I didnt approve this booking

[Claus20]

Please help. 

I got an inquiry, from someone without a profile picture, no profile description, and no reviews. They asked if my place was vacant in July, and nothing more. I replied yes.  I didn't do anything and didn't approve. Next, I got a confirmation,  payment, and booking. I didn't know that was possible? Previously Airbnb did ask me if I could approve the guest. Also my pricing had changed. I don't know how Airbnb calculated that price. I did my best not to give any discount and set all percentages to zero, but still this happens again. Why?

They booked at this price: 

easy transport to city

3.–31. jul. (28 nætter)
4 gæster · 8.693,51 kr

This is the price that I thought I ad given: 

375 kr DKK x 27 nætter

Gennemsnit for Smart prissætning

10.125 kr DKK

Gæstegebyr

2.144 kr DKK

I alt

12.269 kr DKK

Din indtjening

9.821 kr DKK

I replied to the guest, that before I can confirm the booking I need some more info about who is coming to stay.

Here is the reply: 

Hello. We are four students from Slovakia, who are trying to earn some money for our future studies. We are hard-working, responsible and nice. We would spent most of our time in work, so you wouldn’t have to worry about anything. We will work as cleaning ladies in hotel, so you would not have to worry one bit about messy apartment.

Not exactly the guest i was hoping for. Not very reassuring. What to do? Best Claus

[Mike-And-Jane0 · Accepted solution]

@Claus20 Sounds like quite nice guests to me. I would just check with them that they won't bring any non-registered guests to your property at any time.

[Claus20]

Hi Mike and Jane, 

Yes the guest may be good, but what about the pricing? 

You helped me before, ( thanks ) and I tried to make sure there is only one price 9.821 kr DKK, still I haven't got it right? And what about the non-approved booking? Is that standard? Or did I get something wrong? Dont know why it should be that difficult to just set a fixed price, which I agree with. 

Can I just cancel, and demand the other price directly from them? What will happen

Thanks

[Claus20]

Hi Mike and Jane, 

Yes the guest may be good, but what about the pricing? 

You helped me before, ( thanks ) and I tried to make sure there is only one price 9.821 kr DKK, still I haven't got it right? And what about the non-approved booking? Is that standard? Or did I get something wrong? Dont know why it should be that difficult to just set a fixed price, which I agree with. 

Can I just cancel, and demand the other price directly from them? What will happen

Thanks

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Claus20 I can only assume you have Instant Book switched on which allows people to just book the place with no interaction.

I can't figure out the price unless you have moved to the 'host pays the service fee' model. 

You can see if this is the case by looking in your account and seeing what fee structure you are on.

[Claus20]

Yes, you are right about the instant booking. As I see it,  I can still demand to see photo ID or review from other guests, and cancel. 

But the "host pays the service fee" switch, where do I find it? It seems so well hidden?

[Huma0]

@Claus20 

You can select your Instant Book settings to require guests to have verified ID (that doesn't mean you see the ID as it is verified by Airbnb) and previous good reviews, but this will only apply to bookings made after you have selected those settings. They are not switched on automatically, so I don't know if you already selected them or not.

You can cancel an IB penalty free up to three times a year if you either feel uncomfortable about the guest or think they will break your house rules. I have always called Airbnb CS to do this as I want to make sure the cancellation goes through without penalties, but you do have to give a valid reason for why you are uncomfortable/think they will break the rules. If they've not said anything to indicate this, which I can't see that they have, I am not sure you can cancel without penalties.

You can't give the price as a reason to cancel penalty free if that's the price that was advertised when they booked. However, if you think that it was a mistake on Airbnb's side, then yes, you could contact Airbnb and explain that and ask them to cancel the reservation so that the guests can rebook.

Alternatively, you could explain to the guests and ask them to cancel if they are still within the 48 hour grace period where they can get a full refund (this doesn't apply if the stay is less than two weeks away).

[Claus20]

I just want to cancel the booking. But I don't even know how to do that. 

I find only this place,  and I can only change the dates, not cancel:

I don't feel reassured about a profile with, no previous reviews, or photos.

Yes maybe it is my fault, that I missed some settings. 

But the price change I still don't understand, and don't see why they change.

I am seriously tired about Airbnb, and maybe it is not for me. 

[Huma0]

@Claus20 

If you do decide to continue with Airbnb, you need to select the setting which only allows people to book if they have uploaded a profile photo. I believe this applies to both instant bookings and request bookings, so is not under the IB settings. Go to your listing as if to edit it and click on Policies and Rules. Scroll down and you will find it under Guest Requirements.

It seems to work for me as I have never had a guest without a profile photo book since I turned that on. That's not to say their profile photo won't be unclear, or of their dog or foot or whatever. In the latter case, I would ask the guest to upload a proper photo. In your case, I would also ask the guest to upload a photo and properly fill in their profile, get their ID verified etc. Ask for the names of all guests on the booking and for the guests to confirm they have all read, understood and agree to your house rules.

Ideally, you would do that before they book but you are using instant booking. On that subject, if you want to be able to accept or decline reservations and are choosy about who you host, then really I would advise turning off IB unless you feel you absolutely need it to be visible in the search results.

I am not sure why you are so wary of these guests. Is it because they are students or because they will be working as cleaning ladies? Their response seems perfectly nice to me but I understand you are unhappy with the price and I have no answer RE that. Many guests do not upload a profile picture because it's not required to create a profile (Airbnb's fault) and they just want to do it quickly and get on with other things.

I have also hosted lots of guests with no reviews and most of them were nicer than some guests who had lots of great reviews. Everyone has to start somewhere. I assume even if you have never been a new Airbnb guest, you have been a new Airbnb host and someone has to take a risk on being your first guest. I believe you just have to ask guests for enough information to make you feel comfortable with the booking as they don't always know that the host expects this or what they should tell you about themselves. 

However, if you do want to go ahead and cancel the booking, of course that is your choice, and I have no way of knowing for sure if these are going to be good guests or not. I don't know why it is only showing the option to change rather than cancel the reservation. There must be a glitch (I checked and am also not seeing the option to cancel), so I guess you will need to contact Airbnb about it.

Also, here you can read about the circumstances in which you can cancel penalty free: https://www.airbnb.co.uk/help/article/2022/can-a-host-cancel-a-reservation-without-adverse-consequen...

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Claus20 you should be able to cancel an Instant Book booking free of penalty if you are uncomfortable with it. Try online or call Airbnb.

Service fees are in your account not your listing. Click on your profile picture and you'll find them there somewhere

[Claus20]

Thanks, and sorry, but I still can't find it in my account settings. 

Is this the page you mean?

Here is some info about the reservation. 

jul. 3. - jul. 31.

---

Manglende indtjening ( missing income ) 

8.693,51 kr DKK

322,58 kr DKK x 28 overnatninger plus rengøringsgebyrer, ekskl. servicegebyrer

I did set the price at 375 per day, with no discount, but they say 322,58