Declining a booking due to bad review

[Gwen18]

Will declining a booking due to bad reviews affect my superhost status?  I know that's why reviews are important.  To let us choose not to accept these.  But I couldn't find anything addressing this issue on the help page.  Only pertaining to declining due to other reasons. I have been hosting over 7 years and have never declined a booking.  But don't have a good feeling about this one.  

[Shelley159 · Accepted solution]

Hi @Gwen18 

My feeling is that if you have been hosting for 7 years and you worry about this particular booking, just go with your gut. Other hosts can perhaps confirm this, but I'm fairly sure it won't affect your Superhost status. The factors listed are rating, response rate, number of stays and number of cancellations. A decline is not a cancellation, and even cancellations are allowed to be 1% of bookings.

[Mark5779]

@Shelley159   You mention going with your gut.  I agree. We are new hosts. How do you decline a booking when the person has no reviews and no information about them,  but your gut feels something is wrong?  Our cabin is marked towards couples wanting a romantic get away.  It's a 1 bedroom, 3 bath cabin in a very quiet area.  When we know nothing about the person, how do we know if the place is good fit for them and us?  

[Shelley159]

Hi @Mark5779 

The host who posted here has hundreds of reviews and was worried about one particular booking. Your situation is different in that, when you're new, it's much harder to know which decisions to take! Your listing looks great and you seem to have done very well so far, so you'll soon be comfortable with the rhythm of how things usually work out. 

I'm not the best host to advise about "vetting" guests - I tend to turn on Instant Book and hope for the best! Almost all guests end up being great, some require a lot of cleaning, and I spare myself having to guess who falls into which category. But like you, I see many bad stories in the posts here - sometimes things do seem to go very wrong. 

It sounds like someone has asked to book and you're worried about the lack of information on the profile. There are many hosts who ask specific questions to try and learn more about the guest before making up their minds. I hope you don't mind if I tag @Robin4 , who should be able to give you some advice. 

[Robin4]

@Mark5779 

Thanks @Shelley159 for tagging me to this questions of Mark's.

Mark I place no importance on a guests previous reviews, in fact I never even look at them! They tell me nothing, most of them will be sugar coated because both hosts and guests live in this Lala land where neither wants to get less than a 5 star review, so we pat each other on the back and the written review in many instances bares little relationship to the actual experience.

The review system is good at displaying positive reviews but, is lamentably lacking when it comes to negative reviews.

How often have we seen the post......"The guest had a string of 5 star reviews but broke just about every one of our house rules"!!

And Mark, the ones we really do need to know about have been removed because the guest has objected to them, and I am afraid Airbnb shows more loyalty to guests than it does to its hosts, so it's the host that gets left in the dark!

So the review system is not a workable way of picking poor potential guests, just dismiss it!

Mark, my most valuable tool is that first guest message, be it in the message stream as part of an enquiry, or the message that accompanies an Instant booking. There are to distinct types of guest! Passive/Complimentary or.......Aggressive/Demanding!

If a guest in that initial message names themselves and who will be travelling with them.

Tells me the the reason they are coming to stay and compliments me on my listing and what I offer.

Doesn't ask any questions, just wants to pull out their credit card and stay.

Mark, there is no more information I need, I know they will be great respectful guests and very rarely am I ever let down.

And on the other side of the coin when a potential guest launches into me with what off street parking is available, how early can they check-in. can they have some friends for a drink, is the spaced shared with the main house! Rest assured they are not the guests I want to host Mark, they are Hagglers and with each question they ask their intention is to make you the host give ground while strengthening theirs.

Never deal with a haggler. 

I just send back a polite message suggesting my property will not be a good fit for their requirements, I wish them well and suggest they look at other properties in the area that might suit them better. 

Mark, it's pretty much full-proof and the more you  analyse that initial message the better you become at avoiding a train wreck.

Cheers........Rob.

[Mark5779]

@Shelley159 @Robin4 Thank you both for the information.  I agree with you Rob, the rating system may not be a good indicator.  And I agree that the introduction message is probably the best indication of the guest.  After reading your thoughts, I look back at the guests we have had so far.  In hind site their introduction messages we very telling.  The one who made us wonder about them turned out to be the only one who made a mess and didn't;t follow the house rules.  

Again, thank you both for the information and insight.   Mark & Ruth

[Joan2709]

@Gwen18 

I agree with @Shelley159....go with your gut on this one. Looks like you have Instant Book turned on and must be using the optional settings that guest can't instantly book if negative reviews?

Declining a trip request doesn't affect Superhost status. However declining alot of Trip Requests can affect your search results rank. However, since this is the only one you will have declined...no worries. You have to decline alot of Trip Requests for it to affect you:

[Gwen18]

Thank you Joan!  

[Rebecca]

Hey @Gwen18 👋

What a great topic to bring up and you've got some greta responses here. What did you decide to do in the end with this booking request? Looking forward to hearing from you. 😊

[Gwen18]

Hi Rebecca!

I declined it. And felt good about doing that. Because the things mentioned in their bad reviews were things that do not make me happy when I go to clean after guests leave!  I’m sure most hosts can relate to that. 🤨

[Helen3]

If you read up on the conditions for meeting SH status not declining bookings is not one of them 😀

is it an inquiry or a booking request?

if it's a booking request just let the guest know you won't be able to accept his booking .

Airbnb will only say something if you decline multiple business bookings in close sequence.