Unverified Guests, Calendar blocked

[Otavio4]

A guest with verification information still pending requested to book my apartment.

I have the instant booking feature on, with the conditions of only accepting guests with verified information, with positive reviews and with no kids. This guest has kids and doesn't have his information verified but, even so, my dates are blocked while Airbnb is verifying his personal details. He shouldn't even be able to block the dates in the first place! I wasn't even asked whether I agreed to have the dates blocked or not. I need these dates unblocked so other guests, under the criteria I set, would be able to book my place. How to do this?

Thanks

[Sally671]

This is what is happening to me and It's blocking out genuine bookings too. They are no help at all they just tell you any old lie to get you off the phone and next week a different person will tell you something different.

[Elizabeth10]

Today, received an INQUIRY at 1:43pm.  The potential guest answered questions to my satisfaction.  I went to accept and there was no accept \ approve button.  Spent 25 minutes on phone with CSR trying to make sure the my calendar was available so this guest could book.   CSR said the inquiry was blocking the calendar due to account issues and they wouldn't tell me what was the problem (fine, I didn't ask what it was anyway).  She told me to decline the INQUIRY and tell the guest to resubmit when verification finishes.  CSR also promised to contact guest to expedite the process.  

An hour later, heard nothing, and I see all of my listing calendars are blocked.  Not having 25 minutes to spend on the phone again, I went thru twitter.  Another CSR finally called me and said they were still working on the problem.  Each time I emphasize this is a guest from out of town and is waiting to check in.   It's now 5:09pm

I told guest I would be glad to approve anyone else from the group to book.  Guest said they would try that if they could get my calendar unblocked.

Inbox from Airbnb Support:  This is xxx again here with Airbnb. I wanted to follow up with you as discussed over the phone. At this time we will not be able to make your calendar available due to the pending verification status. I apologize for the inconvenience as I'm sure this is a bit frustrating at the least to say.  We must give xxxguest's name xxx  account at least 12 hours as the site mentions, to become fully verified to book. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

Response to CSR:  Surely my calendar can't be blocked, due to an inquiry, especially since I followed the other csr's instructions to DECLINE the INQUIRY?   Also, the guest just told me her account is frozen and it will take a week tofix!!

Guest what, no response from the CSR!!! I wasted over 5 hours holding guest hand and helping them, csr’s, and time setting up for 6 guests today and lost over $100 as a result.

I’m at the point to put an ad on craigslist because AirBnb doesn’t respond to several other issues I have addressed, as well as have my back with damages as it is, no promised trust and safety, etc.  that they advertise to recruit hosts.

[Sally671]

I was told by one Airbnb" helper" that the reason my calendar was blocked and my other guests could not complete was because I did not take unverified guests so they they had to have time to make sure they were safe for me first. AGGGHHH. They are worse than useless. Only solution I found was to have an alternative room blocked and if this happens let the guest wanting to book know if they book the other room you open up for them they can just proceed to the original room anyway. This really only works when the guest is panicked about the situation and sees you helping them. New guests may be frightened off!

[Melissa1519]

This is a bit of an old thread but still a problem.

I just put in a feature request that either

1. allows host to set settings to not allow booking requests for unverified guests (when instant book is not being used)

or

2. Require all guests to verify themselves prior to requesting to book

These both seem reasonable safety precautions for airbnb to setup to protect their hosts.

I advise to send in a similar feature request as well.

You can send using airbnb.com/help/feedback

@Rebecca2 

@Elizabeth10 

@Otavio4 

[Sarah977]

@Melissa1519  In what way do you think Airbnb verification protects you? All it means is that the guest uploaded a copy of a valid driver's license or some other form of ID. It's no assurance of a good guest or anything. 

I've never paid attention to whether a guest is verified, and I've never used IB. I consider the way a guest communicates with me and any reviews they might have to be adequate for determining whether to accept a request and have never experienced a bad guest.

I do understand, however, that guests who upload ID, a real face photo, and bother to do a little profile write-up indicates an understanding that hosts want some info about who they accept.

If I see a guest has good reviews, has a profile write-up and a photo of themselves, not a plate of spaghetti or a sunset, and communicates in a friendly, polite and informative manner, verified ID is immaterial to me.

[Sally671]

In the UK if you accept a person who is not allowed to rent a property because they are from abroad and not approved by the home office and therefore are an illegal immigrant you can be fined up to £20,000. Not only must you have ID it must match the person who turns up. Often they do not and in my area there are a lot of immigration scams going on via Airbnb. They just move from one place to a next until the landlord is unaware of the rules and lets them stay. I caught a man trafficking people like this and reported him to Airbnb and the next day got a mocking message back telling me "I get better landlord for my guests". Airbnb just really does not care.

[Catherine2511]

I had a similar experience.  I have request to book but my guest had to upload a government ID with Airbnb.  They had 12 hours to complete the process and my calendar was blocked.  I have a huge problem with this.  My calendar should never be blocked when a guest does not have the proper credentials.  Airbnb should send them a message that the calendar will remain open until they complete the details necessary to book.  I also have issue with the request to book process.  I ask questions to make certain the guest is legit.  One time we had a guest with 4 great reviews.  It turned out to be a fake account.  They hosted an internet radio event with well over 30 guests in our 2 bedroom oceanfront condo.  The police were called by the neighbors and they were evicted a few hours after checking in.  It could have been much worse.  So, my point is, I will not host groups without all the adults on the reservation.  When I ask questions, the guest sometimes does not reply.  It should count as replying if I am in a conversation with the potential guest and they are not responding.  Airbnb forces me to accept or decline before I have the details that make me comfortable with a booking.  Another occasion I accepted a guest that did not invite the other adults to the reservation.  In hindsight I believe she pretended to not understand.  Over double the number of people showed up to the house.  They left it a complete disaster.  They broke screens and cooked greasy food directly on the oven racks.  The oven was overflowing with grease.  There was more and it was a nightmare to get the items loaded in the resolution center as well as prepare the home before the next guest checked in.  I wish Airbnb would be more user friendly to the host and help us protect our property with more time to respond to a potential guest or at least consider if a potential guest if forthcoming with information.  

[Sally671]

Hello Catherine

I have had all these issues and more. I host rooms in my London house. When I first started I had so many problems and I have learnt but unfortunately Airbnb has not ever been able to help in any way and has often made the situation worse. My 20 year old daughter had to come home from work once to remove a man refusing to leave and causing trouble whilst I was out of the country on work and all airbnb had to say was that it was being resolved as they refunded the troublemaker all his money and blocked all my guests for two weeks and then two weeks later told me it was a mistake and they had unblocked it but by then the locking had ended anyway. I also had guests messaging me as Airbnb just stopped their bookings and refused a refund insisting they rebook through Airbnb even though they could not as they were in the air at the time. If I had an alternative...........

[Solveiga2]

just had a similar experience. Funny that after so many years Airbnb didn't find a solution to this issue. I have a feeling they do not see it as an issue, it's only a host with a blocked callendar who is losing potential revenue, not them, the guests will always find an alternative to book.

In my case an unverified guest booked my place for same day stay at 3pm, had some discussions with the guest - won't go into the details, but neither guest not me could cancel the booking, Airbnb was awaiting guest ID. Called superhost customer service after which (they contacted the guest) it became clear that the guest can not verify their ID and is cancelling the booking. So clearly, my place is not being booked by this guest, but the CALENDAR could not be UNBLOCKED! I have to wait 12 hours guest verification time to pass. How frustrating is that, its the same last day booking! Sure you think that customer service should have a button to uverrun any booking and cancel if its clear that the guest is not booking or clearly indicates that they can not verify their ID.