4 min read · May 18, 2018
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For vacation rental owners, there’s one issue that arises while running an Airbnb business that always seems a bit awkward: declining booking inquiries. Whenever you have to decline a potential guest, you need to know exactly what to say to avoid making a difficult situation even more stressful.
Let’s take a look at some tips on how to say no so that you can decline inquiries the right way.
Before we get into exactly how to decline bookings, let’s review some of the most common reasons why Airbnb hosts decline bookings:
Scheduling conflicts. Sometimes hosts forget to update their calendars. They may have to then decline dates for which their properties should have been marked off as unavailable on Airbnb. Good hosts should always keep their calendars updated!
Guests who don’t read the listing information or house rules. For example, if a guest makes an inquiry requesting accommodations for a child and the property isn’t childproof, it’s best to decline the reservation in order to protect the safety of the guests.
Guests who are unable to arrive during the check-in window. If a guest wants to arrive during the wee hours of the morning, a host might consider declining the reservation. Hosts need sleep too!
Incomplete guest’s profile. If a guest has no reviews, no profile photos, and no references, it’s kind of tricky to accept their reservation. Hosts don’t want to take unnecessary risks and shouldn’t feel pressured to.
If you’ve reviewed the booking request and have decided that things simply aren’t going to work out, you need to make sure that you decline the booking in the proper way.
By handling the decline tactfully, you can avoid creating a situation where the guest feels that they have been discriminated against or don’t believe that you actually have a legitimate reason for declining their inquiry.
Here are a few tips to help you figure out what to say in advance that will help make the situation a lot easier to handle.
- Be professional
We don’t want to be too specific but it is better to explain the reason.
It is always advisable to be polite and professional when dealing with vacation rental guests as your reputation is on the line.
While you don’t have to be specific, writing a polite generic decline response will help you to find the right words quickly and you can typically use this response for all of your declined bookings.
As an example, consider a statement like:
“Unfortunately, we are unable to accommodate your booking request at this time. I wish you luck in your search and I hope that you enjoy your vacation.”
2. Be helpful
Sometimes when you get a booking request, you know right away that the guest is unsuitable for your property and that’s OK. Instead of simply declining the booking, if you feel that you can help, you can always direct the guest to other nearby accommodations in your area that might be a better fit.
3. Repeat the rules
If the reason why you have to decline the booking is due to an issue that contradicts your house rules or other details that you’ve outlined in your listing, let the guest know the specific reason why the guest is being declined and refer back to your listing.
Not only will it show that you are honest, but it also teaches guests to read listings carefully before requesting a booking. This will also give you an opportunity to review what you’ve written in your listing so that you can make sure that you’ve actually covered all of the bases.
4. Keep it simple
If you’re going with your gut in declining a listing and you don’t have a nice way to put it to your guest, a simple click of the decline button will do. However, use this method very sparingly as you should always strive to provide helpful customer service to your guests whenever possible.
On the other hand, there are some things that could actually land you in hot water or escalate the situation with your guest when declining booking.
Here are the mistakes to avoid:
Making it personal. You should always avoid making personal comments about the guest that could be construed as discriminatory or just plain rudeness.
Not being consistent. Don’t play favorites when it comes to enforcing the rules. If you decline a guest based on your rules or listing information, all other guests should have these same rules applied to them as well.
Changing the listing information. Don’t make deliberate changes to your listing right after you decline a guest. If the guest looks at your listing again, he or she may get the impression that you aren’t an honest host because you’ve changed the Airbnb pricing for your property, for example. This could jeopardize your reputation on the platform.
