I've just had one of my oddest guest experiences and possibly my shortest ever stay

[Huma0]

Not 100% sure how to interpret this one. I don't want to seem paranoid, but after the unexpected 3* review I recently received, which will cost me my Superhost status, I'm starting to worry if I'm getting something really wrong.

A young local lady booked one of my rooms quite last minute for the Xmas/New Year period while she was waiting for her new apartment to be available (turns out it was last minute because the Airbnb host she was previously booked with nearby contracted COVID and had to cancel). She was supposed to stay for 2.5 weeks. 

This was the kind of guest I hope to receive. She had no reviews, but her communication was great, she seemed absolutely lovely, checked in early evening yesterday and said the house was beautiful. She went to work early the following day. As I hadn't seen her, I messaged later in the evening to ask if everything was okay or if she needed anything. She told me all was fine, she was visiting friends and would probably stay with them that evening, come back the following evening (today), leave again to visit family for Xmas and then be back.

Shortly after she returned this evening, she told me her plans had changed and that she might be away longer than she originally thought. A few minutes after that, she came back downstairs and told me she would be checking out now and not coming back and that she was sorry and hoped that was okay with me.

I told her that of course, if her plans had changed, that is fine, but I was worried that she was leaving because something was wrong. She assured me that everything was fine, she thought it was the prettiest, coolest house she had ever been in, I was super lovely etc. etc. and then a few minutes later, off she went.

She didn't ask for a refund, but I brought it up because I wasn't sure if she was assuming she would get one. I told her if she wanted to cancel the stay, I would open up the dates for a 10 day stay (don't normally do that as I host long term and 2.5 weeks was already lower than my usual 28 day minimum) and refund her any rebooked nights, although can't guarantee that at this short notice. She was interested, but seemed a bit uncomfortable even talking about that and kid of told me not to worry. I am waiting to see if she cancels or not.

Really not sure what to make of this. Should I be worried?

[Huma0]

And now that this guest wants to book again, I asked him again to please answer my questions. Suddenly he went silent again.

There's no way I'm going to host him.

[Sandra126]

Crikey.

[John5097]

@Huma0 Glad you were able to cancel that guest. I don’t understand why he didn’t answer questions. A few weeks ago I clicked on a few other local listings similar to mine to see what settings they had. The IB question from host was displayed on the page with dialog box for them to fill. Maybe it’s different on phone app? Regarding IB vs RTB, even with IB my page views would go way up if there was a sudden opening or open nights drew closer. Mine is very popular but when it’s booked up months in advance page views drop. For long term guest yes really want to find the right fit. I do see listings for minimum of 30 days at top of search all the time. Airbnb is good about booking the place but as you know host has to stay on top of things. I don’t like guest who use fake name. I’m on my phone so hope that helps. 

[Huma0]

@John5097 

That is interesting. How far along did you have to go in the process before you saw the IB questions? 

As the guest seemed very confused when I tried to explain to him the the had instant booked rather than sent me a request that I had to approve and said he wasn't given any options to select, I clicked on a random London listing that had IB enabled. It was either giving me the option to enter dates and 'reserve' from the listing page or to contact the host.

When I clicked on contact the host, it gave me the option to send a question (assuming this would then be an enquiry) or again, the option to 'reserve' again. I didn't go any further, because actually it is really unclear. I am assuming then you have to click reserve (says you won't be charged yet) and you are then taken to the next stage. As I have never instant booked a listing before (always sent the host a message/request booked), I am not sure exactly what each stage looks like.

[Huma0]

@John5097 

As for why he didn't answer questions, well, he first sent an enquiry simply asking 'can you confirm?'. I responded asking him to answer the questions mentioned on my listing. I can tell that a guest who messages like this hasn't read the full listing.

Instead, he instant books.

I ask him again to please answer the questions. He then tells me that he can't see any questions because his English isn't good and asks me to decline. He doesn't even seem to realise that he's instant booked and doesn't know what that is and it takes a great many messages to explain it to him. Eventually we get there, I call Airbnb, they agree to a full refund but he needs to confirm the cancellation.

He then refuses to do that, saying it's not necessary. Many more emails explaining that it is necessary or he won't get his full refund.

Eventually he does it. Then he asks if he can still check in. Oh for ***** sake.

I really do not want to host this guest by this point, but to be polite, I ask him again to please answer the questions and explain where he can find them. Silence. 

The Airbnb rep told me that if I choose to accept another booking to him, I should make it clear that the full refund was an EXCEPTION and that he would not get another if he changed his mind again.

So... why doesn't he answer the questions?

1. Big language barrier here. One of the hosts that left a review on his profile mentioned the the lady they hosted spoke very good English. If it is his wife, perhaps she handled all of this previously. There is no mention of him by name, only her or her and her husband. Sounds like if he is actually her husband and they use the same account, the hosts had minimal interaction with him. Maybe they are now separated or divorced and he now has to handle the bookings himself. Who knows?

2. Guest is really clueless. How many 19 year olds use an online booking platform but can't use an auto translate tool? Those might not be 100% accurate, but at least you get the jist. Don't tell me that you can't read questions because of your English. I can't read most languages, but I still manage to respond if someone messages me in a different one. Guest has no idea how Airbnb works, at all. No comprehension of the booking process, none of the cancellation policies. No idea that you should maybe tell the host a bit about yourself. Nothing. Nada.

3. Something dodgy is going on. The reviews left are for a lady (not him) and sometimes she is travelling with her husband, sometimes not. This was actually one of the things I asked him about, but that's when he fell completely silent after bombarding me with messages.

4. Perhaps the reviews are actually for his mother and father. That would not be so unusual. He is only 19. I've had children trying to book for their parents who didn't speak English, posing as them in the messages. I've had a husband pretend to be his wife using her profile. Of course, this never works out because the guest actually staying has not read a single thing. Probably they've seen the photos max and are unaware of important factors, e.g. that I have three cats!

None of these scenarios give me any confidence in this guest.

So, instant book is now off for that particular room.

[John5097]

@Huma0 

Guest answering some questions is bare minimum prior to committing to long term stay. 

I don't recall exactly how many times I clicked on the listing but think just once on reserve. We also confirmed not long ago in another topic that guest did see the host questions. So unless there were some recent changes the guest was just rushing though and as you mentioned some language barriers perhaps. 

I'm sure the my last guest on their honeymoon was a third party booking. They only messaged they would be arriving 2 minutes before ariving, in oreder to avoid me, although I usually don't even see  guest at all. The couple just before them also very little communication and first guest not to shower. So a few guest can just been odd. 

I'm sure you will end up with a lovely guest who really appreciates your effort and hospitality. 

[Helen744]

Helen@744.Ask for a selfie and ask for a phone number and his vax certificate. at least that way you know who he is ? I would not let him book . H

[Huma0]

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@John5097 wrote:

I did like having guest have to send a message and reply to questions with IB, though. 

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What I am finding is some IB guest send a message responding to my three booking questions (don't know why they are called pre-booking questions as they don't have to answer them before booking), while others ignore them. Whenever I've asked the latter about it, they said they never saw them. So, I just don't know how obvious they are when displayed to guests, but I do know that they CAN book without answering any of them, like this guy did.

When I asked him to please respond to the questions, he said he didn't see any questions, but those same questions are on my listing (in the house rules), so I know he hasn't read all of that either.

[Sarah977]

@Huma0  I realize that you have a huge amount of competition in London, and not using IB puts you way down in search. 

But considering that your market and preference is long term bookings, your search ranking may not matter that much. I should think that those looking for long term are going peruse listings more extensively than someone looking for a few nights.

So as long as you get as many bookings as you want, it really doesn't matter that much what your search ranking is.

That has been true for me in the past. I've never used IB, so don't have high ranking. But enough guests still manage to find my listing. Before I closed for Covid, I was getting almost more bookings than I wanted, as I like a bit of a break from guests sometimes.

[Huma0]

@Sarah977 

Yes, I was thinking that people searching for long stays (my usual minimum is 28 days) within this price range are going to find me. When I felt I had to switch on IB, I was still hosting mainly short stays and I noticed a huge difference. I was also surprised by how few problems I had - certainly not enough to use up my three penalty free cancellations. Now, however, it seems like a constant headache. This is the third time I've had to call Airbnb to cancel an IB in the past week.

I would have been happy to have the rooms empty over the Xmas/New Year period. I'm only trying to rebook that room as a courtesy to the guest.

Overall, I could certainly do with more bookings though. I lost most of my income due to COVID and I don't see it recovering any time soon and this house is so expensive to run and maintain, especially during a cold winter and an energy crisis. On the other hand, I have kind of gotten used to having less guests around. I would rather have fewer, but better guests.

[Kitty-and-Creek0]

@Huma0 

I take mostly short stays, and have the best guests - especially over the holidays. IB does not serve me at all, it is the requests that work so well. Everyone tells me about themselves, why they want to stay here, and what their goals are for the visit. I see that IB is not helping you either, so give it a try with it off. See what happens! We tried IB for awhile and had a not so wonderful experience. We had folks fall in love with the photos, and not have any idea where they were staying, or what the important features and house rules were. For home share hosts like us, we found that taking requests and having that conversation at booking request lead to the best matches for them and for us.  All good, and that is how it should be! 

[Huma0]

@Kitty-and-Creek0 

I totally agree. I started off without IB. I absolutely did not like the sound of it and everything was fine for a time. Then Airbnb started heavily pushing it and all of a sudden, my listings went from fully booked to invisible and the bookings stopped. I mean they pretty much stopped completely because no one could see me.

I reluctantly turned it back on again and, I am not joking, within days, I was fully booked (this was when I still did short term) for the next few months. That doesn't mean I just got loads of instant bookings. Request bookings were still the mainstay, and especially after I switched to long term only, so that all worked out fine. I really liked being able to cancel penalty free three times a year and I've never actually needed to use up three in a year.

But now things seem to have changed. I'm getting weirder guests approaching me, no one seems to bother to check COVID regulations nor understand that you cannot self-isolate at a a shared home like mine (and I do mention this twice on my listing) and more guests are Booking for long stays.

Something has gone wrong. The rep I spoke to said it was just the holiday season with people panic booking, which makes total sense, but I don't think it's just that.

Anyway, it's not working for me anymore. I have turned it on for this room, because I am attracting the wrong kinds of guests for the next available dates and then the room is booked for five months anyway. That guest asked me a few practical questions but told me nothing about herself at all before instant booking, so I am a bit nervous about her. Although she did respond to my questions afterwards, her communication is still not the best. Let's see...

I think I will turn it off for the other rooms too. I can always turn it back on again if the bookings aren't coming in.

[Sandra126]

@Huma0 , in answer to your previous question, you wait until the period of her booking is completely finished before doing partial refunds. I made mistake of giving refund as soon as another booking came in, only to have them immediately cancel. So now I wait for everything to settle, I suggest you do the same.

[Huma0]

@Sandra126 

Okay, thanks. I'm definitely going to do that as there have been a lot of cancellations/date changes lately. 

Also, the payout for the guest who left yesterday hasn't even been processed yet, let alone issued, even though she checked in three days ago. It's showing as expected arrival 30th December.

[Huma0]

Hello, I mentioned before that guests who have left early (even though that's usually due to a change in their own personal circumstances or plans) very rarely leave reviews. 

This particular guest raved about my house while she was here and sent me that very sweet message when asked for feedback but has not left a review. There are only a couple of days left in which she can do so.

Should I chase her about it, given that she said such nice things about my place, e.g. "It's the coolest, prettiest house I've ever stayed in in my life!" OR, just leave it be on the off chance she was just being polite and actually left early because there was something she was uncomfortable with and just to shy to mention? 

I currently have a 5.0* average. I would be gutted if it turned out to be a 4* review. On the other hand, as I host long term guests and have had very few since the pandemic started, each review counts for a lot, so it's not ideal when guests don't review.