I've been put in a very uncomfortable position today by a guest

[Alexandra370]

I have been put in a difficult position by a guest today as they had made a pending booking and did not verify their ID or message me.

I did not receive any communication regarding this from Airbnb, so I was not alerted.

The guest had assumed they had a reservation for this weekend. After his enquiry today,

I messaged him immediately saying that I hadn't received a booking, as stated above. 

After explainging that there was no booking and I had no accommodation anyway, they then verified their account, thus confirming the booking and I was forced to cancel!! I have now lost my Superhost status through what I consider no fault of my own? Annoyed.

[Alice-and-Jeff0]

@Alexandra370 - contact Airbnb.  You should never cancel without contacting them first.  And if you don't want to take last minute reservations, you can put a restriction on the last time you will take reservations using the Reservation Preferences https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/1210/how-do-i-edit-my-reservation-preferences?topic=1028

[Alexandra370]

Thanks Alice & Jeff, I would have contacted Airbnb, but can't find how to? I get that they don't really want direct contact but this was the only way I could vent my frustration!? 

[Marko17]

if you didn't have available accommodation anyway, you should have blocked the dates in the calendar. It shouldn't be bookable anyway. You'll get your status back in the next period. 🙂 

[Alexandra370]

Thanks Marko. This week was booked out, in fact it was only because my current guests wanted to extend their stay that I saw a 'pending booking' on my calendar - I had no other communication from Airbnb regarding this attempted booking. I tried to reject it but couldn't and then had a difficult email exchange with the guests. Anyhow, live and learn as they say!

[David126]

@Alexandra370

AirBnB is a first come first served booking system and if you use Instant Book then a guest wanting to extend will not take precedence over a gust who has booked.

[Alice-and-Jeff0]

@Alexandra370 - go to the Tips and Tutorials section and find the "contact Airbnb" tutorial.  There are multiple ways to contact them.  IN addition, use Google.