Some negatives here: People might log into their profiles only if they get a request (especially since 2020) so if there is a bug and they do not get a notification- too bad for them! It will negatively affect their response rate. Also life happens and there might be countless situations why someone can’t response ASAP.
A lot of surfers who do not hear from their chosen host within 48 hours usually start searching a different host anyway so I think the host’s response rate should go down after 48h (gjw’s suggestion- the option #3,5 ) but it would be nice if the response rate could go back up as long as you are able to reply- even if it’s an apology a month later that you weren’t able to reply sooner.
Is there any appetite for having three metrics here?
Click to expand:
Response rate
Includes all responses regardless of timing
Timely response rate
Based solely on timely responses - sent within 96 hrs. This ensures that last minute requests don’t penalize the potential host. For requests made well in advance, this ensures the host does not postpone the response until the last minute.
Acceptance rate
Based on positive timely responses
The overall ‘Response rate’ somewhat satisfies what @michaela was pointing to, while ‘Timely’ and ‘Acceptance’ rates give an idea of how likely the host is to say yes in a timely fashion, in general.
Please no acceptance rate… While I do accept almost 100% of personal requests that I get, 95% of the total volume are copy and paste requests from people that I am not interested to meet, let alone host. I don’t want to be “punished” by having an incredible low acceptance rate if all it takes to get accepted is to be a decent human being and shoot a thoughtful request (which most people on hospex are not capable of).
Trustroots currently shows your response rate in % and how fast you are able to reply and I think this is all that surfers need to see to get an image about their host, how fast and IF they reply:
So probably there is no appetite for that sort of detail, and I agree if I put on my hosting cap. The surfer in me would still like to see those numbers, but I can still rely on the references to infer the hosting frequency for a given host.
Having said that, I still think that there should be an upper cap in time where a response will cease to be considered a valid response. Perhaps max(request window, 1 week)? At the same time, if the host has set their status to ‘Not hosting’, then the request does not count negatively towards the response rate or even the reply time.
I have noticed that since May 2021 this issue has not been updated and fixed yet. I have just received a request. Unfortunately I’m out of city and can’t host. I wanted to tell them that I can help them in different ways and/or incase of an emergency they contact me etc. Which I always do when I reject invitations but it is not possible on Couchers.
First of all, why those two buttons (accept and reject buttons) are located on top of the chat box and not under the box? Would be better if we put the buttons under the char box. So that who ever wants to write something could write and the ones who don’t want to write anything can easily skip, too.
I believe this relocation will help/
Second thing is why do we have to stop all the chat once we reject? I guess the motivation behind is to avoid unwanted conversation, disturbance etc… But there are many times I had to reject the request but continued talking to those people and even met them in person etc. I can not host doesn’t mean that I can not chat? Yes I know I can still continue talking to those people via direct messaging but why would I go to their profile and message. If you insist on your motivation which is a valid point actually then let’s improve it. When I click Reject it can ask me in another pop up window either I want to end the chat or leave it open. I think in this way the platform will be more useful.
Cheers
Husso
) but it would be nice if the response rate could go back up as long as you are able to reply- even if it’s an apology a month later that you weren’t able to reply sooner.