Unresponsive

[Ann10]

Lately, I get a lot of guests who send requests or inquiries but refuse to respond to basic questions like "have you read our listing?", and "are you okay with our terms below?" It makes me wonder. Can they not see my questions? Or do they think I will still accept even if they don't respond. The last potential guest had a review stating that they brought a dog which was not allowed and stuff was missing. All of her other reviews were good, but of course I had questions. It's so frustrating. Now, I do not even wait the entire 24 hours for them to respond before declining because I do not want to have my calendar blocked for someone who doesn't communicate. I waited 20 hours for this last guest.  I responded to her request in less than 30 minutes.  When I decline, I always say that I'm still open to having them book, I just need to hear from them.

One guy kept sending requests even though I would say that I needed to know if he agreed with my terms. Finally I said, "can you see my questions"? He said yes but I couldn't respond. Uh ok!  Anyway, I'm not going to book people who won't communicate. My acceptance rate isn't up to par, but I'm still a SH. Airbnb told me that metric doesn't matter as much. Just venting, I guess. Thank you for reading. 🙂

[Brian2036]

@Ann10 

Sometimes people don’t see the messages because they don’t check their Airbnb mailbox and they haven’t enabled SMS or email notifications.

Guests who refuse to communicate are unwelcome as far as I am concerned.

I had one last week whose entire communication consisted of “fishing trip with father check in late checkout early.”

The request was for one person.

 I was strongly tempted to decline without further investigation.

 I asked for further information and several hours later he responded with some grudgingly sparse clarifications.

Well, maybe the guy is dyslexic, semi-illiterate, or is unhappy about having to spend time with his father.

 I did approve 2 nights for 2 guests but I have misgivings.

We shall see.

[Ann10]

@Brian2036

I go through all the same thoughts. Like maybe the person doesn't know how to put a sentence together. Now, I have someone who booked via instant book without reading our listing. Now, she will not confirm that she agrees with our terms. Our policy is that if you don't agree, you can't stay. Now, I'm wondering how I can cancel this person because I do feel "uncomfortable". If I call Airbnb, I do not want to explain everything to them, I just want to say that I'm "uncomfortable". I've never done this before, so I'm wondering how to do it.

[Brian2036]

@Ann10 

Look at this first.

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/990/how-do-host-cancellation-penalties-work

I haven’t had to do it with Airbnb either but if I did I would just say that the guest is non-communicative and it makes me uncomfortable.

No more information is necessary and it would just confuse them.

Incidentally, the one I mentioned checked out today and it worked out OK. Basically.

 The kid was fairly stupid and seriously lacking in common courtesy but he was with his father who was OK.

They didn’t show up until after dark, bad idea around here, and they got to about 300 yards from my house and decided they were lost.

Sent a message and my dog was barking so I knew they weren’t far away .

So I got in the truck and went after them, flashed my lights, and they took off in the opposite direction as fast as they could go on this one-lane gravel road.

 I caught them after a couple of miles and brought them back, so I’m guessing that if the hare-brain is not too lazy to write a review, check in will be about 2*.

They were here to go fishing and it rained all day yesterday so I tried to be nice and asked if they they wanted to stay an extra day, no additional charge. (Yeah, I know. Dumb. But my calendar was open so why not.)

No response.

Still no response at checkout time today and I had a truckload of firewood coming, so I messaged again.

No response. 

So I went up there and there was nobody there. Not sure when they left but they didn’t come back. The house wasn’t a mess or anything like that so no loss, but it wasn’t what I expect from a GUEST.

[Ann10]

@Brian2036 

That's a hilarious story or at least it struck me that way. At least you make the stress of hosting some guests funny. 🙂