request to book not honoured

[David8260]

I have sent a request to book and been sent an email saying I have until 0725 tomorrow morning to complete booking.  On looking to do this i find i have emails to say someone has overridden the system and they are not honouring my request.  Surely this should be up to them to sort out and honour my request

[Sarah977]

@David8260  It's unclear what you are talking about, that "someone has overridden the system and are not honoring my request".

Are you saying your booking was declined? A booking request is not an automatic booking. The host has to either accept it or decline it.

[David8260]

The host had sent me an invite to book and i have the email sent at 0830 this morning saying I have till tomorrow morning to send payment which is fine.  However by the time I got home today to make payment the host said someone had overridden my request and allowed someone else to book.  Surely this is up to them to sort out and honour the original email sent to me ! BTW this looks like a company using Airbnb to let Cottages not an individual

[Sarah977]

@David8260  The way it works is that the first guest to pay gets the booking. "Someone" didn't override anything- it's all an automated system. 

I'm guessing that what happened is that an Instant Book came in while you were waiting to pay. That would be instantly confirmed by the system, nothing that the host has control over.

And hosts don't send you an "invite to book". They either accept your request, or pre-approve your inquiry. I suspect you sent an Inquiry, rather than a Booking Request? A pre-approved Inquiry does not block the dates for you- you have to go on to book if you want to be assured of getting the reservation.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@David8260 When a host accepts a booking inquiry then the dates are not blocked as some guests send out many inquiries so it is not in the host's interests to block the dates.

If you had sent a booking request then you would have been committed and, if the host accepted the request then the booking would have confirmed immediately.

Upshot is the host now has another booking that they can't cancel or they will be fined and the dates blocked so it wouldn't benefit you.

[Brian2036]

@David8260 

It would be interesting to know what “someone” they are talking about. Someone at Airbnb or someone in the property management office?

If it’s a management company with many listings maybe they can offer you something comparable.

Keep in mind, however, that many guests have complained about poor treatment and substandard accommodations at the hands of large management companies.

[David8260]

so why send an offer to book telling you this is available till 0725 tomorrow morning - if they have it on their system that this has been sent how can they ignore this. I didnt even get chance to get home to book it till only 4hrs after I was sent confirmation that my dates were available

Gives decent AirBnBers a bad name 

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@David8260 You haven't yet said what you did. Did you send a booking request or an inquiry?

[Mark116]

@Mike-And-Jane0  It must have been an inquiry because I thought/think that if it is an actual booking request that does block the dates and the guest has 24 hours to complete payment.  It could have been a glitch also, hard to say.  But it certainly isn't the host's fault.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Mark116 I guess that as @David8260 works as an IT manager he will at least know all about glitches. If he doesn't then perhaps Airbnb could employ him.