Airbnb blocking "certain" whole house bookings right now, not informing host.

[Christopher187]

A legitimate guest just contacted me on VRBO, saying that they tried to book the exact same house on Airbnb but they were blocked from doing so.  I was absolutely flabergasted that I'd gotten no notification at all from Airbnb that a booking request had been blocked.  The person sent me the message that was shown to them by Airbnb.  I googled and only found one Reddit post from a week ago where a couple other people had run into the same issue.  Has anyone here encountered this?

I couldn't figure out how to embed an image in this post, so I used imgur.  Here is what the guest is seeing:

https://imgur.com/VMo6mGC

[Helen350]

@Christopher187  Many hosts have posted about this; try the search box top right.

- Read the post (& comments) "Guest Trying to Book House but Airbnb isn't Allowing it due to COVID-19 Help" 

@Susan17  has an explanation.

[Christopher187]

Ah, I couldn't find anything before but using your exact search phrase I can find that thread now. An explanation from Airbnb would be nicer than supposition from someone outside (not saying she's wrong).  How do I get on Susan's special list?

[Helen350]

@Christopher187 - PM her???

[Christopher187]

I was being rhetorical 😉

[Helen350]

@Christopher187  @Katherine584 Note also pages 26-27 of post "Airbnb completely threw their hosts under a bus regarding Covid 19", where Trevor243 reports multiple incidents on the Isle of Wight, UK.

[Laura2592]

WOW!!

No wonder I have been getting NO bookings even for fall! We usually get a few a week.

Time to put our cottage up on some other sites. 

[Christine-and-Dan1]

@Christopher187 I was able to go through most of the process of booking one of your listings. I didn't hit confirm and pay, but I didn't see any warnings or re-directions to book elsewhere. FYI

[Christopher187]

Seems it is for certain guests for certain dates.  This guest happened to be Chinese.

Airbnb, are you discriminating based on race???

[Sarah977]

@Christopher187 @Laura2592 @Helen350 Not anything to do with coronavirus- it's a completely separate thing- a new policy which detects guests under the age of 25 trying to book entire homes on short notice, as part of their strategy to derail the party house phenomenon. If you check, I'll bet you'll find that the guest is under 25.

[Christopher187]

If it is due to age, such an action violates human rights laws in my area.

[Helen350]

@Sarah977  - On a similar thread, @Susan17 observed that middle aged guests, & guests wanting to rent tiny studios - not young party houses - were turned away....... 

[Sarah977]

@Christopher187  It actually violates Airbnb's own anti-discrimination policy, so I'm not sure how they spin that. 

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Hosting/Guests-can-not-book-quot-Entire-Homes-quot-due-to-COVID-...

[Inna22]

If it blocks young guests from booking whole homes at last minute, I welcome that with open arms! Last thing I need now is a trashed house and a ticket from the city

[Sean433]

Yesterday, a local guest was blocked from booking for 1 month starting April 12. The reason given to her was due to covid-19 which is BS. Airbnb is not being honest with the host or guest. I had to find out through the guest why she was blocked and now I have learned they are blocking certain locals even when they are booking for a month at a time.