Concerns over Instant Booking

[Kelly177]

I am deeply concerned about AIRBNB's "INSTANT BOOKING" option.  As a new host using AIRBNB I was shocked to come home from work and find an uninvited guest in my home.  I am equally shocked to find AIRBNB provided him with my address even though the reservation had been cancelled within minutes. The individual entered my home without permission in my absence.  It happened my front door was unlocked when he arrived.  I had made arrangements with my son the previous night to come in a pick something up and therefore my door left unlocked for that purpose.  Although "INSTANT BOOKING" is extremely risky it is promoted by AIRBNB.  Addresses are provided as soon as AIRBNB receives payment.  This should not be an option. AIRBNB policy should be to require sufficient time to screen potential guests.  AIRBNB "verified" the individual's phone number? When the rep tried to call him to let him know he was in violation of their policies the phone number he listed on his account was not a working number.  I informed her the only way she would be able to contact him is if I handed her my phone because he didnt have one! His mother was to have paid for his reservation with a credit card.  He had no phone and  although my place is located in a rural area he had no transportation.  His story was he was selling a house and needed a place to stay while he was waiting for it to close.  and his mother lives in the same city he claimed to have the pending sale of his house yet his dad dropped him off at my home 20 miles away.  The story just wasnt adding up! 

He entered my home approximately 2 1/2 hours prior to my discovering him.  I was shocked when I opened the door and discovered this half dressed male laying in the bed.  When he raised his head to answer me he had one of my towels wrapped around his head. He helped himself to my kitchen and food, took a shower and moved into my guest room.  He had removed items from the shelves and replaced them with his belongings, the window to the room open and curtains closed and a boom box plugged in and placed on the top of the bed.  Upon arriving home I found the door to my guest room closed.  After he left I found the damp towel on the bed, on top of the brand new memory foam mattress topper I just placed on the bed the week before. 

***[Post Title Updated]

[Rachael26]

@Jennifer178 @Wendy-and-Frank0

No way are you leaving me out of this one! I was born in Philadelphia (7 generations back to 1772) and visit every year for family ancestry research, as well as great restaurants/bars/neighborhoods research 🙂

So if you can bear it - let's co-ordinate a visit!

R x

PS On another serious note - I am SO glad the title of this thread/post has been changed - THANK YOU AIRBNB~!

[Jennifer178]

@Rachael26 and @Wendy-and-Frank0, you are both welcome anytime.  There is so much excellent eating to be done!  The Italian Market and Reading Terminal await and are nearby.  And many others.  Rachael if your family goes back that far then I probably walk by old family homes all the time as I am in Old City.  Let us make this happen ladies!

[Wendy-and-Frank0]

@Jennifer178 @Rachael26, we have hijacked the thread!  I thought this krap happened only on Facebook.

Rachael, let's do it!!!!  I'm about an eight-hour (or less) drive to Philly so it's easy for me to get up and go.  I'll private you guys my e-mail or phone number or whatever ABB allows through private messaging, and Jennifer, I promise not to rate you on LOCATION!!!

[Jennifer178]

@Wendy-and-Frank0, I am more worried about not meeting your cleanliness standards.  While everyone tells me my place is extremely clean and I can spot a piece of lint in the dark, I do not love the smell of Pine Sol in the morning.

[Wendy-and-Frank0]

@Jennifer178, I also love the smell of fresh coffee in the morning!

We're good.  😛

[Kelly177]

With all due respect, staying on topic for this discussion in consideration of others will be sincerely appreciated. Certainly, there are alternative avenues of communication more appropriate for your personal conversations. Every post generates an email to my personal account as well as others.

[Alice-and-Jeff0]

@Kelly177 - You can turn off those notifications in the Settings.  They are located in your Community Profile, under your name in the top right corner.  

[Kelly177]

Great, thank you, I would however still appreciate notifications for discussion on the topic I posted.  Of the options which in your opinion would work best? Turning off unwanted notifications which have nothing to do with the topic or taking off topic subjects to another forum?

[Alice-and-Jeff0]

@Kelly177 - Since you're new around here and have not become acclimated to these forums, my suggestion is that you turn off notifications and use the Community Profile section to see exactly when someone has responded to just you. They will use the @Kelly177 function.  There are going to be many, many times where people start chatting about something that has no relevance to you and almost all of the users here use that service to help draw attention to direct responses to various individuals. That's a common practice, but not used 100% of the time, but it's common.  

Since this is a COMMUNITY, people are going to start chatting with one another from time to time.  There is no "chat room" here, just these threads - and we're glad to have them because they are less than 2 years old. If you choose to keep coming to the forums to post and learn, if you still think that all side-line conversations should be dismissed, you might like to create a tutorial for proper thread etiquette to help guide the group.  Until that time, you are sort of bound to the current standards and accepted practices in place here.

I sincerely wish you much luck and plenty of success.  If you want to keep coming back to learn and grow as a host, and making no assumptions that you haven't already done or in the process of doing so,  I'd encourage you to:

1. Complete the tutorials here: https://www.airbnb-toolkits.com/my_toolkits

2. Read all the big topics here: https://www.airbnb.com/help

Home | Airbnb Help Center www.airbnb.com How does Airbnb handle security deposits? How do I cancel my reservation? I Still Need Help

 3. Continue perusing the Community Forums and read as much as you can, specifically regarding bookings, cancellations, and getting paid: https://community.airbnb.com/t5/New-Hosts/What-tips-would-you-give-to-a-new-host/m-p/215615/highligh...

 4. Bookmark this: https://community.airbnb.com/t5/Community-Help/Contact-Airbnb-A-Community-Help-Guide/m-p/16165#M2339...

 5. Then take a mental inventory of your own personality and determine if you actually can handle people in your space, touching and ruining your things without being sorry (because it will happen) and how you will resolve conflict as it arises in your dealings with guests. It's different dealing with "guest-pectations" and people on vacation than it is with renters. Being an "on site" host means that guests will sometimes act in ways that displease you.  If you will be driven nuts by this, you may decide that hosting is not for you. 

Good luck to you.  

[Wendy-and-Frank0]

So we get to mix Plymouth with Italian with Dominican chick of Tahina descent.  Love it!

@Jennifer178 and @Rachael26, let's do it most certainly.

Non-weekends are better for me if that works for you guys as weekends go fast in Mystic.

But for YOU, I'll block dates.

[Rachael26]

@Wendy-and-Frank0 @Jennifer178

OK ladies - personal messages from this point on - I would hate to look back and see the beginning of our beautiful friendships associated with this awful post/thread.... ughh!

[Wendy-and-Frank0]

Bwahahahaha

[Alice-and-Jeff0]

This is really a very alarming and extremely rare situation.  Sorry you were frightened and distressed by this clearly delusional man.  I would recommend turning off Instant Book.  Change your setting to require more than a day's notice.  Get a keypad and/or alarm system. Don't leave your doors unlocked if you are going to have a public reservation on Airbnb - not ever.  Remember, every guest who ever stays with you will also have your address. Require that the guest be fully verified before they can book with you and have previous positive reservations.  To require this of guests, you must become a fully verified host, which you are not. Then you can have more "say" in the process.  You need to read more about Airbnb and it's processes - start with the help center, tutorials, and reading in the Community Forums.  

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/1510/how-do-i-turn-instant-book-on-or-off 

[Rachel665]

With Instant Book, I had a guest book without reading requirements and in order to cancel it had to be opened up as a "case for review" (ridiculous and time-consuming!). My space is only large enough for 1 person (maximum allowable selection on my booking page) but in the message it "my boyfriend and I are arriving!" She clearly did not read the requirements, nor did she select "2 guests" in her search. 

I was pressured by Airbnb to have Instant Book turned on so that I COULD READ PRIOR REVIEWS, with the promise that I could "cancel if I ever felt uncomfortable.

THUS, I used the "not comfortable with this booking option" in an attempt to cancel without penalty but it said I had to CALL to cancel. It escalated into a "CASE" and I had to argue for my right not to get penalties. The whoel process took about 2 hours at 1am. 

I have since turned Instant Book off to avoid this tiresome circus act in the future, but now I CANNOT see guests' prior REVIEWS, which I view as a huge safety concern. I've written to Airbnb about this but I'm sure they won't do anything..

It might require some type of petition to allow all hosts (not just Instant Book hosts) the right to see prior guests reviews. (I'm pretty sure this used to be the case?) I'm sure it will eventually result in lawsuit when someone's property is damage or the host is harmed and they will only change it then. But in the meantime, I am going to keep suggesting this to them in all of my communications with them. 

AIRBNB PLEASE ADDRESS THIS