Airbnb promoting 1 night bookings to attract guests to listings, contrary to host's minimum stay?

[Veronica-Of-Excel-Proper0]

For many years now, we have NOT accepted guests for stays of 1 night only. This is stated clearly in the listings on Airbnb.

Despite this, there has been a spate of reservations made this year by Airbnb for guests who are booking for 1 night. In the past few days, another three reservations have been received for 1 night each.

Complaints have been made to Airbnb about this, but to no avail. Indeed, the latest booking was yesterday.

This issue is both irritating and time-wasting because I then have to advise guests to cancel the reservation made by Airbnb as it was against the terms of the listing. We offer a full refund when cancellation is made within 24 hours, the guests are encouraged to take action soonest.

I am raising this matter in this community to see if other hosts have had similar experiences of Airbnb seeking to foist '1 night' bookings at their properties. 

Or, is this Airbnb strategy a way of blocking a host's calendars to prevent the listing appearing in searches and to encourage more guests booking '1 night' stays? 

I'd welcome your thoughts or shared experiences on this matter!

[Helen3]

I have a minimum two night stay for my bookings and don't have bookings or requests for one night @Veronica-Of-Excel-Proper0 

[Veronica-Of-Excel-Proper0]

@Helen3, that's excellent. Hope it stays that way for you!

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Veronica-Of-Excel-Proper0 do you have  channel manager software by any chance or do you just list on Airbnb?

[Veronica-Of-Excel-Proper0]

@Mike-And-Jane0 , thanks for this. I do use a channel manager and it was this that was showing 1 night as minimum. So, on this occasion, it was not Airbnb.

Hopefully all sorted now. I've now relisted one of the properties on Airbnb and will monitor both channel manager and Airbnb closely before relisting another property.


Thanks again for your question about the channel manager!

[Nina75]

@Colleen253  I will do a screen shot next time it happens. I didnt really mind because the place was ready but can you imagine preping a 7 bedroom house on short notice. Id die.

[Alexandra1053]

Thank you for this discussion. We, too, just had a guest override our 3 night minimum and book for one night. I find these kinds of glitches really irritating and because I don’t want to get dinged as a host I let it slide. But we can’t afford one night stays to be blunt. They are not cost effective and they block out periods when we could have longer stay guests. So we loose money all around. 

I am curious. Does Airbnb read these forums? I suspect that if just a few people are reporting this here the problem is probably more widespread as most people don’t participate in these forums. So I am wondering if Airbnb monitors these forums to get a sense of overall issues and if they understand that issues discussed here are probably widespread.  Thanks. 

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Alexandra1053 yes Airbnb do read this forum. Whether or not they take any action is less certain.

[Jenny]

Hi @Veronica-Of-Excel-Proper0 

I just wanted to check in and see if you had spoken with Airbnb yet about the issue you're having, as I understand the advice given below didn't quite fix things.

It'd be great to get an update so we know how you're getting on with it.

In the meantime thank you @Emiel1,  @Mike-And-Jane0, and @Colleen253 for stepping in!

Jenny

[Veronica-Of-Excel-Proper0]

@Jenny , thank you for asking. 

As yet, I've not contacted Airbnb to find out what needs to be done, as it's been a hectic week.

Reports made previously are now closed, so it means I'll need to start over with the complaint process.

I've snoozed the listing for a few more days to Sunday. Will telephone Airbnb over the weekend. So much time-wasting when trying to get help from Airbnb!

Will let the community know how I get on.
Veronica