Choose another place to stay...?!?

[Jessica-and-Sean1]

I just into a problem with someone trying to book a stay at my AirBNB. Anyone else?

Message from AirBNB to the person trying to book:

“Choose another place to stay. Airbnb prevents booking for entire homes when a pattern of factors (like location or reservation times) suggest the booking may be unsafe. This restriction is not related to COVID-19.”

Message from AirBNB to me:

"Thank you for your patience, I checked on the reservation and your listing. This has nothing to do with the listing, it could be in the guest side as to why the system is hindering her in confirming the reservation. There might be information that the guest need to add in her profile.

Is it possible for you to inform the guest to reach out to us? So, we can check her account and assist her."

Message from AirBNB to the person trying to book:

"I'm saddened to know about the issue that you're encountering when trying to book a place. I apologize for the inconvenience this may have caused you.

Upon checking, the reason why you were not able to book this listing was due to some procedures in place that block certain reservations for your safety.

Airbnb implemented rules on booking patterns associated with prior risks. My sincerest apology as we are not able to support these particular bookings.
I also want to apologize that as of the moment we don't have the information available as to what specific booking patterns are associated. These restrictions on reservation are one of the measures initiated by Airbnb to protect our guests on a possible safety risks.

For the meantime, I suggest finding a private room or a hotel boutique in replacement to an entire home place.”

So… To sum up…

1. You can’t book due to a security problem
2. We don’t know what that security problem is
3. Book a hotel instead

[Martina714]

@Jessica-and-Sean1 I'm heading you on dog-fooding article https://fortune.com/2017/12/22/airbnb-joe-gebbia/.

grab your answer.

[Colleen253]

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Hosting/Is-Airbnb-replacing-Hosts-with-Hotels/td-p/1273241

@Jessica-and-Sean1 

[Emilia42]

@Jessica-and-Sean1 This guest set off red flags with the Airbnb algorithms. It may be unnecessary but it also may be valid. Who knows? Only robots truly. In response to the Onedia shooting, guests are now flagged based on their reservation patterns, location, timing of bookings, age?, etc. 

[Sarah977]

@Jessica-and-Sean1  "Upon checking, the reason why you were not able to book this listing was due to some procedures in place that block certain reservations for your safety."

It is absolutely reprehensible that Airbnb sends this message to guests, which makes it sound as if there is something about the listing that is unsafe, when in fact, it is sent when a booking request triggers an algorithm that means the guest and the booking parameters are red flags for a party scene.

It is a total misrepresentation of what is really happening and confuses both hosts and guests alike.

@Lizzie  This topic has come up before. It would be wonderful if you could bring this to Airbnb's attention. It is a huge disservice to hosts to make it appear that there is something unsafe about the listing and guests are completely bamboozled by it. There is no reason whatsoever why it should be worded like this. Surely someone over there in the company can come up with different wording, both to hosts and guests, for this algorithm action. 

[Maria2111]

I had the same situation. Just yesterday, I learned from a returning guest about the message and asked others, who I know and have airbnb accounts, to try to book the same listing and they received the same message. Either all of these people have accounts that for some reason triggered the message or it is my listing that is getting labeled. I thought I was not getting reservations because in February I did have the misfortune of accepting 2 guests who were very difficult and they had just left a review saying my property was old. Most of my guests are long term professionals who are not the "review type" person and thought these 2 negative reviews were the cause that some guests who inquired in the past months and were about to book had not done so. Now I am wondering... Contacted Airbnb and they seem not to understand the situation.