Airbnb Inquiries and Requests to Book
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The Special Offer feature allows you to set a custom price for a guest who submits an inquiry. An inquiry is a question from a guest, it's not a request that can be approved or denied.
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Hostaway allows you to respond to an inquiry with a
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Pre-approval, in case the guest decides to finalize the booking or
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A Special offer, to encourage the guest to finalize the booking
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If a guest has already made a request to book or confirmed a reservation, you can't send them a special offer
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The Decline option only works for requests to book
On the reservation page, for inquiries, you can:
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Pre-approve. Guests have 24 hours to confirm and pay which will convert the inquiry into a reservation. Until the guest confirms, if they do, it will be possible to
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Remove the pre-approval. This will bring you to the scenario before the pre-approval
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Send a Special Offer. As explained before, it will overwrite the pre-approval. Every new special offer overwrites the old one (including pre-approvals)
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Send Special Offer. It will allow sending a special offer to the guest. Guests have 24 hours to accept it. You can change
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Listing
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Check-in/out dates
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Number of adults/children/infants
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Total price
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On the reservation page, for request to book, you can accept or decline the request:
- Decline. Hostaway decided to include this but action must be undertaken in Airbnb, as their API does not provide that option. In any case, not declining does not have consequences (you only need to reply to the inquiry, declining it is not mandatory)
Here is an example of what the guest will receive on Airbnb:
Once a Special Offer has been sent
- After sending a Special Offer, the options shown in the inquiry will change. A "withdraw the special offer" will appear which can erase that special offer and bring back the original and classic inquiry status. After 24 hours, you can resend a special offer (resend will show the pop-up with the previous special offer but is editable)
- Airbnb's Contact Host option, used by potential guests, will prompt you to pre-approve the booking, which will be considered a 'Special Offer' and additional fees will be included in the base rate, but will no longer appear in the Hostaway breakdown.
Airbnb Special Offers FAQs
Can I manage Special Offers directly in Airbnb after it is enabled in my Hostaway account?
Yes, they can be used both in HostAway and Airbnb.
What happens if the listing was not mapped at the time that the Special Offer came?
You will not be able to see the Special Offer in Hostaway.
What’s the difference between a pre-approved inquiry and a Special Offer?
They work in a very similar way. A pre-approval has a status of its own but basically, it is like sending a special offer with the default listing/reservation values. A special offer has those modified (price, amount of guests, etc.).
If I send a Special Offer and some hours later (before the first one was accepted) I send another one, what will happen?
The new one will overwrite the previous one. The same will happen if a special offer is sent during the pre-approval.
What happens if a Special Offer containing a listing change is sent and accepted
Reservation arrives as a new reservation for the selected listing.
Why can't I decline an inquiry? Is that a problem?
Airbnb doesn’t provide this in their API. However, that’s not a problem, as for inquiries no action is needed because they don’t block the calendar (you only need to answer it on time). On Airbnb, they offer that option but it’s just to give the possibility to send a notification to their guest. This can still be done using our messaging system.
Why is my inquiry not showing the full financial breakdown in Hostaway?
Airbnb inquiries will only show the total price and the final Airbnb payout in Hostaway, as this is the main data provided through the Airbnb channel for inquiries.
The Airbnb payout shown is considering additional fees and deductions applicable, so you will see the actual final payout if approved, but these fees won't be itemized in the Hostaway reservation breakdown until the inquiry is approved and becomes an active reservation.
To summarize, Airbnb inquiries are not received with specific data on Hostaway until they're approved and become active reservations, we only show the base rate applicable and the Airbnb payout but not any discounts or deductions, so the only accurate field received from Airbnb as an inquiry is the Payout as this is after deductions.
Please note that this is an API limitation from Airbnb so we cannot change anything in this regard.
If you need accurate price information about a specific Airbnb inquiry you can always check it on Airbnb's Dashboard.