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 @Joelle43, 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 @Greg2406 - 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. 

[Samantha1532]

@Greg2406 I second the vetting and I would LOVE to see your list of vetting questions. 

[Phil-and-Lisa1]

Yes, it'd be great to see the vetting questions that hosts are using! 

(Good thought @Samantha1532.) 

[Greg2406]

@Samantha1532 

We are in a beach/fishing destination, so questions we ask of perspective guests will probably be different than those Hosts in other areas.    If it's an individual that has no reviews but has been on the site for more than a year, recommend that you may ask them politely that 'we see you've been on {platform} for quite some time.  Please explain the lack of reviews for this time.'   Also another honest question could be, 'Can you provide me with the Hosts name and property listing of where you last stayed?'    Long delays in response or lack of any response is usually a good indication that possibly they weren't the best guests.   We have had this happen many times and while it may have cost us lost revenue, it most likely saved us with a larger issue had we accepted.   

You will learn what questions to ask.  Important to get the perspective Guests engaged with conversations and good communication.  

[Greg2406]

@Samantha1532 @Phil-and-Lisa1    Sorry, mistyped in the above reply.   We would never ask any perspective Guest to 'explain' why no reviews.   Brain is on holiday mode!

We do ask where they have stayed previously and did the Host provide you with a review.    Getting engaged with a guest without a review is sometimes hard, but the more general questions you ask, the more info you will learn.    

Our general rule, but not always, is that if someone has been on a platform booking site for more than 1 year, especially those that have been on 2 or more years, but that do not have a review,..there is usually a pretty good reason why, and at least 80% or more of the time, we usually decline booking request.  

Understandably, not all your Guests are going to the the 'walk on water' type, but generally speaking the more responses to questions we get the better informed we are for those wishing to stay on the property.    Honestly, we have had a few of the 5-star types stay here that repeatedly broke house rules, so out the door they went.  

[Phil-and-Lisa1]

Thanks @Greg2406! Good advice. Now you mention it, I have noticed with a number of bookers with no info that they'd been on Airbnb for a few years but didn't have reviews. 

Hard to know whether they registered with Airbnb and then didn't move forward with it. Or actually they did stay at a few places and the hosts didn't write them a review - because things didn't go so well. That certainly is a possibility. 

That's another whole topic - hosts simply not writing a review because they weren't exactly happy with the guests. We've done that.

Do other hosts abstain from writing reviews for guests that were on the edge? I'm guessing yes. It'd be interesting to know how common that was. 

[Greg2406]

@Phil-and-Lisa1 

Good reply.   Yes, we have had a few '5-star' guests stay that were definitely not 5 star while in the property,...maybe a 2.5 guest and no, we did not leave them a review.   As ever host is aware, there is a exponential increase on AirBnB of Hosts receiving retaliatory reviews,..some hosts have even gotten off the platform all together because of it,. while still others have contacted CS with little or no recourse.   

Most every host has experienced that less than desirable guest(s) and responses are mixed in how to handle them.   Do or don't you leave a review?  Hard question.     We have been very lucky in that the last 96% of our guests have been fantastic.   For those few  that are in that 4% group,...we just don't review them, or if we do, we review them on the last day of review period deadline.   As we get more time in the listing, I believe we will cease in withholding the reviews of the guests that have issues with following house rules.  

What is desperately needed is a Host-to-Host ability of communications so that we can ask questions to the Host about perspective Guests booking requests.  The  platforms lawyers must have a bug up their back side on why they are not allowing Hosts this capability.    I was able to reach out to one PM company about a perspective guest request for booking where the PM company had left a negative review on the individual.   Could not get any information out of the company as they claimed client confidentiality.   I call B.S.    Needless to say, that individuals request for booking was denied. 

[Phil-and-Lisa1]

Thanks @Greg2406! Yes, the big majority of guests are great. The number of outright bad ones is tiny, like you say a couple of percent.

But actually then there are ones that are in the grey zone. Maybe 10% that do just enough to skate through but can often have 5-star reviews. I realised a while back that the star rating for guests is not always that helpful. On top of this, I think guests in these two latter categories often aren't reviewed at all.

Which is why you often don't fully realise you've had a skate-through type until you walk back into your home and find some small breakages and the food on the floor and little things they've taken from the house. Do you write a review in this case? It's not like they've had a party and trashed the joint. 

It's pretty personal to write something negative about guests. It's not like reviewing a restaurant. I can see why hosts don't review. 

Anyway, it probably is a good tip to be wary of guests with no reviews at all who have been on Airbnb for a while. 

[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 @Zheng49! 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. 

[Paula]

Hello @Phil-and-Lisa1, I hope everything is going well with you.

Three of our most experienced hosts have shared their advice on how to handle declining booking requests.

@Phil-and-Lisa1, if you find any of their answers particularly useful, please don’t hesitate to mark it as the top answer. You can do this by clicking the button below the comment, as shown in the following image:

This will help future Hosts with similar questions easily find this conversation.

All the best.