic noise in the room? = that one's probably fair enough
4. I will be coming home very late every night and will need to sleep-in until noon sometimes. Will this be a challenge during the day due to noise or pets or neighborhood kids around your place? = is he serious? How on earth are you going to control daytime noise? Imagine being stressed about noise if he's trying to sleep in until noon! 
5. Even though I will be booking for 42 days from 6/1 - 7/12 I will be gone for about 2 wks throughout that time. So overall I will only be physically there about 25-30 days. Will u be willing to pro-rate those unused days? Or consider a discount? = is he expecting you to keep the room for him while he doesn't pay? Why doesn't he just make two separate bookings?
   

Anyway, good on you for trusting your instincts. Why don't people like this just book hotel rooms for goodness sake?