Post by High Priestess on Apr 17, 2018 15:14:22 GMT
Airbnb has changed from the way it was in the "old days". In the old, early days of Airbnb, you could offer any kind of homey, simple listing in any kind of home, you could decide whom you wanted to have stay in your home and who you didn't want, you could employ any screening method that you deemed appropriate for you, you could refuse to accept guests with children or infants, you could strictly enforce your house rules and maximum number of guests policies, and you could pick a cancellation policy that worked for you.
As Airbnb has grown, it is trying to be more and more like a hotel chain, which has meant that hosts are experiencing increasing pressure from several angles, to accept every single guest who inquires or makes a reservation request. To begin with, hosts are punished if they don't have Instant Booking activated for their listing -- Airbnb tries to hide our listings so guests have a harder time finding them, if we dont' use Instant Book. Airbnb also has weakened the cancellation policies, offering larger refunds to guests who book on strict policy, and offering a full refund if a guest cancels within 48 hrs of making the reservation. And now Airbnb is also penalizing hosts anytime they decline a guest -- your decline statistics are held against you, so that if you decline too often, you run the risk of your listing being suspended. Even if you HAVE TO decline because the reservation request was inappropriate and should never have been made ---- eg from a guest who said they wanted to bring 10 people to stay at your house, and hold a party there, when your maximum occupancy is 4, and you don't allow parties. This is really wrong of Airbnb to penalize hosts for inappropriate requests from guests and I encourage all hosts to say so to Airbnb.
Meanwhile, I want to present a possible plan in case you're finding that you have had too many declines lately, and are being threatened with your listing being suspended.
I think this issue is likely to be most difficult for those of us who need to do more screening for our guests -- such as is the case with hosts who offer long term stays. Many hosts dont' want guests who stay more than a few days, because they will start feeling too much like a roommate. Also, when you are allowing Airbnb guests to book a stay over 30 days long, as most hosts know, this can put you at risk because a renter obtains tenancy rights at 30 days. So Airbnb hosts offering long stays to guests have to be able to do adequate screening, but this then comes into conflict with Airbnb pushing you to accept all comers and punishing you if you decline too often. In essence, this AIrbnb policy is in direct conflict with hosts being able to protect themselves, and it's also in conflict with long term stays, which Airbnb at one point indicated an interest in doing more of on its site. Not if you don't allow hosts to do adequate screening!
Now many hosts will say things to those wanting to do long term stays through AIrbnb, such as, "Airbnb isnt' good for long term stays." Or, "People shouldn't do long term rentals on Airbnb." Or, "It isn't smart to do long term stays on Airbnb because it's more expensive, due to the AIrbnb service fees." Well you can have your opinion, but if hosts are finding that it works well for them to do long term bookings on Airbnb, why should you be telling them they can't or shouldn't?
Many of us have found that it can actually work better to get some long term stay guests on Airbnb than through other platforms like Craigslist. I dont' know why, but even when I have ads on both Airbnb and Craiglist -- the same basic ad-- and it would be significantly less expensive to book directly as service fees can be avoided -- many guests still prefer to book via Airbnb. It is a lot faster, I will say that. A booking can often be done within 15 minutes or 30 minutes and a few messages. By comparison, when going via Craiglist, I find that it takes much more time, in part because Craigslist has more flaky and irresponsible people who don't read the ads and ask for what you aren't offering. Or because most people want to come and see the place first, or they are considering 5 or 7 different places and can't make up their mind, or because giving instructions to them on how to pay takes a long time, etc.
So here is what I suggest --- if you prefer longer stay guests thru Airbnb, (or even if you dont' ) and have been threatened over too many declines, try changing your business style for a short period of time. Take a 2 or 3 week period of time, and open only those 2 or 3 weeks to bookings -- keep the rest of your calendar blocked. Then set a 1 or 2 day minimum, and a 2 or 3 day maximum for booking length, and either allow Instant Book bookings or try to accept all requests for just this 2 or 3 week period of time. This will allow you to get a few bookings (hopefully) which boost your acceptance rate, and "get you out of danger" in terms of the inappropriate punitive response from Airbnb for declines.
If you have someone submit a reservation request who is clearly not going to follow house rules, one option, instead of declining them, is to accept them but strongly state that they will have to follow the house rules/max occupancy, and if they can't do that, they must cancel the reservation. It appears to be easier to get Airbnb help to cancel a reservation of a guest who isn't going to follow the house rules, than to have Airbnb require them to withdraw their reservation request or allow you to decline without penalty, so it seems that is the way you would have to go.
I hope this helps.
As Airbnb has grown, it is trying to be more and more like a hotel chain, which has meant that hosts are experiencing increasing pressure from several angles, to accept every single guest who inquires or makes a reservation request. To begin with, hosts are punished if they don't have Instant Booking activated for their listing -- Airbnb tries to hide our listings so guests have a harder time finding them, if we dont' use Instant Book. Airbnb also has weakened the cancellation policies, offering larger refunds to guests who book on strict policy, and offering a full refund if a guest cancels within 48 hrs of making the reservation. And now Airbnb is also penalizing hosts anytime they decline a guest -- your decline statistics are held against you, so that if you decline too often, you run the risk of your listing being suspended. Even if you HAVE TO decline because the reservation request was inappropriate and should never have been made ---- eg from a guest who said they wanted to bring 10 people to stay at your house, and hold a party there, when your maximum occupancy is 4, and you don't allow parties. This is really wrong of Airbnb to penalize hosts for inappropriate requests from guests and I encourage all hosts to say so to Airbnb.
Meanwhile, I want to present a possible plan in case you're finding that you have had too many declines lately, and are being threatened with your listing being suspended.
I think this issue is likely to be most difficult for those of us who need to do more screening for our guests -- such as is the case with hosts who offer long term stays. Many hosts dont' want guests who stay more than a few days, because they will start feeling too much like a roommate. Also, when you are allowing Airbnb guests to book a stay over 30 days long, as most hosts know, this can put you at risk because a renter obtains tenancy rights at 30 days. So Airbnb hosts offering long stays to guests have to be able to do adequate screening, but this then comes into conflict with Airbnb pushing you to accept all comers and punishing you if you decline too often. In essence, this AIrbnb policy is in direct conflict with hosts being able to protect themselves, and it's also in conflict with long term stays, which Airbnb at one point indicated an interest in doing more of on its site. Not if you don't allow hosts to do adequate screening!
Now many hosts will say things to those wanting to do long term stays through AIrbnb, such as, "Airbnb isnt' good for long term stays." Or, "People shouldn't do long term rentals on Airbnb." Or, "It isn't smart to do long term stays on Airbnb because it's more expensive, due to the AIrbnb service fees." Well you can have your opinion, but if hosts are finding that it works well for them to do long term bookings on Airbnb, why should you be telling them they can't or shouldn't?
Many of us have found that it can actually work better to get some long term stay guests on Airbnb than through other platforms like Craigslist. I dont' know why, but even when I have ads on both Airbnb and Craiglist -- the same basic ad-- and it would be significantly less expensive to book directly as service fees can be avoided -- many guests still prefer to book via Airbnb. It is a lot faster, I will say that. A booking can often be done within 15 minutes or 30 minutes and a few messages. By comparison, when going via Craiglist, I find that it takes much more time, in part because Craigslist has more flaky and irresponsible people who don't read the ads and ask for what you aren't offering. Or because most people want to come and see the place first, or they are considering 5 or 7 different places and can't make up their mind, or because giving instructions to them on how to pay takes a long time, etc.
So here is what I suggest --- if you prefer longer stay guests thru Airbnb, (or even if you dont' ) and have been threatened over too many declines, try changing your business style for a short period of time. Take a 2 or 3 week period of time, and open only those 2 or 3 weeks to bookings -- keep the rest of your calendar blocked. Then set a 1 or 2 day minimum, and a 2 or 3 day maximum for booking length, and either allow Instant Book bookings or try to accept all requests for just this 2 or 3 week period of time. This will allow you to get a few bookings (hopefully) which boost your acceptance rate, and "get you out of danger" in terms of the inappropriate punitive response from Airbnb for declines.
If you have someone submit a reservation request who is clearly not going to follow house rules, one option, instead of declining them, is to accept them but strongly state that they will have to follow the house rules/max occupancy, and if they can't do that, they must cancel the reservation. It appears to be easier to get Airbnb help to cancel a reservation of a guest who isn't going to follow the house rules, than to have Airbnb require them to withdraw their reservation request or allow you to decline without penalty, so it seems that is the way you would have to go.
I hope this helps.
