How do you handle declining booking requests? Especially bookers who provide little to no info on themselves.
Also do you think your search ranking goes down if you do decline?
OUR STORY:
We've had a number of requests from people this year who have had no information on their profile and in many cases no reviews and scant info in their message. (Seems like we're getting more of these after we moved from the city to the country.)
It makes it really hard as a host to decide whether to accept or decline. I wonder if we will drop in search rankings as a result of declining? It's not clear and a real dilemma as a host.
I also really don't like to reject bookers as I realise it must be difficult for people who are new to Airbnb - to understand how it works and get their first reviews. At the same time, it can be disconcerting for us to take people into our home that we know nothing about. I have rejected a few people that had no info this year - one of whom got pretty cranky with me.
On the other hand, I recently accepted someone with no reviews. But in hindsight, I wish I hadn't. That stay was the most odd in our 10+ years of hosting. To the point where I think we will no longer accept people without reviews - and I think I will (politely) push a bit harder to find out about people before they book.
We've hosted well over 120 stays now - so it is significant that I've come to this point.
I called Airbnb and was told that our place wouldn't drop in search rankings if we declined booking requests - and just that if you decline 3 in a row you would get a message asking about it. (I think it very unlikely we would decline like that. It would just be once in a while.)
Anyway, it'd be good to know for sure that we wouldn't drop in search rankings if we declined booking requests.
WHAT AIRBNB COULD DO:
Here are some thoughts on what Airbnb can do about this issue:
- More encouragement to ask bookers to provide info about their stay and themselves.
- Higher prominence of info to guests on why hosts sometimes reject booking requests.
- Better explanation to guests that they're staying in someone's home, not a hotel. (I do get the sense from Airbnb newbies that they don't get the distinction and think you should be able to just pay and that's it.)
- Clear explanation of what happens to hosts who decline - e.g. once in a while versus too many times - and the impact on search ranking.
- Better explanation of what factors influence search rankings. Including how big a role is declining booking requests - once in a while versus too many times.
(Thanks Airbnb forum manager - be great if you could please pass on these suggestions and maybe this post up the chain.)
What do you think? How do you handle declining booking requests? Tips welcome.
Thanks from Down Under,
Phil
