Last Minute Cancellation by New Guest at the Start of Multiple Bookings

[Clay29]

Hi,

I have a new but well-reviewed guest who made made multiple booking requests. I also have a moderate cancellation policy. The first red flag was during the reservation process when he declared himself a regular midweek traveler of three days and wanted a discount. I told him no but accepted the reservations so my search rank would not drop. A few days later, he came back with another odd request, "would I store his bike between visits?". I am sorry but there's no way I want responsibility for a guest's property when they aren't actually staying here so I said no again, hoping he would cancel. No such luck.

Now we come to a few days before his first reservation and immediately after Airbnb's guest reminder and he cancels without reason, meaning I get nothing except the pleasure of having had blocked calendar dates for several months other legitimate guests could have booked. I want to go back and cancel all of his stays and block him but I know I will get in trouble for doing that.

My assessment is the guest is booking my place as a backup because he cannot get his favorite at the time of the booking and cancelling if the other opens up. I called support to complain and find if there was a way to at least block him from making further reservations with ones outstanding and I am told I cannot. Support did put a strike on his account for cancelling and say that if he accumulates to many, he can be removed from the platform. In a round-about way, they also said this is exactly what the guest is doing.

/rant This is not cool. Three days is the shortest stay I will take after covid and with all I offer my guests as there is very little profit. Asking for a discount because "you're such a great guest" is laughably stupid. And then you want me to care for your tricycle while your away? And if not you'll hover like a bird over my calendar and poop everywhere so no one else can book? /end rant

I get why Airbnb won't cancel his other reservations but he should be told as the host I have the right to do that penalty free and that should be true. He would be gone now. Alas my calendar awaits his next cancellation and it will be months before I can finally block him for good (or he rips out the last feather allowing him to fly like this). Anything I could do better here?

Thank you and thanks for listening.

Clay

[Emiel1]

@Clay29 

Multiple bookings and a flexible or moderate cancellation policy are indeed a recipe for some guest to "secure" dates, not knowing exactly how their travel- or workplan will evolve. If they cancel in time, it will only cost them them Airbnb Service costs.

I never accept multipe bookings from the same guest if they never stayed before at my place. If the first reservation turns out bad, then you are tied to the other ones.

I fear you have not much options to get out of it

Maybe Airbnb is wiling to cancel all reservations and only penalizes you for the next one ?

[Clay29]

I though rejecting reservation requests would lead to being penalized in search. How do you get by accepting only one? This gentleman sent multiple at once.

[Helen744]

@Clay29Send this person a message saying that you would like them to be in touch re the remaining reservations ,add dates , which as they were received with the first booking will be cancelled as you have not received sufficient communication either about the reservation that was cancelled so close to cut off, or the reason why . Also add that you are a lone Airbnb supplier and in future will be unable to take these types of bookings as they are damaging to your business. Then call the guy and if he does not explain a bit better and is actually prepared to follow thru on the bookings then cancel them . Bite the bullet and block him .Maybe if you are on IB then temporarily remove it and go back to approving guests before they book. It is easy to accept guests on IB but not so easy to figure out when there is a problem . Good luck H.

[Helen744]

It strikes me as odd that he can make multiple requests for different times on the one booking request ? Has he recieved reviews from elsewhere in the meantime ?did he not travel for a reason . I think if you had his bike he would have to return .you do not know enough about this guest . Thats clear . If he wanted you to keep his bike that may be a deal breaker for him H

[Clay29]

I may have said that wrong but he did multiple booking requests at the same time. As far as the bike, the biggest problem is bike theft in the neighborhood. Thieves are very quick and and will jump fences. I would not want the responsibility while he is away. I am ok if they want to store it while staying as the garage remains unused by me at that time anyway.

[Gillian166]

agree with @Helen744  here. He probably found another place that would allow him to store his bike, and he's keeping his options open. Remember though, that he has also already paid for all of those future bookings, so it's not really just "on a whim", he's put money down to secure those dates. I would have stored his bike for him if it meant getting lots of regular bookings, and I would have called it "complimentary storage", so there's his discount. You have a lovely listing btw, and being over a garage makes it seem obvious he might ask for bike storage, and you seem like a responsible home owner so he's trusting you too (bike people are often super precious about their machines). 

He might be a flake or he might indeed be the best guest ever. 

[Clay29]

Thank you for your compliments. As I mentioned above, it's not storing the bike so much as bike theft around here that is the problem. When I have no guest, I use the garage a lot for yard maintenance and projects and am not always watching and it's easy to happen.

[Gillian166]

@Clay29  seems like you just need a bike lock. there's a lot of preventative stuff cyclists do to prevent or slow down theft: take off a wheel, or the saddle (all on quick release devices). anyway, it's highly likely that if he found a place that will look after his bike, he took that option. Perhaps he prefers your listing so is keeping his options open. 

I know it's a pain to have those weeks blocked off, making your listing invisible, and following the last round of changes it's already getting harder to be found. 

[Debra300]

@Clay29,

I switched from the Moderate to Firm cancellation after the first time a guest wanted to cancel at the last minute.   With a firm cancelation policy, guests who want a full refund have to cancel 30 or more days before arrival, and avoid my calendar having been blocked for months with little opportunity for another booking after a short notice cancelation.  

[David8879]

Nothing, but a strict cancelation policies. 48 hours to make up guest mind is more than enough. If strict policies stops someone from booking - that person was not serious to begin with.

[Gillian166]

@David8879  you are welcome to operate as you like. but hey, life happens, and if someone cancels 48hrs prior then i'm unlikely to be able to rebook. 5 days is enough and still aligns with your philosophy, whilst still having some empathy for Real Life Situations, or even wishy washy types, they are who they are but they can still be great guests and their money works the same. At least with a 5 day cancel i've a chance to rebook. 

[David8879]

@Gillian166 

"48 hours after booking"

Do take a look at updated set of cancelation policies.

Cheers

[Huma0]

@David8879 

I agree. I started off with a moderate policy but found that guests were often waiting right up until the deadline to cancel, which seemed a bit deliberate to me, i.e. they were holding my place as an option, using the booking to secure their visas etc. This most commonly happened in peak seasons but five days was rarely enough to get the dates rebooked.

@Clay29 I had one guy who asked me to store his bags for him for a couple of days after departure. I told him it wasn't possible. It's not just that I don't have the space nor do I want the responsibility, but I was not going to be here at the time he needed to return for his things and I certainly wasn't going to let a guest  I'd yet to meet check out and keep the key for days and re-enter the house while I'm away but other guests are staying. I sent him links for really inexpensive luggage storage (£5 per day), he seemed to accept this and went ahead and booked.

Right before the deadline to get his full refund, he contacted me again about the luggage and I reminded him that I'd already clearly said it wouldn't be possible. He said it was too much hassle to take it to the luggage storage (which had a branch right by where he was catching his train) and cancelled the reservation. We'd had this conversation long before, but I guess he thought I would give in rather than lose the booking last minute.

He was one of the reasons I switched to a Strict policy and it has worked for me. I didn't see any decline in bookings but I certainly saw a decline in cancellations.

I don't know what to suggest to you in your current situation. The Airbnb's system, penalising hosts who decline and only giving them 24 hours to accept, penalising hosts who cancel, allowing guests who never stayed to review if they cancel last minute, really has the host stuck between a rock and a hard place. I think all you can do is communicate to the guest the hardship it puts you under if he keeps cancelling and try to get some reassurance from him that he won't. If he cancels a second time, I think you might have a strong case to go back to CS with.

Moving forward though, I would echo the advice of others here. Don't accept multiple bookings from an unknown guest. Tell them you will accept the first booking and, if all goes well, they can book more stays, but in the meantime ask that they kindly withdraw the other requests (which means no penalty to you). Change your cancellation policy to Strict. 

[David8879]

@Huma0 

Here is hypothetical situation how to make certain that guests do understand  and did read (as most of the guests never bother to read House Rules - "what - ME rules?" and then complain) and agree to comply with house rules (you can make "no holding any personal belongings past departure and absolutely no responsibility for forgotten things" part of the house rules),

so - 

friend of mine with much better hosting experience told me this story - 

he has a place suitable for 3 people max, he has gotten request (no "automatic booking acceptance abomination" of course) to book, the guy was stating "party of 3 people”.

My friend went through reviews and though most of them were positive he noticed that

1. there were too many reviews (which is OK if it is 1-2 days business travel, but most stays were in places with minimum stay 5-6 days in resort areas – hey, nothing wrong with having good life, but none wants to have parties in their house – do we?) and
2. In quite a few reviews hosts were saying "nice couples" - and mention the same names - meaning 2 couple travelled

As his place was clearly not suited for 4 and he did not want to decline or wait 24 hours for request to expire (hence no matter what affect his superhost status as "guest is always right" with airbnb) - he resent House Rules to potential guests and requested to acknowledge then particularly stressing out "Only guests listed in agreement allowed to stay overnight or stay will be immediately terminated without refund"

What do you know - guests canceled their request in about 15 minutes.

There are a lot of different people out there, not all of them bad, but most of them only think about themselves. LOL

Aitbnb has wonderful scheduled messages system - use it, do not worry about "annoying" quests - think about YOUR property and YOUR interests - YOU are the one to protect them.

I, right after booking, send out concise list of House Rules and ask potential guests to confirm and abide - and if they fail - I contact support and clearly indicate whose fault that decline was - I always my communications to prove it. Yes - takes a little more time, but nothing left to chance.

Still - too bad airbnb takes side of the guests in most cases. Even though airbnb claims to take host’s side if guest broke house rules – I can not help, but wonder how that works in the real life observing how weird new “better” interface changes of Summer Release are….

Rant over