Declining booking requests - especially bookers with no info

[Phil-and-Lisa1]

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:

1. More encouragement to ask bookers to provide info about their stay and themselves.
2. Higher prominence of info to guests on why hosts sometimes reject booking requests.
3. 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.) 
4. 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. 
5. 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 

[Joelle43]

Hello @Phil-and-Lisa1 

You make some very valid points Phil and because of the many issues you raise, I am not on Instant Book as I want to vet who I let into my place as we only have a first name to go on!  Communication is key to establish if a guest will be a good fit or not.  The stakes are high if we get it wrong. 

I agree with you that Airbnb could do a better job of informing guests on how to increase their chances of having their request accepted if they were more forthcoming in that initial first message and the importance of filling out their profile.  My impression lately though is that Airbnb are pushing hosts to favour IB, free cancellations, self check-in and low pricing - all of which ensure that you will appear on those first few pages of a search result.  The rest of us, have to get in line no matter how good our reviews are. 

I much prefer receiving an enquiry than an actual request to book as the implications on our stats are different. I made a Guide on the subject earlier in the year to explain to hosts how they differ and how they can impact our listings in search results.

Wherever possible I will try and get the guest to remove their booking request (request to book) by explaining that my place wouldn't be suitable for them for XYZ reason rather than decline the booking myself.  I get a lot of booking requests for families with young kids although I have ticked the box that for security reasons, the apartment is suitable for older kids only.  Annoying that I could be dinged for something that is clearly explained and set in my parameters on my listing but still Airbnb offer up my listing to guests with young children.  Enquiries are so much easier to handle as only a reply is necessary to keep our response rate up.

All the best
Joëlle

[Phil-and-Lisa1]

Hi Joëlle, Good to hear your advice!

To be honest, for us, I'm not sure I would ask a booker to remove their booking request.

I guess in situations where it's clear - like the booker wants to bring kids and your place doesn't take kids - it seems fair enough to ask that. No problem. 

The trouble is when it's grey - which is what we seem to be getting. That is that they haven't provided info about who they are, why they're staying, and they don't have reviews. That leaves me not confident at all about who we're taking into our home.

Do I ask the prospective booker to remove their booking request? My gut feeling is not to.

I think what I'll do initially is politely ask for more information. If they don't get back to me or their answers are still vague after a few prods I think I'll politely decline the request. I'd definitely do that before the 24 hours is up. And possibly earlier (to try to maintain our quick response time.) 

I'd provide a polite note to go with it. That's the hard part I still need to work out. Thinking to say something like we have a policy of only taking people with reviews or we like to have some information about guests as we're opening up our home. Or .... not sure ...

Any tips from the Airbnb host community on what to write are welcome! 

Thanks again from Phil in Australia 

[Greg2406]

@Phil-and-Lisa1 

Good list.  From rough start, we learned to become Olympic Gold Medal vetters.   Ask questions of all guests.   Many hosts have a well drafted set of questions to ask perspective guests with no reviews.   If the perspective guest gets frustrated or otherwise aloof in their responses, probably justification enough to politely decline.  

Also, we have learned to tell quite a bit from the answers that are provided.   One perspective guest with no reviews provided answers that led to more questions.   Near the end of the conversation, we found out that there was going to be a group/party, multiple animals, and number of additional individuals that would put the property at over capacity.   

Best of Luck. 

[Phil-and-Lisa1]

Thanks Greg - good advice. Very confirming that I need to be braver about asking a few polite questions - and if the prospective booker can't answer or deal with it maybe they're not the right fit. 

[Zheng49]

@Phil-and-Lisa1 I think a decline can potentially hurt your search rankings.

I usually try to get the guest to decline it themselves, and would only decline myself if absolutely necessary (such as the booking request timing out soon). There are a lot of things that can influence the algorithm; I doubt regular support would know all the conditions. 

In fact, I don't think most people have access to the core logic that controls the algorithm. 

For example, I found out this the hard way, but I think a cancellation even after the reservation has already ended can tank your search rankings. It may read as 'Cancelled by guest' instead of 'Cancelled by Airbnb'.  Airbnb support may tell you that everything's fine, no penalties etc. but as I explained, I don't think regular support have access to the core code that controls the algorithm. 

I think the only time a cancellation doesn't ding you is when it says 'Cancelled by Airbnb'. 

[Phil-and-Lisa1]

Thanks Zheng! Was thinking that too - the call centre folks are trying to be super-nice but may not know the whole deal. Which is why I think Airbnb should put it in writing rather than keep it vague and keep hosts guessing what the real story is.