Booking from 1st time Airbnb guest blocks date and is unconfirmed

[Melodie-And-John0]

Hello all, I had a somewhat localish guest book one night for Friday last night (Thursday) our large suite (5 adults) by a first time Airbnb guest with an incomplete bio, no message from them and was on hold "unconfirmed" so it automatically blocked the date (Today) and didn't give me a choice to accept or decline them even though it should have been considered an in IB (<24 hours from check in opening).  This has happened before, guests provide little or no info, have 1 word details in profile, no reviews, just opened the account and its not even a confirmed guest!!!!!!!   

So me being the diligent host, I sent him a list of my barrage of typical questions like "what brings you here?" and restatements of important details like "hosts live on premises and quiet after 10pm" as well as telling them I must have confirmation they agree with our rules and policies I always request from first timers and low and behold, they instantly cancel, (no payout even with less than 24 hours to check in) and he's been removed from the calendar without him sending a message!   The next thing I see is nothing in my inbox, the entire message trail disappears like it never even happened!  The good news is it looks like I just avoided a party at my house, the bad news is anyone that wanted to book that space while Airbnb was not doing their job as approving agent couldn't and some other host that is less awake at 930 pm will probably be hosting a party tonight thanks to the way this all played out.   I cant even warn Airbnb or other hosts about the who or what exactly, the messages and all are gone!!!!!!

My observations about this are as follows, Airbnb should never let a perspective guest with an incomplete profile that is not confirmed book period if the payment and identity are not verified, you have no right to even ask much less block my listing for 10 minutes, an hour or a day!.  Even  first timers with a complete one with less than 24 hours notice should not be allowed to encumber our calendar without us approving, our right to cancel them without prejudice should stand.  Nearly every party seeking guest has been a first timer with lousy communications and incomplete profile and Airbnb says they are doing their best to stop that, I don't think so myself cause Sam and Suzy Shady are still sneaking through the approval door without being vetted.   Other hosts have complained about this here in the past and I have lost money due to it myself on a few occasions, its unacceptable to put our hosts and listings at more risk than they are under the best of conditions.   What say my fellow hosts?  Stay well, JR

[Charles224]

@Melodie-And-John0 

Looks like you definately dodged a bullet there.

The masking of a guest's detail appears to be a slow march to the situation a hotel experiences (i.e. no details) and is prepared for (security in house etc.). I am the entire compliment of the security team here, apart from all the other roles..

The cynical amongst us would see this as the natural progression to preferential booking of hotels, where the AirBnb platform is simply taking the role of a travel agent.

Cheers, Charles

[Debra300]

@Melodie-And-John0,

I had a guest send a request yesterday for a same night reservation for a two night stay.  The guest had one review, and in his opening message had explained why he was coming to town.  I accepted, and then the reservation popped up "payment pending", and said that the guest has a day to provide a new payment and my calendar would be blocked.  I immediately called CS, and said that a guest shouldn't be allowed to make a booking request unless that payment has already been confirmed, there's no way that I am going to wait until tomorrow for a stay that has technically started, and Airbnb shouldn't be blocking calendars for stays that are scheduled to start in less than 48 hours.  I got the CS rep to retract the booking request.  I then messaged the guest, and said that I could not accept his reservation at that time, because his payment didn't go through.  I told him to use another form of payment, and submit a new request.  He did so rather quickly, and fortunately the payment went through.