Blocking a Guest from future bookings

[Jerry213]

I'm still new to airbnb but have had 40-45 guest in the past 6 months.  All in all the guest have been great but I did have one guest that contacted me 52 times within a 4 night stay.  She took wonderful care of the house but was not able to problem solve a single thing on her own.  On top of that she left me a 4-star rating for communication because one message left at 11:35 in the evening was not returned until 8:45 the next morning.  I would rather not have her stay in the house again and am concerned that she will instant book since she has family nearby.  

Here's my issue: followed the airbnb instructions to block a guest.  The choices they give did not reflect my situation, so I chose one that allowed me to move forward.  I wrote a detailed explanation of my situation and clicked the submit button.  Nowhere did the option to "block this guest" come up.  I was given a message that it would be reviewed by support to see if the guest broke any airbnb standards.  I received a message back from support saying that that option was no longer available and if the guest booked in the future, that I should contact them directly about canceling the reservation.   I told the person that this was not an acceptable option I asked to speak with someone directly who might better understand my point.  Received a call back from someone with a very heavy accent who was obviously reading off a screen.  I asked to have her supervisor call me back.  4 days later and at 5:52 am est I received a call.  No message was left but I was sent a airbnb message saying that they had tried to call and that the ticket would be closed if I didn’t call back within 24 hours.  The number left was the Superhost Support line and no contact info was left.  I've requested a native English speaker to call me back, so we'll see what happens.  

It seems to me that as host we should have the option to block someone who has stayed with us in the past without having to jump threw hoops with support.  I am concerned that if this person books again and I cancel them, it will affect my Superhost rating.  I would rather my house not come up as an option for her in the future.  I’ll update as soon as I hear form support.

[Jonathan6]

Features come and go on ABnB with no notice at all.  I would also think that blocking guests may be tricky now that ABnB is working harder to enforce non-discrimination rules.  I have seen in a different thread that if you give less than 3 stars and a thumbs down on recommending the guest, they will be blocked, but I have not confirmed this 1st hand.

[Deborah614]

@Jonathan0

If you reverse the roles, and make the Woman the host and the Man the guest.    54 phone calls in 4 days would generally be viewed by most people as harrassment or even stalking.   There should be a mechanism in Airbnb's repertoire to deal with this.   Their helicopter flies higher than ours, and they'll be able to compare / solicito other feedback from hosts to see if Jeremy's experience of her behaviour was out of character for her.  

[Ange2]

@Jerry213   Bar giving her three stars to block as suggested (not sure if that works either) or flagging her profile (but I don't think 'needy'  would be accepted as reason) there seems to be no way to do this except laboriously,  by making a note to yourself re: her profile.  But any which way you wouldn't know who it was until you accepted them (no profile pic or full name available before acceptance) and guests can also set up new accounts, so no history.

[Helen444]

Jerry, one of the biggest issues that we have with Airbnb is it's (un) Support Team. It's absolutely ridiculous. Regarding your booking issue: I don't allow instant booking because of the terrible confusion it caused when I first started. I don't ususllay refuse guests to start, but there are a few that I will not re-book (at least not without a cash deposit up front)

[Deborah614]

@Jerry213    54 calls in 4 days???  Really?  

I think that qualifies as she was making a pass (or passes) at you.   

[Ian25398]

Jerry, if you ever get an answer from airbnb, please let me know.

[Derek316]

When you do a guest review it ends with:

Would you host guest again?

We won't publish your answer anywhere and guest won't receive it

Perhaps "No" may mean that your place will not be available to them in future, but I cannot find any rule to confirm.

[Mark1577]

I've often wondered what that means too. If the guest doesn't see it and only you see it, then why is it there?

I too would like to know more about that question.

[Marilyn351]

I am an ebay power seller and I can block anyone I want from bidding and or buying but I can block someone on airbnb from staying in my private home with me in it?????  This is crazy!  I can't even block them from emailing me.  Something is wrong with this system!

[Helen3]

Call Airbnb and ask them to block the guest for you @Marilyn351