A disaster looming with a 30 day booking

[Erin443]

Thank you in advance for your suggestions: I've been very lucky as a new host- all of our guests have been wonderful and a real pleasure to host. However, I'm facing a 30-day rental that's concerning me. My first message was from a woman inquiring about how close we were to the university hospital as she and her boyfriend would be doing rotations there as med students. I've had these inquiries before, so I answered all her questions and went through a couple of things, like that I'd need access to the guest suite 2-3 times during her stay to do laundry- our washer and dryer are located there. In addition, I do not clean after check-in, but I show them where the cleaning supplies and the vacuum are with the clear intent that they are expected to clean up after themselves. I did offer to wash all their linens two weeks in since hospital rotations for med students are a beating. She was fine, so I pre-approved her. The next message I got was from her boyfriend stating that they were renting my place for 35 days. He doesn't have a verified account- he must have opened it that day to book our place, and there's only a phone number and an email address. I politely wrote back going over my expectations again and asking him to read our house rules (we do NOT allow parties or overnight guests) and to upload a government-issued ID. I asked him (again, really politely) to please message me back agreeing to the house rules and acknowledging he understood about the cleaning and laundry, since these hadn't been discussed with him in advance. It's a week later and I have no answer from him. I'm very worried that this could be my first disaster- and 30 days! I'm on instant booking- I was told by Airbnb that I could cancel an unwanted guest when I asked about someone who's been banned from over 15 homes and they told me I could cancel an instant booking penalty-free. But I'm assuming that's within 24 hours. It's been over 2 weeks since he booked- and I'm worried if I cancel his reservation Airbnb with lock up the entire month as punishment. Suggestions, please? What would you do? Thanks for all the advice and help you've given me since I've started as a host. 🙂

[Jo154]

Hi Erin,

Personally, I have stopped doing instant book for these reasons! 

But anyways, has he been banned from 15 homes?

If so then email airbnb, explain and they should waive any penalties !!

If he hasn't then it looks like you may have to monitor it, they may be ok, just make your presence known a lot when they arrive and you can evict them if they overstep the mark.

Hope it's all ok for you.

Jo

[Erin443]

Sorry, I don't think I wrote that very clearly- I had another potential guest instant-book us. She had 52 reviews, and 15 of them were so terrible the host said they'd never let her come back. I freaked out and checked with Airbnb if I could cancel her and they said yes. But that was within 24 hours and this guy booked over two weeks ago. Is there any stern-sounding message I can send to prod him into answering me, or is his refusal to communicate with me enough for Airbnb to allow me to cancel him without penalty? I'm really concerned now about the slick way he suddenly slipped in to book instead of her. And since he refuses to answer me back I'm really worried.

[Kelly149]

@Erin443 start with getting CS to get onto the guest to require that they communicate with you. If they also fail to get guest to speak up then they likely will help you move them. But usually once they get a call from CS, guests tend to realize that they need to answer

[Erin443]

Okay, thank you! It's really beginning to worry me, so this is at least the next step in the right direction.

[Emilia42 · Accepted solution]

@Erin443, this doesn't help with this reservation but you can require that all guests have a government-issued ID by updating your reservations requirements. In other words, this guy would not have been able to book without one. Also, you need to click this box so that all of your guests will be verified before booking. There is no easy way to find it. You will have to search 'verifications' in the help pages. Then click "Can I require guests to be verified before booking." Follow the steps and check the box. I have not had an unverified guest instant book since doing this.

[Erin443]

THANK YOU! Emilia, this is great, I appreciate the advice, that's a great long-term solution. 

[Cindi0]

I' e had several non-communicative guests lately. I don't know what it is, but communicating through the app doesn't reach them. However, they generally respond very quickly once I text or call them, as by now you should have the phone number. That might reach them. 

I will say that I have had several uneasy feelings about guests in advance, mostly the ones who aren't communicating, only to be pleasantly surprised and happy once we get on track. 

[Emilia42]

Good point, @Cindi0, it does seem like people aren't getting communication right away on the app. I just had a person tell me they found all of my messages in their spam folder in their email. So that obviously means, they weren't using the app and weren't seeing the emailed notifications. 

[Erin443]

I'm going with your theory, Cindi! Thanks.

[JJ48]

I don't think there is a 24-hour rule to cancel an Instant Book that you are uncomfortable with - I have never heard of that (please do let me  know, if someone knows different).  In fact, I have heard that one reason to cancel the guest is that you uncomfortable because they have not responded to you. That  being said, it would still probably be best to try and contact him otherwise - I have used the "email guest" successfully and only gotten back apologies for not seeing my previous messages through the platform.  I'm sure that some guests just don't know you've messaged them.  I always try another communication form before cancelling for non-communication - so, I've never actually cancelled for it because I have always gotten the communication needed after trying email or text.  Also, you can put in your requirements to book that they have to answer your questions and one of the questions could be "do you confirm my house rules" and then if they don't answer, you can cancel for that technically.  

[Erin443]

Thanks for the advice- I'm going to email him and his girlfriend as well and ask them to contact me via Airbnb so I have a paper trail. I appreciate having some options. 🙂

[JJ48]

Another thought:  I'm pretty sure there's not a 24-hour rule because it seems to happen that hosts cancel on guests who get a bad review somewhere between booking and arriving, definitely outside of 24-hours.

[Erin443]

Really? That gives me hope! Thanks JJ.