Lack of response from future reservation

[Miriam245]

I need your advice community. I have a reservation coming up, I have emailed the guest several times with no response. Since the guest has not responded, this makes me uncomforatble to host them. I am considering asking Airbnb to cancel the reservation. I am concern about the lack of response from the guest becuase if they dont care to talk to me they will not care about my property.

[Dimitar27]

Call them.

[Fred13]

Messages > text > call.

Actually, I don't hear much from my guests, they book I say 'Welcome Aboard' and a year (or two) passes and then they get in touch a mere week before arrival.

[Miriam245]

Thank you everyone, I texted her and she finally responded. It's a young person and I think they are not used to checking their emails, but acknowledge once I texted her. Your advice was very helpful.

[Linda108]

When I receive an email through the Air BNB message system, it automatically generates a text message as well.  I think that is a setting I made in my account notification setting.  No excuse to miss emails that way.  I wonder if that suggestion should be included in the welcome message.  Just a thought.

[Emilia42]

@Linda108 Do you have a smartphone?

[Helen350]

I don't have a smartphone @Emilia42 , but Airbnb bookings & guest messages are sent via SMS to my ordinary, not smart mobile/cell phone. Regarding the guest messages, I can only see the first few words, not the whole message, but at least the 'ping' and beginning of a message (notification) tells me to go to my laptop...... 

[Emilia42]

Me too @Helen350. I get a text on my (nonsmart) phone and then I have to check my e-mail to read the full message. So I'm constantly aware that I am getting the notifications because I check my text messages and e-mail often. But it seems like those who use the Airbnb App aren't aware that messages are coming through. Like the app has to be open and logged in to receive the notifications? Sometimes I will ask my boyfriend (who has an iPhone and uses the app and is also a cohost) if he saw the booking for XYZ. He always has to "check." Like he didn't notice it unless he pulls up the app and looks around for it. Ugh, I don't know - I don't use that sort of technology so it's hard to say if it is really working to streamline communication. 

[Huma0]

The notifications from the Airbnb App are super glitchy. It has gotten worse over time and now I reckon I get maximum 1 out of 10 notifications that I should. I have reported this to Airbnb and they tell me to delete and reload the App, but that doesn't work. Anyway, this has happened on more than one phone, even when brand new and having just installed the App. Furthermore, countless guests have told me they do not get the notifications.

So, yes, it can simply be that a guest is missing these and doesn't even realised you've messaged. Other times, they are just bad communicators and still don't respond when you text, call etc. which is when I get Airbnb involved. It's funny how quickly they will answer the phone when Airbnb calls them after ignoring my texts and calls. I have had Airbnb reps have to explain to the guests (often first time users) that it's important for them to communicate with their hosts. They are usually okay after that.

On the odd occasion, I have had guests who didn't get back to me and Airbnb couldn't get hold of either. In those cases, Airbnb agreed to cancel the booking penalty free. I even had one guest who booked, never answered any questions and never showed up. Airbnb couldn't get hold of her and I never heard from her again, but I got paid. I hope nothing bad happened to her, but some people can't be bothered to respond even when they decide not to come!

[Michelle53]

@Huma0   I have a difficult one going on right now. It's a newbie guest, zero reviews, but enough profile and basic information that I think he would be ok. But he has made a request-to-book, and there is an issue with something he mentioned in the request that I need to discuss with him before accepting. 

I am messaging him, but he isn't responding, probably because he thinks all he needs to do is put in the request to book (I get that a lot). Of course, with a pending reservation, there is no email or phone number to call. 

I did call Airbnb, but they have an auto-attendant which just tells me they only deal with reservations coming up within 72 hours, and to message support. The last time I messaged support, it took 3 weeks for them to get back to me.  So, clearly, no help forthcoming from Airbnb. 

I will give the guest until tomorrow morning to realize there are messages waiting, if he even received the messages, otherwise I have no option but to decline him. 

[Huma0]

@Michelle53 

Yes, I've also had this problem before and it's so frustrating. Normally the guest will get back to you, but by then you have had to hit decline and it's dinged your acceptance rate.

However, what I would say is that the acceptance rate thing seems to be a bit of a nonsense as you don't really seem to get penalised for it. You might get an exclamation mark on your dashboard, which is annoying, but I've never read a host posting here about being penalised for dropping below the requirement. One even mentioned her acceptance rate was at 17% and she hadn't been delisted or otherwise penalised. It's not part of the Superhost criteria either.

Maybe Airbnb will at some point bring in a penalty for this, but it would be a pretty stupid thing for them to do in the current climate.

In the past, I have been scared of that acceptance rate and also scared of losing a booking. However, what I found was that A. the acceptance rate did not make any difference (was told this by Airbnb reps too), B. if a guest really wants to book, they suddenly become responsive after you decline (if you explain to them it's because you didn't hear back from them in time) and C. when I have gone ahead and accepted anyway despite that lack of response, I have regretted it.

What I always do when responding to booking requests, is to explain that the host has a limited time to accept or decline and therefore, they really need to get back to me by X time (I usually make this a few hours before the deadline). That either prompts them to respond faster, or if they miss it, they are not angry when they do finally pick up the messages.

We really shouldn't have to jump through all these hurdles. The whole acceptance rate thing is totally unfair anyway. Yes, hosts should be responsive (that is what the response rate is for), but the clock should stop ticking when you respond to the guest, not when you accept or decline, OR that rules should apply to both parties.

[Michelle53]

@Huma0  I stopped worrying about the "acceptance rate" measurement. It's manipulative.

If I don't feel the guest is a good fit for my listing, I decline them.   

In the past, when we were actually able to reach Airbnb support, if I had an issue like this, a quick call from them would generally resolve it right away.

I've had some pretty good newbie guests, once we got the proper communication channels open, and they realized we needed to use Airbnb messaging.

I think there should be some words on the booking screen that inform the guest that their request-to-book requires action from the host, and they should look for messages.  I actually think 24 hours is plenty of time, once one can communicate.  I wouldn't want things dragging on any longer than that.

[Huma0]

@Michelle53 

Yes, 24 hours should be plenty of time, but if the guest sends some basic message with no info and you need to ask them some questions... Then they don't respond for days at a time. So, 24 hours ends up not being enough, not because the host is not responsive, but the guest doesn't get that the clock is ticking.

I don't think there is any communication from Airbnb to guests that there's a time limit on booking requests, so the whole system of 24 hour responses does not work. It needs to be applied both ways.

[Huma0]

@Mitchell77 

Unfortunately, you only have the ability to cancel penalty free in these circumstances if it is an instant booking and, even then, technically you can only do this three times a year.

The OP here is talking about guests not responding to any messages/questions within the 24 hour period hosts are given to accept/decline a booking enquiry. If you accept that booking then you do not get to cancel penalty free if the guest is still not communicating. You will lose your Superhost status, be fined and it will appear (with no explanation as to why) in your reviews that you cancelled the guest.

Airbnb can write what they like about contracts between hosts and guests, but that doesn't mean that it is worth anything. The last thing they want is to make it easiser for hosts to cancel on guests, hence all the penalties. The only reason you can do this three times a year with instant bookings is because they are trying to incentivise more hosts to use instant book.

[Christine615]

Pick up the phone and call them.

[Russell49]

I have had a 0 review guest do the same thing. I messaged several times-no reply. Called them the day of their booking and they hung up on me, so I straight up cancelled their booking and got the predictable review where they portrayed themselves to be victims. Bottom line is, if you don't understand the platform, don't sign up. Most of all, if you don't want to communicate with the host-get a **bleep** motel.