Strange Message

[Ann72]

Last night there appeared in my inbox a name and a picture, nothing more.  This morning the woman wrote a message, claiming she had messaged me last night, adding that she wanted to stay this weekend, but not saying which place she wanted to stay in or the exact dates.  I told her I hadn't had a previous message and asked her to enter dates.  She wrote again, at greater length, but still could not bring herself to enter dates or tell me which house she wanted.  Long story short, we went around this at least once more, and she finally said she would do that.  Never heard from her again, but this weekend isn't available at either place anyway.

Questions:  How can someone send me a non-specific message, i.e., not tied to a specific listing and not tied to any dates?  And why did her picture come through when it's not a booking but simply an inquiry?  

This was the first communication.  It's weird, right?

[Sarah977]

@Ann72  Very mysterious. Almost makes you wonder if she was able to hack into the site or your account. Change your password.

I once got an email invite from someone I don't know to a host meet-up in my area. An email to my email address. I don't have my email address out there anywhere on any social media sites or listing sites or even local direct booking ads.

I contacted Trust and Safety to see if those organizing local host meet-ups were given access to our Airbnb contact info. I was assured my info is confidential, not given out to anyone.

I have no idea where they got my email address.

[Emilia42]

@Ann72 I just had one of those too:

When I looked at my calendar I could see that there were dates in June that Airbnb held for her while completing verification. But no dates or listing details on the message thread. The next morning the hold was gone and I never heard a word from her although I could still message her if I wanted to follow up. 

I think there is something going on behind the booking scenes though. I recently had a guest contact me saying that she was certain she booked weeks ago but now could not find her reservation. It's possible that her reservation attempt went into this verification limbo but then just got dropped and never officially confirmed. 

[Colleen253]

Someone posted yesterday, I think, about a confirmed booking completely disappearing on them. No record of it anywhere. There were site updates recently. The usual Gremlins that go along with?

[Sarah977]

If it wasn't so sad and irritating, it would be funny. They no sooner get the endless verification code messages fixed, than another glitch takes its place. 

There never ever seems to be a time when there isn't some new glitch to deal with.

It's like they're going hard for the "Tech Glitches R Us" award.

[Ann72]

@Sarah977's answer reminded me to check "activity," and there I saw, no attempts to hack, but a reservation request from this lady at 9:42 Tuesday night, and then the same reservation cancelled at 9:42 Wednesday morning.  I then got an actual message from her at noon.

@Emilia42 so weird you had the exact same thing!  I think @Colleen253 is right that it's a glitch.  I never saw or had a notification about the reservation request Tuesday night and had no notification Wednesday morning about a cancellation.  When her messages started, they read as if we were already in the middle of a conversation - or at least that she was.  She signed her full name to every message and just seemed like a clueless flake.  I finally said "If you can't enter a reservation for the appropriate property with the dates you need, I can't help you."  She wrote, "This is my first AirB&B reservation.  I shall try again through the calendar."  So far harmless, but I've been screwed in business by people claiming "I've never done this before."  In fact it's usually the prelude to a screwing.

But that's less important than the idea that we might lose legitimate requests and bookings because of a glitch - or that our response rate will be affected.  I don't like being marked down for something that's not my fault.

[Michelle53]

@Ann72  I got one too. My message queue says  Aron   "New Event" . I click on it, and there's nothing in there. It doesn't even say if it's an inquiry or a Request to book. I've no idea if it requires a response. It was sent at 9.35pm last night.  Guest has zero reviews, joined in 2018. There's a picture of some kind of artwork as the profile picture.  The profile, of course, is empty. 

Generally, I can see if I received an email notification - nothing on email. 

[Emilia42]

@Michelle53 If you scan through your calendar can you see a grey hold for "Aron?" Does it say something like Pending Verification? It is usually there for 12 hours so if appeared at 9:35 pm it will likely be there until 9:35 am.

[Ann72]

@Emilia42  That would explain the 9:42 pm request and the 9:42 am cancellation I had under "activity."  

[Michelle53]

@Ann72  Where are you finding "activity"  ? 

[Ann72]

@Michelle53  If you click your picture in your Airbnb profile, it's the third item on the drop-down list.

[Michelle53]

@Ann72  My computer says "transaction history" and only shows payouts. 

[Ann72]

@Michelle53  If it's not farther down the list, then it must be something that comes with pro hosting tools.  If you want those, all you need do is request them.

[Michelle53]

@Ann72  Thanks for the tip. I'll look into the pro tools. Probably more than I need, though. 

[Michelle53]

@Emilia42   I'm not seeing a hold in my calendar.  I decided to treat it like an inquiry, and just lob a response back.  The profile says "Identity verified".