Hosting is important to you, but you have other things going on in your life that are also important - family, work, and your personal life. Tracking how often you are responding and what percentage of requests you're accepting is probably not the most important thing. We've had a lot of questions about how this measurement works, why it matters, and how you can improve your own. We've gathered the most frequently asked questions and gone to the teams that are focused on helping you make more money, safely, and gathered their responses.
What's the difference between response rate and acceptance rate?
- Response rate measures how consistently you are responding to trip requests and inquiries. You can see your response rate on your listing.
- Your acceptance rate measures how often you accept reservations. Guest enquiries are excluded from this calculation.
What happens to my acceptance rate if I answer a question rather than pre-approve, send a special offer, or decline a request?
If a guest sends you a request (remember, enquiries are excluded) and you only answer a question but do not approve, decline, or send a special offer before the request expires, that counts as a decline.
Here's the long version:
In the case of enquiries, like when a guest asks you what your tank capacity is in a message, you can respond with an answer, pre-approval, special offer, or by declining. Declining an enquiry encourages them to request another RV. None of these actions affect your acceptance rate. If you pre-approve and the guest books your RV, that counts as an acceptance. If you pre-approve and they don't book, it doesn't have any effect on your acceptance rate. If you decline an enquiry, your acceptance rate is not affected.
A booking request means that a guest is making an official request to book your RV and is waiting for you to accept or decline. We only measure the final outcome of this request - accepted, special offer sent, declined, or expired. If you let a request expire, even if you answer questions but don't take action to approve or decline within 24 hours, that is considered to be a decline.
How do these rates affect me as a host?
Hosts who have very low rates could face penalties, including having all listings suspended. It is important to note that one-off instances of not responding or declining a request will not lead to action being taken. We look at your overall rates and the direction they are moving towards, and are more concerned when they are heading downwards once below target.
What acceptance rate target should I be trying to reach?
Hosts should aim to accept 75% or more of bookings. This means that 3 out of 4 guests that come to RVezy to book their dream RV trip are going to be able to have the experience of a lifetime they were hoping for.
What tips do you have to keep my acceptance rate high?
Hosts are the experts here! We've also built some tools to help make sure that only the requests that you want are sent to you, and are working tirelessly to improve these tools. One of the best ways to make sure that you aren't letting requests expire is to use the RVezy mobile app on your phone.
Here are some tips our top hosts shared with us:
- Set aside time each day to reply to requests and enquiries.
- Each Sunday, update your availability calendar for any personal or other business use of your RV, or dates you will be unavailable.
- Unpublish your listing if you are going to be unavailable for a period of time and don't want to receive requests. There are no penalties for unpublishing your RV. Make sure you republish when you get back.
- If you're very busy or your business really takes off, considering asking a partner, friend, or virtual assistant to help manage your account.
For your acceptance rate, ensure your calendar and booking preferences and settings are accurate and up to date. For example, if you can't accommodate requests more than 3 months out from today, update your booking preferences to reflect a maximum lead time. Hosts also tell us that it is helpful to add rules to their RV description so guests understand what is allowed or not allowed before submitting a request. You're less likely to get requests that you won't accept if you are clear about your expectations.
If you need some guided support on what tools might be available to you, reach out to our customer support team for recommendations given your specific circumstances.
How are you avoiding penalties for hosts' acceptance rate when they decline unfit or illegitimate requests?
We understand that sometimes you might receive requests that don't fit your needs. These can put you in the difficult position of having to risk harming your own acceptance rate when there is no other good alternative. To help with this, we need you to flag to us when there's a problem. We don't currently have a feature to "waive" these requests from your calculated acceptance rate, but we will consider them when they are flagged to us when deciding upon any penalties.
We want to ensure you're in control when you decide who rents your RV and that you're comfortable with your guests. We understand that you only want to be held accountable for legitimate requests and we're committed to making that happen.
Numbers are just a part of your journey
While keeping acceptance rate in mind is important, they aren't everything. They are just indicators of the actual hospitality you show your guests and the relationship you establish when they reach out to you. You impact a guest's experience the moment they send you a message, and our hosts take a lot of pride in creating welcoming, memorable experiences for people that enjoy their RV. That is to say, please do care about communicating in a timely manner and setting guests up for success while they're trying to find a good listing match for their needs; but know that numbers are just one part of the story about how you host.
