Potential Party

[Rose1831]

Hi all

I just received a booking that I am afraid may be a potential party or if not a party then a group of young people looking for a bit of a wild weekend.

Would you cancel the booking even if it is just a suspicion?

Thanks for your advise

[Olivia-and-Olivier0]

Yes, any time there s a suspicion i d rather cancel, than have to prove damages, deal w claims, remodeling, etc. Better be safe than sorry!

[Rose1831]

Thanks so much Olivia.  What penalities etc will I get from air bnb if I cancel the booking.  I am new to this so still finding my way around.  Thanks again

[Pat271]

@Rose1831 

Do you have Instant Book turned on, and the booking is already completed? Or is this just a Request to Book?

If it is Instant Book, then you can cancel a certain number of bookings (I think 3) without Airbnb having to be involved. Just select “I am not comfortable with this reservation” as the reason.

If it is a Request to Book, you can decline the booking without penalty, but don’t do it too often, or you may decrease your priority in searches, get warnings from Airbnb, etc.

If it is an Inquiry, just respond to the message, but you don’t have to do anything further - just let the Inquiry expire.

When I get a Request to Book that I don’t want to accept, I usually ask the guest to withdraw his/her request to insure the transaction is reversed. Here are the steps for the guest:

-Go to Trips on airbnb.com.
-Find the pending reservation request that you want to withdraw.
-Click Withdraw Request and then click OK to confirm.

This is the best method, if you can get the guest to do it. 🙂

[Rose1831]

Thanks.  It is an instant booking and its completed.  So seems like I can cancel it without penalty this time.  Thanks heaps

[Colleen253]

@Rose1831 Have a good look at your settings. You can require guests to be verified, and be recommended by other hosts, to be able to instant book. If they don’t fulfill your requirements, then they have to send a request, which allows you to screen them. You can learn how to screen people and what red flags to be mindful of, by doing a keyword search of this forum. 

Do be aware that Airbnb’s identity verification is pretty meaningless. 

[Suzanne302]

@Rose1831  What makes you think it's a party? Can you elaborate?

I would not cancel. Penalties are pretty harsh to cancel on nothing other than a hunch. I would message the guest and reiterate your rules about limit on number of guests, no parties, etc. It's hard to say what to say without knowing why you are suspicious though.

I don't know how far away you are from your listing, but it will also help to say something like, "I'm right down the street if you need anything" or something to imply that the house is monitored, even if you are farther away.

[Rose1831]

Sorry forgot to elaborate.  Its just he has no history on air bnb.  only joined just before making the booking.  No information in his profile.  Booked for the maximum number of people and seems like early 20's.

[Rose1831]

Thanks Suzanne.  Appreciate the good advice.

[Colleen253]

https://www.airbnb.ca/help/article/990/host-penalties-for-cancelling-reservations

https://www.airbnb.ca/help/article/2022/can-a-host-cancel-a-reservation-without-adverse-consequences

@Rose1831 As Suzanne hinted, you will need to provide more details. It’s difficult to advise without background info. 

[Angie601]

Hi Rose,

Your house and its location is stunning.  The description certainly lends itself to the party crowd especially highlighting the private beach and no neighbours in sight.

I think you will find yourself vetting a lot of party bookings. If this was my property I would definitely be installing external security cameras to protect it

[Sarah977]

@Rose1831  Why are you listing for 11 guests in a 4 bedroom, 2 bathroom house? That is going to attract a lot of partiers. I would suggest you reduce the guest count to 8, which is also how many your dining table seats. 

Nor do you appear to have a living room area with comfortable seating for 8, let alone 11.

You also need to work on your listing description. You haven't described anything about the space, or filled out any of the fields provided, like "The Space" "Guest access", etc. 

And as someone else mentioned, remove the "complete privacy" wording. And add "No unregistered guests or visitors allowed on the property".

Check all the boxes of requirements for Instant Book, if you want to continue to allow instant bookings. Had you done that to start with, guests with no reviews would have had to send you booking requests to review and decline if inappropriate or you identify a lot of red flags (guests with no reviews are not red flags, although they may require more diligent vetting- everyone starts out with no reviews, including hosts).

[Alexandra199]

Follow the above in full...this is great advice. Never over fill your space.

[Alexandra199]

Hi Rose, I may be a bit late here but after reading all the above you have some great advice about tweaking your listing and i would definitely follow it. The only thing i would add is that if you do want to cancel this reservation do not do it yourself. Contact Airbnb and ask them to do it and explain your reasoning. When i was new i had a booking that i was uncomfortable with. I cancelled it myself and found my self sanctioned by airbnb for weeks. I dont trust their automatic system anymore so i contact them directly with any cancellations.

I had a guest recently who wanted to move their stay due to their friend having covid. I agreed to this and wanting it to be dealt with quickly i sent the guest a 'request to move' which she agreed to. I got a warning for this as it was added to a couple of turned down bookings (request to book) and i was warned that I could be delisted. I dont trust them at all!!!

[Simon3074]

Do not allow instant book - never.  You want to vet all guests.