Guest who shouldn't have been able to make a reservation with us, or anyone, able to anyway

[Amy-and-Brian0]

We've been getting less than desirable guests since the shut down and have increased our "Instant Booking" setting slightly to "Recommendation from other hosts" required. It's literally the slightest change, but we do not want new guests anymore.
We also require a day's notice to book using "Advance notice: At least 1 day’s notice"

However today, a guest booked using instant book,  who had 3 strikes against them:

1. They weren't even verified with AirBnb yet (their ID wasn't valid or some such)
2. They were a new account (thus no host recommendations)
3. They booked 2 hours before check in

How? Just how can that be?

At the very least, we should have been able to refuse the reservation based on the fact it was requested far less than 24 hours in advance (not to mention the two other issues...)

We also had no way to cancel the "reservation" because the only screen we were given was a "Message" screen, with no interaction.

AND to add insult to injury, someone we pre-approved for a check in today (who had 6 recommendations) was blocked from completing their reservation. So we lost that booking.

What gives?

[Laura2592]

How about requiring more notice on your stays?

In addition to requiring a recommendation by other hosts, you could limit the last minute guest. We have never allowed people to book without 2 days notice, just because it takes us time to get back and forth for set up of our space. We are literally booked solid so it has not interfered with our income potential.

The magic formula for using IB seems to be:

No one night stays

No stays over 28 nights (shorter is better IMHO)

Recommendations from other hosts required

ID verified

No last minute bookings.

I think when you allow last-minute bookings, there is a loophole through which undesirable guests can jump. It seems that the criteria goes right out the window.  Payouts are often jacked up as well. 

If they are a new guests to the platform they should be sending an inquiry or request to book, and if  you have your settings as above you have the ability to refuse. Though Airbnb will ASK why you refused...Frankly that added poke is a little ridiculous. Obviously I refused because I wasn't comfortable. And if I tell  you that, where does that information go?

[Anna9170]

@Amy-and-Brian0  Surprisingly, all my "one day notice" rules did not work correctly, I sometimes received a reservation request on the same day almost in the evening! Amazingly enough, there is a scheme that works correctly. In the settings you select "reservation on the same day" and you are given the opportunity to choose the time until which the guest can make a reservation. Set it to 5 am, for example, this scheme has never given me an error. 

[Huma0]

I had no idea these errors were so common. I started off with one day's notice, but changed it to two days, and have all the criteria ticked that I can.

I only remember one time that someone slipped through the net. Her ID was not verified but she told me she had tried to verify it. I called Airbnb and they said the verification didn't go through because the ID and profile photos didn't look like the same person. The guest sent me scans of her ID, so I let it slide. Mistake. This girl makes it into my top three most awful guests of all time (I have hosted hundreds of guests so you have to be pretty bad to be in the worst three!). 

The CS rep could give me no explanation as to how this girl was able to IB my listing without verified ID.

Another time, I did notice that Airbnb had done some sort of update to the system and all the requirements I had checked were now unchecked, so I had to tick them all again. Worth keeping an eye on that in case they do it again!