instant bookings don't meet my criteria

[Andrea5344]

Hi all. New to hosting and very confused about an issue with Instant Booking. We just launched and within a day I had two confirmed reservations that do not meet my age requirement, i.e. must be 25 to book. The first time it happened, I thought it might be a glitch in the way I have my listing set. I gently declined/canceled the reservation. The second time it happened, the guest actually reached out to me after the system confirmed her reservation to alert me that she had just noticed the age requirement in my listing and is not yet 25. She was very disappointed and asked me how to get her money returned.  After several exchanges, I decided to make an exception in her case. But should I have to be doing that? Shouldn't the system be screening for that? TIA.

[Emilia42]

@Andrea5344 

The requirements for instant book are below. If a guest meets your checked requirements, the system will automatically confirm their booking. The system has no idea what your personalized rules are. That is up to the guest to research and many of them don't. You will need to turn off instant book and screen every guest to prevent this from happening again.

[Andrea5344]

@Emilia42 Thank you so much... that makes total sense. I'll create a pre-booking message that includes the age rule.

[Emilia42]

@Andrea5344 

Great idea. Try it out. I find that the vast majority of my guests are respective to my pre-booking message. 

[Andrea5344]

@Emilia42 

Wow... just created a message, "Please confirm that you meet our age requirement of 25 at the time of booking. "

A notation under the message window on the template states, "Guests will receive this message once they book."

That's what I'm trying to avoid!! 

Thanks just the same for trying to help.

[Emilia42]

@Andrea5344 

We have discussed that message before in this community. It is very odd since the guest WILL see your message because they hit confirm. Have you saved your setting yet? I can take a screenshot of the booking process to show you how it will look from a guest's perspective.

[Zachary162]

@Emilia42 

Thanks. I will do that.

[Mark116]

@Andrea5344 are you sure you can even mandate 25?  This is only allowed if city or hoa rules exist on age limits.

[Zachary162]

@Mark116 

Well, I am not aware that I can’t. There are many short-term rentals in my area with that same restriction, if not older.

[Mark116]

@Zachary162  Be careful.  Airbnb is manic on the issue of discrimination, including age discrimination.  Thankfully our city mandates that STR guests have to be at least 21, so that automatically reduces our risk of crazy parties.