Pre aprove

[Gemma326]

Hi everyone, 

I'm wondering if anyone shares my frustration with the 'pre approval' feature. Its resulted in me losing money on my listings despite support telling me there is a 'accept' button instead which doesn't apply a discount.  

When I've pre-approved before, thinking it's just to encourage guests to book, unbeknown to me it's reduced my nightly price by £10. I was told there is a automatic discount on pre-approvals yet I don't see this in the information provided. I've had another enquiry today and thankfully I know better now to NOT pre-approve because AirBnb have adjusted the pre-approval £11 less then my minimum nightly rate! 

Anyone else as perplexed as to this feature? It's really frustrating. 

[Inna22]

@Gemma326 I have never heard of such a thing. I pre-approve all the time for the same reason you do -  to encourage them to book. Do you have instant book? It sounds like you don’t if you also have an accept button. Why would you not accept the booking but w instead? I’m confused.

[Huma0]

@Inna22 I've never used this feature, but my understanding was that it was there for enquiries, to encourage guests to book. Of course, if someone sends a booking request and there is therefore the option to simply hit 'accept', there is absolutely no reason to send a pre-approval.

[Gemma326]

Yes, that was my thought too. But I only have the option of 'Pre-Approve' or 'Decline'. If I press pre-approve it applies a discount I never agreed to. I only became aware of it when I looked at the total booking cost and worked it out per night. It seems rather sneeky! I followed up with support and they confirmed thats what they do. I'm really not happy about it. 

[Helen3]

Sounds like a technical error. Call Airbnb @Gemma326 

I don't think pre approving a booking encourages people to book.

Not something I've used in 6 years of hosting. 

[Gemma326]

That's the problem, I've called them and they haven't been helpful. I'll just make sure I don't click 'pre-approve' as and when I get enquires to make sure I don't get screwed by AirBnB on the pricing. 

[Gemma326]

So for some reason if you pre-approve, thinking you're encouraging them to book it actually applied a discount which you don't see unless you work it out yourself. e.g. I charge £55 per night, if I get a enquiry and pre-approve, it then drops it down to £45 per night which had I not done the math myself I could have easily missed. I didn't apply any automatic discounts or anything like that. It just seems really ridiculous. 

PS sorry for the late reply, I didn't realise I had a response to my query 🙂