---
title: "Booking.com reply score explained: how it is calculated and how to raise it"
description: "Your Booking.com reply score is the share of guest messages from the last 30 days answered within 24 hours. How it is counted, what drags it down, what Booking says it affects, and eight settings that keep it near 100 percent."
url: https://supalobby.com/en/blog/booking-com-reply-score-explained
language: en
published: 2026-09-29
updated: 2026-09-29
author: Bartosz Wilczyński
translation: https://supalobby.com/blog/wskaznik-odpowiedzi-booking-com-reply-score
---

# Booking.com reply score explained: how it is calculated and how to raise it

Your Booking.com reply score is the share of guest messages from the last 30 days answered within 24 hours. How it is counted, what drags it down, what Booking says it affects, and eight settings that keep it near 100 percent.

Your Booking.com reply score is **the percentage of guest messages from the last 30 days that you answered within 24 hours**. Booking recalculates it daily, shows it after ten guest messages, and displays it in the Extranet under Inbox, Reservation messages. You raise it by replying faster in the thread and marking messages that need no answer.

Below: the exact definition and where it comes from, what counts as a reply, what Booking actually says the score affects, a worked example, and eight settings in the Extranet and the Pulse app that do most of the work.

## How does Booking.com calculate the reply score?

The score is a fraction: guest messages you replied to within 24 hours, divided by all guest messages in the last 30 days. If fewer than ten messages arrived in that window, Booking uses your ten most recent messages instead. The score refreshes daily and only appears after your first ten guest messages. Messages you mark as "No reply needed" within 24 hours are removed from the calculation.

A note on the source. Booking's own article, "Understanding your reply score", redirected on 26 September 2026 to a general guide, "Communicating with guests", that no longer contains the definition. The wording above is restated from Booking by two independent write-ups, Hospitable (October 2025) and Otamiser (January 2024), and matches the explanation shown next to the score in the Extranet. If Booking changes the window or the threshold, we will update this paragraph.

A worked example. Over 30 days guests sent you 20 messages. You answered 17 within a day. Two were "thanks, see you Friday", which you marked as needing no reply the same evening. One you spotted three days late. Booking counts 17 out of 18: 94 percent. Had you left the two thank-yous unmarked, the score would be 17 out of 20: 85 percent.

## What counts as a reply, and what hurts the score?

A reply is a message sent in the reservation thread: from the Extranet (Inbox, Reservation messages, or the reservation's "Conversation with guest" section), from Pulse (Bookings, the guest, Messages), or from a connected tool that writes into the same thread. A phone call is not a message in the thread. After you call a guest, send one line in the thread, or as far as Booking is concerned the question went unanswered.

| Situation | How Booking.com treats it |
|---|---|
| You replied in the thread within 24 hours | on-time reply |
| You replied after 25 hours | unanswered for the score; the reply still reaches the guest, and you have 14 days to send it |
| You marked "No reply needed" within 24 hours | excluded from the score |
| You marked it after 24 hours | Booking does not describe this; assume it counts as unanswered |
| An automatic reply from the Extranet | Booking counts it as a partner response in its statistics; we could not find on Booking's pages whether it counts towards the score |
| A scheduled template | your own outgoing message, not a reply; no effect on the score |
| You phoned but did not write | no message in the thread |

Two windows are easy to confuse with the score. The thread is open from booking until seven days after check-out or cancellation. Once a guest writes, you have 14 days in which you can reply at all. Those are technical limits. The score only rewards the first 24 hours.

Since 28 September 2026 Booking.com no longer passes guest phone numbers to property management systems, so more conversations move into the thread and more messages land in the score. The details are in our piece on [guest phone numbers](/en/blog/booking-com-guest-phone-numbers-28-september-2026).

## Does the reply score affect ranking and visibility?

We found no sentence on Booking.com's own pages saying the reply score is a ranking factor. Booking says two other things instead. On the Pulse page: guests who get faster responses tend to cancel less and leave better reviews. On the messaging tools page: how quickly you respond can have a significant effect on your review score and even on cancellations. The claim that a higher reply score lifts your position comes from intermediaries such as Otamiser, not from Booking.

So the route to visibility is indirect, but documented. A guest review score of at least 7 out of 10 is one condition of the Preferred Partner Programme, alongside a performance score of at least 70 percent. Booking says Preferred partners get on average 65 percent more search views and 20 percent more bookings, in exchange for a small increase in commission. Hosts in the UK, the US and other wide or narrow parity countries also need competitive prices against other websites; hosts in the European Economic Area do not. Eligibility is checked every 90 days, and a property that drops out can rejoin only after 180 days.

For comparison, from the other big platform, and clearly Airbnb data rather than Booking.com: Intellihost analysed over 5,000 Airbnb listings in November 2023. Listings with a 100 percent response rate converted at 1 percent, those below 89 percent at 0.5 percent. Hosts replying within an hour had about 16 percent more daily impressions and a 1 percent conversion rate against 0.8 percent for slower hosts. Different platform, different algorithm, same direction.

Our view: treat the score as a thermometer, not a target. It measures what a guest feels while waiting for the door code. A perfect score built on "let me check and get back to you" buys nothing. A perfect score built on answers that stop the guest from having to ask twice buys reviews.

## How to raise your reply score: eight settings in the Extranet and Pulse

1. **Turn on new-message notifications.** Extranet, Account, Notification settings. Select Yes for new messages, choose how and when in the drop-down, click Save. The same page sets arrival e-mails and texts for last-minute bookings.
2. **Install Pulse and keep push notifications on.** It is free, available in 44 languages on iOS and Android. Reply under Bookings, the guest, Messages. The first sign-in verifies your device by text or call.
3. **Set automatic replies for repeat questions.** Property, Messaging preferences, the Automatic replies tab. Tick the topic, choose a response, attach a template if needed, Save. Booking splits them into requests within your policy (answer: yes) and outside it (answer: no, with an explanation). The guest receives the reply by e-mail and sees it in the chat.
4. **Answer before the guest asks.** The Template scheduler tab: on booking, one week, three days and one day before arrival, on arrival day, one day before departure. Directions, parking, check-in time, the code. Fewer questions means fewer messages on the 24-hour clock.
5. **Use Help me reply.** Open an unanswered message in the Inbox and Booking suggests a template or a drafted text for you to edit and send. Switch it on or off under the three dots in the top right corner of the chat window.
6. **Mark thank-yous and "ok" as needing no reply.** The same day, not on Sunday night. After 24 hours the mark no longer saves the score.
7. **Give a second person access.** User account icon, Contacts, the Reservations topic, plus a separate user account with reservation and template permissions. One person's holiday should not mean a thread sits for three days.
8. **Use translation.** Three dots next to a message, Show translation. Booking translates between English, German, French, Spanish, Dutch, Polish, Russian, Arabic and Portuguese.

In October 2025 Booking announced two newer tools. Auto-Reply lets you define your own reply topics and is available globally. Smart Messenger suggests what to send and when, and is live for partners in the US, the UK, Australia and New Zealand, and for anyone using English as their Extranet language. Booking reported 73 percent higher partner satisfaction in early experiments compared with its previous messaging tools. If your Extranet is in English, both are worth switching on.

## How much are other partners already automating?

Booking publishes three numbers on its messaging tools page: over 30 percent of all partner responses are automatic replies, around half of manual responses are sent using templates, and over 25 percent of partner-initiated messages go out through the scheduler. A property that writes every answer by hand is competing with an average that has automated half the routine. For a host with one to three units, the gap is rarely willingness. It is having nobody by the phone at 22:40.

## Where Supalobby fits

Supalobby connects Booking.com without a channel manager or PMS: reservations and messages reach its inbox through Booking.com's notification e-mails and reply relay, and the agent's reply lands in the same thread the guest sees. On Autopilot the agent answers what it is sure about and when unsure asks you and hands the thread over; on Copilot you send everything. From a sample of 434 conversations in September 2026, the median time from guest message to reply was 3.6 seconds and 90 percent of replies went out within 8.1 seconds. It does not mark messages as needing no reply in the Extranet. Autopilot costs 49 zł net per unit per month, roughly 11 euros.

## Frequently asked questions

**When does Booking.com start showing my reply score?**

After your first ten guest messages. If fewer than ten messages arrived in the last 30 days, Booking calculates the score from your ten most recent ones, so a single missed message can cost ten percentage points. The score is refreshed once a day and sits in the Extranet under Inbox, Reservation messages.

**Do automatic replies count towards the Booking.com reply score?**

Booking counts automatic replies as partner responses in its own statistics, where they make up over 30 percent of all responses, but its Partner Hub pages do not say outright whether they count towards the score. Treat them as a way to close routine questions and still answer everything else yourself within 24 hours.

**What should I do with a guest message that just says thanks?**

Mark it as needing no reply within 24 hours of receiving it; Booking then leaves it out of the calculation. Do it the same day. If the 24 hours pass, the message counts like any other, and the simplest fix is a one-line reply, although that too only counts if it goes out within the day.

**Does the reply score affect my ranking in Booking.com search?**

Booking.com does not say so on its own pages. It says fast replies reduce cancellations and improve review scores, and a review score of at least 7 is one condition of the Preferred Partner Programme, whose members get on average 65 percent more search views and 20 percent more bookings. The link to visibility is indirect but real.

**How is the Booking.com reply score different from Airbnb's response rate?**

Both measure replies within 24 hours, but Booking uses a rolling 30-day window with a ten-message minimum and lets you exclude messages marked as needing no reply. Airbnb data from Intellihost (over 5,000 listings, November 2023) showed 100 percent responders converting at 1 percent against 0.5 percent below 89 percent. No comparable Booking.com study is public.


## Sources

- [Booking.com Partner Hub, Communicating with guests (the old „Understanding your reply score” URL now redirects here)](https://partner.booking.com/en-us/learn-more/new-partner/communicating-guests) (2026-09-26)
- [Booking.com Partner Hub, Contacting guests (7-day and 14-day windows, Help me reply, translation)](https://partner.booking.com/en-us/help/reservations/contact-extranet/contacting-your-guests) (2026-09-26)
- [Booking.com Partner Hub, Setting up templates, automatic replies and message notifications](https://partner.booking.com/en-gb/help/reservations/contact-extranet/setting-templates-automatic-replies-and-message-notifications) (2026-09-26)
- [Booking.com Partner Hub, Messaging tools (over 30 percent of responses are automatic replies)](https://partner.booking.com/en-gb/solutions/messaging-tools) (2026-09-26)
- [Booking.com Partner Hub, Pulse app (free, 44 languages, faster replies and cancellations)](https://partner.booking.com/en-us/solutions/pulse-app) (2026-09-26)
- [Booking.com Partner Hub, Understanding the Preferred Partner Programme](https://partner.booking.com/en-gb/help/performance/tools-programmes/understanding-preferred-partner-programme) (2026-09-26)
- [Booking.com Partner Hub, Adding and managing your contact details](https://partner.booking.com/en-us/help/reservations/contact-extranet/adding-and-managing-your-contact-details) (2026-09-26)
- [Booking.com newsroom, Smart Messenger and Auto-Reply announcement](https://news.booking.com/bookingcom-debuts-agentic-ai-innovations-adding-to-its-robust-suite-of-genai-tools-for-customers/) (2025-10-09)
- [Hospitable, Booking.com Messages (reply score definition restated from Booking.com)](https://hospitable.com/booking-com-messages) (2025-10-30)
- [Otamiser, How to utilize Booking.com guest messaging strategy for ranking impact (ten-message threshold)](https://www.otamiser.com/blog/how-to-utilize-booking-com-guest-messaging-strategy-for-ranking-impact) (2024-01-12)
- [Intellihost, How response rate and response time affect your bookings (Airbnb data, over 5,000 listings)](https://intellihost.co/blog/how-response-rate-and-response-time-affect-your-bookings) (2023-11-07)