Guests that enquire never book?

[Mike896]

hi, this is just something that I noticed: potential guests that inquire instead of book never end up booking. 

They always seem to ask an simple question like "how's the parking", I answer, and then I never hear from them again.  It's not a big deal for me since I get a good booking rate, but I was wondering if anyone else noticed the same thing? 

Am I doing something wrong? They can still book even if I don't pre-approve them right? 

[Emiel1]

@Mike896,

Yes, they can book even if no pre-approve. But by not given a pre-approve, guest might think they are not welcome. Pre-approve also does not block the dates, a booking request does block the dates (so less flexibel).

[Ute42]

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Hi @Mike896 , @Emiel1  is right.

You are on instant book. If a guest doesn't IB with You but sends a booking inquiry, You can always send out a pre approval to this guest "to make him feel better" as this pre approval does not block Your calendar.

If You have 3 individual guests sending a booking inquiry for the exact same dates, You can send out 3 pre approvals to these people. The one that accepts first gets the deal.

[Sarah977]

@Mike896  I often get Inquiries which then get booked. I pre-approve the Inquiries if Im satisfied with the guest's communication and no red flags present themselves. If someone asks for something that I don't offer, like wants to book for 2 guests, when I only accept one at a time, I just message them back explaining that isn't possible, without clicking pre-approve or decline. As long as you respond in some way to an Inquiry within 24 hours, your response rate isn't affected.

[Mike896]

yes, I always reply right away.  I just thought it was strange that NONE actually book.  I'll take your advice to pre-approve; see if that does anything.  thanks

[Susan151]

It is rare that I get an inquiry that doesn't book. Since I use Instant Booking, the only reason for an inquiry is to ask a specific question. I answer honestly and about 95% of the time they choose to make a reservation. The remaining 5% are correct. My place isn't the right one for them. I would much prefer that they ask the questions before booking if they have any doubts. I really dislike having unhappy people in my house.

[Sarah977]

@Susan151  I don't use IB, and many of my guests, particularly single women, have told me they wouldn't use IB before exchanging a message or two with the host. They don't necessarily have any questions, but they want to get a sense of what the host is like before committing to stay in a shared home situation. 

[Susan151]

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@Sarah977 wrote:

@Susan151  ... many of my guests, particularly single women, have told me they wouldn't use IB before exchanging a message or two with the host. 

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That is interesting. I should go through my single female guests to see if they inquired before booking or not. I don't recall seeing that pattern, but I wasn't looking either.

[Sarah977]

@Susan151  I'd be interested to know if you find that pattern. The thing for me is, the majority of my guests have been single (or at least traveling on their own, they might have a boyfriend, girlfriend or husband at home) females, probably because I'm a female host, and only have a listing for 1 guest. I get male guests as well,  just not as many.

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Mike896

we don't host children so families can't instant book but they can send us inquiry.. and they do.... and ask us something trivial about parking or weather and hope we will not notice they are with children and will preapprove . If we do then they can book with children and I can't cancel 🙂

So I don't pre approve inquiries, if they meet my requirements they can instant book anyway

About half of our inquiries usually results in booking.

[Gillian19]

@Mike896 I find my experience rather different from others. I get around 5% of inquiries actually booking and whether I pre-approve or not doesn't seem to make any difference.

[Letti0]

@Gillian19  My experience is the same as yours on AirBnB. At HA/VRBO it's probably 50/50 since I get most of my BMT graduation groups from there and they want to make sure they can change a booking or cancel if the graduate gets recycled. 

[Amy627]

Yes! I get those same type of inquiries as well! It’s actually really annoying because I will sometimes message them back asking if they would like to book and still, no response. I don’t understamd this either but atleast I now know I am not the only one!

[Norma90]

Such a far cry from the bogus inquiries that i have been getting from young people in Atlanta GA. It has happened to me, i refunded  a guest his money, and two days after his friend called to book and within a few hours he wanted his money back and its been a trend since. I have been getting a  lot of inquiries from young people who does not want to book ... but they made an inquiry and when i asked a question they never respond. However, i denied a guest last night , within a few hours another young girl came on here to inquire i answered her question from after 7: am this morning and she has not responded. AirBNB need to do something to protect the host from scams.

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[#15]

Such a far cry from the bogus inquiries that i have been getting from young people in Atlanta GA. It has happened to me, i refunded  a guest his money, and two days after his friend called to book and within a few hours he wanted his money back and its been a trend since. I have been getting a  lot of inquiries from young people who does not want to book ... but they made an inquiry and when i asked a question they never respond. However, i denied a guest last night , within a few hours another young girl came on here to inquire i answered her question from after 7: am this morning and she has not responded. AirBNB need to do something to protect the host from scams.

[Michael1624]

I do not pre approve ever they never book!

I have better things to do with my time then answer silly questions about parking, is there a kettle or a toaster, how big is the tv, just time wasters?