"awaiting verification" why is Airbnb blocking my calendar for a booking not eligible for IB?

[Wendy684]

This is my week for Airbnb headaches it seems

Right bow I have a guest wanting to book in and check in Tonight but Airbnb has not confirmed their booking and has it as "AWAITING VERIFICATION" due to problems accepting their govt ID and photo ID. I've had guests encounter this exact problem before. 

but I don't actually allow instant book with less than 48 hrs notice and Airbnb say they have blocked my calendar and are not giving me any chance to decline the booking. I feel compelled to allow it because I've been advising him on sorting out problem with Airbnb when really all I wanted to do was hit a decline button and say sorry I couldn't help but advise on sorting out  his issue. 

so why are Airbnb blocking my calendar for a non verified booking which is not elligbke for IB and not permitting me a chance to decline until after it is verified - this is nuts! 

[Sarah977]

@Wendy684  So you're saying when you got the request in the first place, there was no "decline" option? Or you only wanted to decline due to the length of time it was taking to verify the info? Because once you "accept" the request, then yes, your calendar will be blocked while awaiting verification. And you can't decline a request you've already accepted. But I have read posts where hosts phoned to say it wasn't acceptable for them to still have their calendar blocked for 2 days while awaiting the verification and Airbnb agreed to cancel it penalty free.

As we are now a few days later than when you posted this and you said the reservation was for the following day, how did this work out?

[Wendy684]

@Sarah977  Sorry I also later posted on an existed thread once I found it.

No There was no decline option at all when the booking request came through. Even though I don't have IB on bookings with less than 48 hrs notice. But my calendar was blocked out. It was weird. 

The guest was communicative and kept updating me how they were getting in and I felt for them. In the end I advised them that if it wasn't sorted by 10pm best thing was to find someplace else to stay for the night and they were welcome to book in the next day. By this time air bnb had taken 3 hrs to not fix the verification problem. 

In the end the guest cancelled, stayed someplace else locally and booked next day for the remainder of the stay after air bnb fixed the issue. 

[Colleen253]

@Wendy684 This was an Instant Book glitch? You mean someone was able to defy your 48hr  min notice and book instantly, inside that window, AND they weren't verified? And Airbnb wouldn't cancel it?? 

[Wendy684]

@Colleen253 not exactly. It was a booking request because it wasn't verified. But a request I had no means of saying no to and which blocked out my calendar while they sorted it. I can only assume that if they had I would then have been presented the chance to approve or not. Which is crazy. 

[Katrina79]

@Wendy684 @I’ve had many of the “awaiting verification” bookings block my calendar. Some get updated and stay and some don’t. However, I’ve never been able to communicate with the guest during the process of verification. How were you able to communicate with the potential guest? I’ve just received an “awaiting verification” booking which I am happy to host if things go through. I’m thinking ahead here as CS is backlogged with calls, this potential guest may have issues uploading ID and getting help. In the meantime I can’t message the potential guest or communicate. 

[Wendy684]

@Katrina79 sorry to hear that you couldn't communicate with the guest. I've had similar trouble with awaiting verification booking blocking my calendar but as its a 'pending' booking the booking still shows up in my dashboard with a message button to message the guest and in each case the guest has messaged me also. That is why I've had no trouble communicating with the guest. 

I can only wonder if different requirements exist across different countries.

[Katrina79]

@Wendy684 Yes maybe that is the case different countries, different rules. I’ve never been able to message these guests and can’t read their messages until the verification is complete. Anyway my guest was able to update her profile and payment info on her own so it all worked out! I thought maybe there was a trick to communicating before the verification was complete that I was missing 😉 

[Cave0]

It does the same when the guest hasn't paid, blocks the calendar for 24 hours without giving the host any opportunity to do anything other than wait.  I don't know of many organisations that operate as a charity, accepting a "sale" when the customer can't pay, however, Airbnb seems to have a different view.

[Cave0]

Now I have one that shows on my dashboard as "Checkpoint" and this is because the guest is awaiting verification.

I called Airbnb and have variously been told that they guest has to submit ID, the guest has submitted ID and Airbnb have yet to verify it and so far, this reservation request has been sat there, blocking my calendar for 19 hours.

I am told this can be avoided by setting the requirement for verified ID in the booking settings, but that is only available with Instant Bookings - another attempt by Airbnb to have it their way.

Airbnb tells us it knows that these are difficult times, why then block my calendar for a day or more and prevent me from doing business, anyone would think Airbnb owned the house not me!

[Cave0]

By way of update, after 20 hours the guest got fed up with waiting and cancelled the reservation.  Fortunately for me a new reservation was made through VRBO.

Airbnb customer service on the last couple of occasions I have called has been very poor.  Mostly it sounds as though the person at the other end is sat at home with the kids running round or the farm animals in the background, they work to a predetermined script and offer nothing but lame apologies and excuses for why they can't deal with whatever the issue is.  The best you can hope for is that a message is sent to someone somewhere and, in the last case I raised, it gets responded to after about 4 days.  This isn't so helpful when we're given to 24 hours to respond to booking requests and so on and some support is required in order to respond to that booking request.

It's unfortunate that standards are taking a nosedive, I guess that supporting campaigns and so on is more important than customer support but it seems an odd direction to be taking the business.

[Christine615]

Airbnb should NOT be allowing any guest to book unless all their information is verified. That's how you prevent scams. I'm mortified at the way in which Airbnb tries to make all the decisions for hosts whose homes they don't control or own. They are digging themselves into a huge hole with decisions like these.

[Wendy684]

Technically they are not allowing them to book that is the point. The reservation is merely pending. Giving the guest chance to upload any required info air bnb think is missing.

I have encountered just the same situation with guests before. Usually they are last minute same day bookings making it even more frustrating. Some have had trouble getting air bnb to accept their id despite uploading it several times others have trouble with the photo. Always the problem is at air bnb end not the guest.  Ironically I don't require a photo to be uploaded in my settings.

Last time the guest had to give up for that night and stay in a nearby holiday park but managed to sort itout by morning then book in with me.

So yes there are many problems with the air bnb verification system