Guest request

[Rachel2157]

I have someone requesting a long-term stay and I would like to counter with a partial acceptance and partial declination. How can I do that.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Rachel2157 is it a request or an inquiry? If the former your only solution is to message them and ask them to remove the original request and replace it with a new one if they match your needs. I think you need to go to your inbox to message them. If it is an inquiry just respond and don't accept/decline.

[Rachel2157]

Yes, that’s exactly what I’d like to do but I haven’t figured out how to message them.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

If it is a booking request then Airbnb took away the ability to simply message the guest. If you go to your inbox are you able to message from there?

[Huma0]

@Mike-And-Jane0 

What do you mean that Airbnb took away the ability to simply message the guest? Do you mean that we now have to accept or decline before messaging and when did this happen?

I had a booking request a couple of days ago that I, very unusually, accepted before messaging, just because the guest answered all the important questions in his initial message (so, so rare), so I wasn't aware there was any recent change.

Was there an announcement on this?

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Huma0 sorry I may be wrong but others on here say there is no longer a message button on a request just buttons to accept or decline. As we are IB I don't know if this is correct or not.

[Huma0]

@Mike-And-Jane0 

Mmm, very interesting as I would think this is a MAJOR development but I didn't see the CC littered with threads about it. Would be grateful if you could direct me to some if you have a spare moment. If not, no worries!

Out of the frying pan into the fire... Just when I switched off IB for my listings because I started finding it a royal pain in the backside, this comes to bite us in the butts out of the blue.

I really, really, hope this is not true. There is no way I am going to blindly accept request bookings without asking the guests any questions because most of them do not supply the info that I need without being prompted. That doesn't mean that they are going to be bad guests, but I normally can't tell if it's going to be a good fit until I ask some questions and this has helped to avoid numerous bad situations.  I am hosting multiple long term guests in my own home so I need to know a bit about them.

Here's the correspondence with my next guest:

Guest: "Internship at London for 2 months. Looking to check in on the 19th of May, late afternoon." [Actually more information than a lot of guests supply for a two month stay, but not enough for a guest with no reviews, no profile info etc.}

Me: "Hi X, thanks for your booking request. However, as you have no reviews and it is quite a long stay, I would need to know quite a bit more about you before accepting.

Also, I do ask all guests to confirm they've read the full listing and house rules before booking. Please pay particular attention to the points re the cats, smoking policy and the stairs. There you will also find a question that you need to answer so I know you've found the full version. Finally, you will need upload a profile photo if you have not done so already.

Do let me know if you have any questions about any of the above.

Best wishes,

Huma"

Guest: "Hi Huma, 

I completely get that, please feel free to ask me any questions you might have. I have only used Airbnb once previously, hence the lack of reviews.

A brief summary of who I am: I am 20 years old, I am a 3rd year Physics student at the University of Strathclyde, I am originally from Mumbai, but have lived in the UK for 5 years now. I am coming down to London for a 2 month long internship at a restaurant (you may have noticed I've taken the path of greatest resistance in my career choices).

I have had a read through your whole listing page, and I am aware and accepting of the rules, however I cant seem to find the question you've mentioned.

I have a profile photo up, however if its not a clear photo I could change the photo quite easily.

Thanks,
X

Me: Hi X, thanks for getting back to me. You won't see all the information on the landing page of the listing. You need to click on the various links, e.g. 'read more', 'show more' in each section to see the full version.

Please make sure to read these, particularly the sections 'other things to note' and 'you must acknowledge', as well as the full version of the rules. Once you do this, for sure you will find the question!

RE the photo, that's fine. Hosts cannot see them until after the booking is confirmed, but as it's a requirement of booking some listings, including mine, I just wanted to double check.

Many thanks,

Huma

Guest: 

Hi Huma, Sorry I've just finished attending a lab.

Pinot, Grigio and Merlot

I have read and acknowledge the house rules.

This is the point where I accept the reservation and this is nothing unusual. It's normally the sort of back and forth I need to go to with guests before I can accept and the reason for this is that before I did it, I had guests book who did not realise that I lived in the property and thought they were going to get the whole four storey house in London, cats included, for £50 a night and similar nonsense.