OwnerRez users do not have to use the OwnerRez inquiry/approve/special offer side if they don't want to. However, if users pre-approve an inquiry, send a special offer, etc. in Airbnb, that will automatically update over to OwnerRez.
Airbnb guests have the option to request early check-in or late check-out times. Therefore, it's wise for OwnerRez users to review their bookings regularly in OR to be aware of these requests.
Inquiries
Inquiries can be pre-approved by clicking on the Pre-Approve button on the Inquiry Overview.
The Pre-approve modal pop-up will appear giving users the option to pre-approve the inquiry and generate a quote by clicking on OK.
Special Offers
You can create a one-time "special offer" for an Airbnb guest from either the Airbnb app or directly in OwnerRez which will result in a Quote for the special offer in OwnerRez.
Pre-approvals are implemented as special offers by Airbnb -- a pre-approval is just a special offer with the total special offer amount the same as your current rates. That pre-approval special offer amount is calculated by Airbnb and sent to OwnerRez -- neither you nor OwnerRez have control over the pre-approval amount. Instead, Airbnb calculates it based on your current rates. Special offers (including pre-approvals) do not include taxes in the special offer amount which is why they're not shown in the quote in OwnerRez. Applicable taxes are added to the special offer amount on the Airbnb side when it is accepted.
- Special offers only have a total amount, so any fees are just totaled up and used as the total special offer amount. Users should be sure that cleaning fees and surcharges are added.
- Pre-approvals are implemented by Airbnb as a "special offer" under the covers. If users pre-approve an inquiry, Airbnb totals up the amount of all charges and creates a special offer for that amount... which means on the resulting booking the charges aren't broken out. Users can make the selection to either send the special offer by email through OwnerRez or directly through Airbnb. Click Send.
- Alterations -- after a quote is made, guests can request and hosts can make changes such as adding/changing dates, etc. When this happens, Airbnb calculates a suggested amount for the change based on the current rates, but the host can also go in and change the total by clicking on Charges.
- This allows the changes to be pushed back into Airbnb via the API, until the guest accepts the Quote and a Booking is created.
In the case above, it was originally a special offer (via pre-approval) and looks like Airbnb, didn't calculate rates for the change as expected but rather than adding an amount for additional nights, Airbnb recalculated the existing nights and ended up with a lower amount. Possibly because the booking was originally a special offer.
Airbnb does an initial availability check when a booking alteration is accepted. However, Airbnb could wait to do another availability check (up to 24 hours) if there's a guest payment failure. This could result in another booking superseding the original "Airbnb altered" booking.
Request to Book
Airbnb-connected users have the ability to determine whether they will accept an Airbnb guest "Request to Book" that exceeds their property maximum nights rule setting if their property is available.
Of course, we leave that decision up to our users, who can edit those settings by navigating to Settings > API Integrations > their Airbnb API Integration > Options.
A Request to Book (RTB) or Reservation Request creates a quote/inquiry in OwnerRez. If users confirm the RTB, it will become a full booking.
Users can also deny the RTB and send a new quote or Special Offer from the Quote > Send tab.
Learn why some Airbnb scenarios will convert an Instant Book (IB) listing to a Request to Book (RTB) listing.
Pre-Approvals
Users can pre-approve or withdraw the quote within the guest conversation in OwnerRez or the inquiry in OwnerRez.