Susan4286

[Susan4286]

Hello yesterday I recieved a booking ref HME8TT24MH for Friday 03/09/21 name Carlos. This morning I found out that the reason for his booking was that he wanted to use my property for a large Party. When I have explained this is not allowed and I explained that the property sleeps 12 and this is the most that can be I there he started to get awkward. Then he said he had contacted yourselves at Airbnb and that I had to agree to him getting a full refund if he cancelled. My answer to him was that I don't agree due to the fact my Advert is clear as to how many can stay and about parties yet I have just recieved notification from you to say he has cancelled and he gets his money back. I find this is totally wrong it is 7days to when he should have been staying and it was his fault he wanted to use my property illegally and he gets it his way. 

[Emiel1]

@Susan4286 

Airbnb probably have cancelled the reservation and provided full refund.

 Although you are left without money , at least this "party-animal" is gone !

[Brian2036]

@Susan4286 

You are not making contact with Airbnb Customer Service here.

This forum is here so Airbnb members can talk to other members.

 You can consider yourself fortunate that the guest was honest (and ignorant) enough to tell the truth about his party plans. If he had lied to you about the party you probably would have had a big mess to clean up afterwards.

 I don’t think he should have received a full refund, but Airbnb doesn’t want to discourage anyone who has money to pay them, and they are hoping he will try again at another place.

[Guillermo494]

Next time when this scenario happens, contact Airbnb before things go sideways with the guest who made the reservation.

Airbnb support is fast and helpful.

(I have been in your situation, and when a user cancels i do offer full refunds.)

You will encounter customers like that always best way to deal with it, is contacting support and refund if it doesn't affect you.

Have a good day!

(This is not Airbnb support, this is a host like you helping out)

[Elaine701]

@Susan4286 

Emiel is, right, you're better off without this guest, even with a full refund. Airbnb will almost always rule in favour of the guest. 

How did this guest book your place? Was it instant book? If so, then you might want to consider turning on all instant book filters, or turning off instant book altogether. 

If he "inquired" or "requested" the booking, then you had the opportunity to "vet" this guest by asking questions like, "can you tell me what interests you in booking my house"? " How many people do you intend to have there? ". If you feel uncomfortable with his replies, you can scare him away by saying it's not a good fit for his purpose, or demand a large security deposit. 

@Guillermo494 

Airbnb is usually fast because they have automated replies, but in general, I've found host support to be unhelpful, misleading, and involving Airbnb support can actually be pretty damaging to the host. 

The best way to avoid these conflicts is to extensively vet your guests and keep the bad ones from booking in the first place. 

And if one slips through the net, unless it's a complete disaster ( which you should have been able to prevent in the first place), then involving Airbnb can be a nightmare of nonsense, and actually result in penalties to the host while rewarding the guest, even if the guest is irrefutably at fault. 

It's not fair, but your first mistake is letting the offending guest book in the first place, and subsequently, involving Airbnb. 

Watch your back. It's not that hard to do. But absolutely do not be under any illusion that Airbnb has your back. In fact, as a host, they can be your worst nightmare at times. Do everything to prevent it from happening in the first place. And if it does, avoid Airbnb support.