Learn how to send a special offer for an Airbnb inquiry, when special offers can be used, and how pre-approvals, custom pricing, and guest responses work.
Airbnb Inquiries and Requests to Book
- 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.
- Hostaway allows you to respond to an inquiry with a
- Pre-approval, in case the guest decides to finalize the booking or
- A Special offer to encourage the guest to finalize the booking
- If a guest has already made a request to book or confirmed a reservation, you can't send them a special offer
- The Decline option only works for requests to book
On the reservation page, for inquiries, you can:
-
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
- Remove the pre-approval. This will bring you to the scenario before the pre-approval
- Send a Special Offer. As explained before, it will overwrite the pre-approval. Every new special offer overwrites the old one (including pre-approvals)
-
Send Special Offer. It will allow sending a special offer to the guest. Guests have 24 hours to accept it. You can change
- Listing
- Check-in/out dates
- Number of adults/children/infants
- Total price
On the reservation page, for a 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 it 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, number 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 its 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 does not provide a full financial breakdown for inquiries. The value we receive is only a limited payout-related amount, not the full booking price or guest-facing total.
Because of this, the inquiry price in Hostaway may differ from the final reservation amount, and we cannot validate or reconstruct the full price breakdown at the inquiry stage.
Once the inquiry becomes a confirmed reservation, the pricing information is reliable and should be used as the source of truth.
This is an Airbnb API limitation and cannot be changed from Hostaway’s side.
In the Airbnb API, what does a “special offer” mean, and how does pricing/fees work?
A “special offer” in the Airbnb API can be one of two types:
- From a pre-approval: pricing follows the calendar/listing settings, and the cleaning fee appears as a separate financial concept (with all other financial concepts grouped).
- From a host offer to a guest: pricing is a custom amount set by the host (not following calendar/listing settings), and no financial concepts exist—the offered price must include all fees.
How can we determine whether a reservation originated from a special offer sent after a pre-approved inquiry?
If a guest books after receiving a pre-approved inquiry response, the resulting reservation may be classified as a special offer.
Why do I see two conversation threads for the same Airbnb guest?
If a guest first sends an inquiry and later confirms a reservation, Hostaway Inbox may display the inquiry and the reservation as separate threads.