Blocked numbers

[Natasha14]

Hi All,

I hope somebody can help. I am a host, and somebody is interested in viewing my house befor they book it. But everytime I message her my telephone number or email address it is blocked? How can i get intouch with her?

Thanks

[Amaris0]

NO no no! Airbnb do not allow guest and host to swap personal information until a booking has been confirmed so any attempt to send a phone number or e-mail will be blocked.

I personally would not recommend showing the guest the property prior to booking, you have pictures and a listing description which should suffice as a true representation of your listing. Also, should you have any issues down the line with this potential guest, you won't be covered by Airbnb host protection since you breached their rules.

In addition, please be very careful about giving out personal information so easily, there appears to be a number of scams going as well. Plus you don't really know who is going to show up at your door and it could be a potential personal safety issue.

I would strongly urge you to politely decline this request and stick to the rules of Airbnb and conduct all enquiries/ reservations via the Airbnb platform.

Please think carefully,

Ama

[Marit-Anne0]

@Natasha14

Anyone able to do a viewing is likely to be a local.  That is a red flag in itself and might be someone wanting to throw a party.

[Mala0]

Hi Ama,

Are we not allowed to show potential guests our listings before booking.  I keep by passing that section as i just assumed you could. not that i am happy to do it often.

Mala

[Mala0]

I had a physiatrist from the hospital adjacent to my home want to come and look at my property before he booked.  He also wanted to potentially book on and off as he was ad hoc at that hospital.. Now i could see he already had a good refererence from local person which he stayed with several time.  I could easily find out his credentials as a professional doctor.

I understood he wanted to see it and was in the area anyway.

I had no obections to him seeing it. 

I wouldnt automatically think it was  a party animal or anything sinister.  Do your homework. Ask what he wanted to ascertain that he could not gleen from the listing (in polite manner of course).

check past references.

I think i just gave my guest directions to my home which was a mere 1000 steps away from the hospital he was going to work in lol!.. so no need to exchange numbers.

He booked and was a model guest...

Go with your gut feeling and doing a little research.

Good luck

Mala

[Mala0]

p/s   I had a guest from india who told me a lot of the host in his area are given out their numbers written in Hindi and it goes through!!!... 

many indians like a good bargain ( i am one!) and are taking the risks of not abiding by airbnb rules and safe guarding themselves.

sometimes i have found i really need to speak to them directly!..  i used to use word nunber i.e  one zero three ..... on other sites. 

Comercial sites have this rule to safeguard their earnings and not let host book independantly.

Mala

[Marty3]

Hi all,

I'm beginning to find the pilicy of automatically blocking emails and phone numbers a real pain.

I have had a guest leave a Kindle behind, and am trying to arrange to return it to the USA (my home is in Ireland). The Kindle did not belong to the guest, but his mother, I have great difficulty being able to communicate directly with this lady because of her email address being blocked.

Now she has kindly wired me money to pay for the postage and packing of the Kindle. The tracking number, which I need to retrieve the cash, has been blocked as a (phone number hidden).

This is very frustrating, especially as the booking has been completed and the guest has left.

I suggest strongly that the auto blocking should be terminated as soon as a booking is completed.

Does anyone know how i can get it stopped in this case, so I can retrieve the tracking number?

Thanks guys!

Marty, superhost, Glengarriff, Ireland.

[Helen3]

I disagree blocking contact details on BnB is there to protect hosts.

You would have had the phone details of your guest who left the kindle behind. All you had to do was contact them directly and you  could have obtained the contact details of the mother and liaised with her directly....Simples 🙂

[Amaris0]

It used to be that once a booking was confirmed, you could send personal details such as phone numbers, links addresses etc. I think there is a bug in the system as I somehow find it hard to believe it is intentional or the logic of it.

I had noticed over the last few weeks, that some of my messages containing URL’s or phone numbers were blocked whilst others went through. 

I normally send a street map showing direction from the nearest train station to my place since lots of guests do not have Wi-Fi immediately on arrival, the can print or take screen shots. Also I send short term luggage storage links (yes guests can look this up for themselves, but it’s easier for me to do this than a foreigner since I know the city better), as a result of Airbnb blocking these details, the first experience the guest has Is sometimes a bit stressed trying to locate a property in a foreign land.

I understand not being able to exchange information prior to the booking but once it has been booked and paid for, the guest has my address and that’s the biggest safety detail to give out, I don’t see how an additional phone number of a URL can possibly be a risk at this stage….

Anyway Marty, I’m sorry, my little rant does not help your predicament so back to the issue, perhaps contact Airbnb and ask them to get the details for you since they are blocking communication, yes you have the phone number but it's expensive to make international calls. 

Hope you get it sorted.

Ama