Post by High Priestess on May 30, 2016 22:27:00 GMT
Juliet and Ed shared on Hosting 911 in Jan 2015
www.airbnb.com/groups/content/content-102836
Pre-approve vs decline?
I go an inquiry last night, in French (in my listing it says I speak French), very brief, as follows: "Bonjour je un séjour de 4 jour a Memphis je suis intéressé par votre offre". That was all. (It means I'm coming to Memphis for 4 days, I'm interested in your offer.) This is from a single guy with an Arabic name, with no profile, photo, verifications, nothing. (I do not require full verification). I wrote back, asking for all of the above. He just now replied that he will be going to a hotel instead. That's fine, but meanwhile, Airbnb still seems to require that I respond to the inquiry within 24 hours. Should I just now decline him? I have never had to do this before, because usually I pre-approve people. Thanks.
7 comments•1 like
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Nic and Rach
Susan
Susana year ago
spam
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Susan
Susana year ago
respond to the inquiry, place the comment "guest has found other accommodations" and decline the inquiry, then you're safe
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Juliet and Ed
Juliet and Eda year ago
Thanks, Susan, I'll do just that.
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Bekah and Brian
Bekah and Briana year ago
If you don't require any verifications whatsoever (which I personally don't recommend), then why ask for them?
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Susan
Susana year ago
fact is airbnb is doing that itself prior to the guest having a page on airbnb, so.....
Juliet and Ed
Juliet and Eda year ago
Becky and Brian, do you really think I would host a person who doesn't even have a photo or basic description of him/herself? Person with the name "Amad" who could be male, female, old, young, English speaking or not, etc etc?? I did at one point, last year, change my listing so that it requires verifications. The first person to try to book with me after that was a lady from France who found the whole process quite complicated. They asked her for a video of herself, which she was not able to do. So I took down the requirement. I have found that new users of Airbnb don't necessarily want to jump through so many hoops. However, of course I require all the usual things that everyone else requires, and it says so on my listing (photo, profile, phone number etc). If someone makes an inquiry and does not even have a photo, it's quite clear they haven't read the listing, and they will be asked a series of questions. I have found this works pretty well for me, usually. I have even had first-time users thank me for talking them through the process. Yes, I'm sure there are hosts our there who say they don't have time for all that, but I am not booked as often as I would like to be, so I try to make it easier for the guest.
Reply Like 1 reply•2 likes
Bekah and Brian
Bekah and Briana year ago
No, I was only speaking to the verifications. I wouldn't book anyone without a pic, either, I'm right there with you. The way I read the sentence it seemed as if you didn't actually require them then asked for them all anyhow after the fact after being contacted by the guest, which just seems like too much work on your part! Nothing to fear from declining inquiries, although once you've responded to them you're good. I actually don't even bother to decline them. The inquiry just sort of hovers there.
Carrie
Carriea year ago
You don't have to pre-approve or decline inquiries - responding with "let's discuss more" is fine. I rarely (if ever) decline - though I have said "I'm sorry, I can't accommodate pets..." etc.
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Juliet and Ed
Juliet and Eda year ago
But I seem to remember that it said "you have 24 hours to accept or decline". I know about the "let's discuss more" button, and that's what I used when I first responded to this person. But after he (she?) responded saying that he was going to a hotel, I thought I still had to somehow respond within 24 hours, mostly because that's one of the requirements to continue to be a superhost. I tried to do what Susan suggested, but in fact after clicking on the "decline" button, I had to choose a reason, and all of them seemed to make it sound like it was my decision. The choices were something like: Those dates are not available, etc.
The whole thing is probably explained somewhere on the website, guess I'll have to do a bit of searching. But thank you, Carrie, it's reassuring to know that you don't decline.... and you're a superhost too.
Reply Like 1 reply•1 like
Carrie
Carriea year ago
Yeah, I don't know, really. Trying to figure out how things work around here... but I don't know that I've actually ever declined.
www.airbnb.com/groups/content/content-102836
Pre-approve vs decline?
I go an inquiry last night, in French (in my listing it says I speak French), very brief, as follows: "Bonjour je un séjour de 4 jour a Memphis je suis intéressé par votre offre". That was all. (It means I'm coming to Memphis for 4 days, I'm interested in your offer.) This is from a single guy with an Arabic name, with no profile, photo, verifications, nothing. (I do not require full verification). I wrote back, asking for all of the above. He just now replied that he will be going to a hotel instead. That's fine, but meanwhile, Airbnb still seems to require that I respond to the inquiry within 24 hours. Should I just now decline him? I have never had to do this before, because usually I pre-approve people. Thanks.
7 comments•1 like
Follow
Like
Nic and Rach
Susan
Susana year ago
spam
Reply Like
Susan
Susana year ago
respond to the inquiry, place the comment "guest has found other accommodations" and decline the inquiry, then you're safe
Reply Like 1 like
Juliet and Ed
Juliet and Eda year ago
Thanks, Susan, I'll do just that.
Reply Like
Bekah and Brian
Bekah and Briana year ago
If you don't require any verifications whatsoever (which I personally don't recommend), then why ask for them?
Reply Like 1 reply
Susan
Susana year ago
fact is airbnb is doing that itself prior to the guest having a page on airbnb, so.....
Juliet and Ed
Juliet and Eda year ago
Becky and Brian, do you really think I would host a person who doesn't even have a photo or basic description of him/herself? Person with the name "Amad" who could be male, female, old, young, English speaking or not, etc etc?? I did at one point, last year, change my listing so that it requires verifications. The first person to try to book with me after that was a lady from France who found the whole process quite complicated. They asked her for a video of herself, which she was not able to do. So I took down the requirement. I have found that new users of Airbnb don't necessarily want to jump through so many hoops. However, of course I require all the usual things that everyone else requires, and it says so on my listing (photo, profile, phone number etc). If someone makes an inquiry and does not even have a photo, it's quite clear they haven't read the listing, and they will be asked a series of questions. I have found this works pretty well for me, usually. I have even had first-time users thank me for talking them through the process. Yes, I'm sure there are hosts our there who say they don't have time for all that, but I am not booked as often as I would like to be, so I try to make it easier for the guest.
Reply Like 1 reply•2 likes
Bekah and Brian
Bekah and Briana year ago
No, I was only speaking to the verifications. I wouldn't book anyone without a pic, either, I'm right there with you. The way I read the sentence it seemed as if you didn't actually require them then asked for them all anyhow after the fact after being contacted by the guest, which just seems like too much work on your part! Nothing to fear from declining inquiries, although once you've responded to them you're good. I actually don't even bother to decline them. The inquiry just sort of hovers there.
Carrie
Carriea year ago
You don't have to pre-approve or decline inquiries - responding with "let's discuss more" is fine. I rarely (if ever) decline - though I have said "I'm sorry, I can't accommodate pets..." etc.
Reply Like 1 like
Juliet and Ed
Juliet and Eda year ago
But I seem to remember that it said "you have 24 hours to accept or decline". I know about the "let's discuss more" button, and that's what I used when I first responded to this person. But after he (she?) responded saying that he was going to a hotel, I thought I still had to somehow respond within 24 hours, mostly because that's one of the requirements to continue to be a superhost. I tried to do what Susan suggested, but in fact after clicking on the "decline" button, I had to choose a reason, and all of them seemed to make it sound like it was my decision. The choices were something like: Those dates are not available, etc.
The whole thing is probably explained somewhere on the website, guess I'll have to do a bit of searching. But thank you, Carrie, it's reassuring to know that you don't decline.... and you're a superhost too.
Reply Like 1 reply•1 like
Carrie
Carriea year ago
Yeah, I don't know, really. Trying to figure out how things work around here... but I don't know that I've actually ever declined.