What do you think about this?

[Colleen253]

I had an Inquiry come in a few weeks ago from someone who says they stayed with us previously, but it's not the person who booked. The profile is new and unreviewed. She was asking if 6 guests would be ok (max is 5 and I'm very clear in the rules that I won't deviate). I said so sorry but no, and thanks for understanding. Carried on. Then last night she sent a request, for 5 guests, no other guest names included, as I require and note in house rules. I asked her for the info and held off accepting. When it arrived (pretty quickly), I recognized the original booking guest in the list of names and went to the old reservation. Turns out they have been banned from the platform for some reason, which is why they can't rebook themselves. The message stream is there, and all text from my part of the conversation is there but the text from the guest is gone and it says "This message has been hidden because the person no longer has access to Airbnb."  Though I can understand why I wouldn't be able to open this person's profile anymore, I fail to see why Airbnb would remove their part of the conversation. MInor detail, but interesting to note.

The thing is, this group was great, no issues whatsoever. I can't imagine why this person would not be able to access their account anymore. I'm leaning toward rolling with it and accepting the booking. Would you ask the booking guest why the other one lost their account, before accepting? I'm leaning toward not. Again, they were some of my better guests. Just interested in thoughts.

[Emilia42]

@Colleen253 Since you already have a relationship with this guest, I would ask her what the heck is going on? It could be a good opportunity for you both to bond over how incompetent Airbnb algorithms can be.

[Colleen253]

@Emilia42 I don’t really have a relationship with this guest. She was just one of the group that stayed. I did establish a rapport with the guest who no longer has a profile. I think I’m going to accept and then if I can work it in casually at some point, I may ask. I don’t think I have any reason to be concerned. And we all know guests and hosts can be targeted unfairly. It’s just weird. 

[Andrea4731]

I would be worried that they are trying to sneak in a 6th guest… where did that guest go? Did they just vote them out of the group? Too many unanswered questions for my liking…

[Colleen253]

@Andrea4731 Yes that crossed my mind. I’ll just wait and see. As I say, they were really good guests last stay so I don’t anticipate problems. It would be an easy no if they hadn’t been great. I’ll know if a 6th shows up and  will cross that bridge if I get to it. 

[Elaine701]

@Colleen253 

Of all the experienced hosts here, I'd expect you to have figured it out. And apparently, you have. 

We've had previous guests who weren't the original "Booker" request dates before, and never had any problems. But yes, the fact that they original one had been banned is a bit of a red flag. 

Yes, they may try to sneak in a 6th. I'm not sure how you're configured (max 5, but would 6 be comfortable?), but we have a, serve limit based on our tourism licence limits, but also the limit to our comforts. More than the limit becomes uncomfortable and limited in bed spaces. There's the couch, but it's not a sofa bed, and I can't imagine being comfortable sleeping on it. But some don't care. 

The point is that I'm not going to have a fit about sneaking in additional guests, because it won't be comfortable anyway. 

In winter, our rates are on the basis of number of guests, and we lock unused bedrooms, so that also tends to be problematic for the guests who aren't supposed to be there.

We've had a couple of situations where the guests clandestinely exceeded the booking (presuming they could just use another bedroom), but ultimately, they ended up paying for another room 🙂

So I think you're right.. it's best to just see how the cookies crumble and deal with it as it comes. 

[Katrina79]

@Colleen253 I would not accept a reservation from this guest. It may not have been your experience with this guest that had them removed, but something very negative happened to someone. I’ve hosted many stays and I still get burnt on guests with 15+ positive reviews…Really it just makes you wonder what they have been getting away with as guests right under the nose of unwitting hosts! Do not trust this group…

[Colleen253]

@Katrina79  I don’t trust Airbnb to always get it right. Hosts get suspended or banned unfairly all the time. I’m sure it happens to guests as well. I’m not a ‘take all comers host’ by any stretch and am more than fine declining certain bookings, but I’m going to roll with this one. We shall see what happens. Probably much ado about nothing.

[Katrina79]

@Colleen253 @Hopefully it will all be okay 😉 and they will be lovely guests. 

[Colleen253]

@Katrina79 😊Hopefully, yes. I will report back!

[Sarah977]

@Colleen253  I agree- there have been posts here from hosts who got one of those messages from Airbnb saying that the booking, from a guest who was already in residence, was no longer supported by Airbnb and that the host should get the guest to leave immediately (no explanation as to why, of course).

 Meanwhile, the host had already been paid, so it wasn't a payment issue, the guests appeared to be perfectly nice, normal, respectful people who had good reviews, and who were just as bamboozled as the host was. The hosts in some of those cases simply ignored Airbnb's message, the guests stayed for the duration of their booking, and nothing bad happened at all.

[Colleen253]

@Sarah977 Yes, exactly!

[Sarah977]

@Colleen253  I don't know how Airbnb expects hosts to heed their warnings about not accepting a guest or booting them out if they aren't even willing to tell the host why. 

There's a big difference between a guest's past payment bouncing, which could have simply been a matter of the guest having forgotten to update their credit card info, and the guest having been found to have a warrant out for their arrest for theft or assault.

Why Airbnb won't tell us these things is absurd. We're expected to accept all these random strangers, trusting that Airbnb has verified them, then trust Airbnb when they suddenly tell us we can't trust the guest they allowed to book in the first place.

[Helen744]

Helen@744 . yes . Just straight up ask but I see red flags . Cheers H.

[Colleen253]

Just an update. This was much ado about nothing. These guests were just as fine as last time. So whatever caused the original booking guest to lose their account was not due to nefarious reasons. That will remain a mystery though, as I probably won’t ever ask.

@Andrea4731 @Helen744 @Sarah977 @Katrina79 @Elaine701 @Emilia42