Choose another place to stay message

Kyle---Syd0
Level 1
Atlanta, GA

Choose another place to stay message

Hi - 

 

I have a guest trying to book out place and she just received a message stating; 

 

Choose another place to stay.

AirBnb prevents reservations for entire homes when a pattern of factors (like location or reservation times) suggest  the booking may be unsafe.

 

This is not related to the coronavirus. Please try a private room or hotel instead.

 

Why is she getting this message? I haven’t seen any other questions about it. We’re in a great location and have had multiple bookings and 5 star reviews? Any info would help!

 

 

21 Replies 21
Luana130
Level 10
State of Bahia, Brazil

it's a new policy. They say it is to prevent parties. People under 25 are not allowed to make last-minute bookings, it started about a week ago.

Sarah977
Level 10
Sayulita, Mexico

@Kyle---Syd0  This was a recent policy to crack down on "parties", after the Orinda and Toronto shootings.  It is sent to under 25 year-olds trying to book an entire home. As I originally read the policy, I seem to recall it was to be employed when the guest was asking for a 1 night or last-minute booking, but it seems to be sending out this message regardless of the # of nights booked or when they book.

I bet if you check, you'll find the guest is under 25.

Genise-and0
Level 4
Atlanta, GA

yeah a guest was trying to book our location and got that message. I don't know their age but the booking is 6days out & its for 3 nights. so none of the above explanations apply. also the wording is horrific if its intention is to notify of to stop parties that are not ok'd by the host it totally misses the mark!  Its worded as though the airbnb is unsafe. Mentions absolutely NOTHING about not having parties.  It should say. If your planning to throw a party choose another place to stay as this location doesn't allow parties. You will be banned from the platform, charged for damages, black black black. (what ever it is they are trying to convey) This is a horrible message to send to possible guest!

 

Jenée0
Level 2
Mooresville, IN

My question is how did you know that these persons were trying to book? Where they able to contact you as a host? 
I just had a friend of a friend who wanted to book for three nights and received this message she is local and probably young but i contacted Airbnb wanting her to book because she is a caregiver for their son. Our friend wanted to use our listing because he was going to reimburse. The sad thing is that I called Airbnb before she did. It was a total disconnect! Could I have been assisted to accomplish the booking. She got frustrated and booked a hotel.  

Susan17
Level 10
Dublin, Ireland

The "party prevention" theory is a myth. Nothing but another smoke and mirrors exercise by Airbnb. See below..

 

Is Airbnb replacing Hosts with Hotels? - Airbnb Community
https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Hosting/Is-Airbnb-replacing-Hosts-with-Hotels/td-p/1273241

Very helpful,  thank you for the link

@Susan17 Has it happened to you yet? It started happening to me this week a bunch! My listing IS a private room already and the guest got this message. I had several guests reach out with inquiries this week and none ended up booking yet all we’re interested. When I reached back out to them ALL ghosted me. By their name it said “not possible” suddenly yet the inquiry was still there, thus showing they hadn’t booked anywhere else yet. Finally one guest sent me the message she’d been getting. I think the others got it as well but were afraid to book with me now. 5 year 4.8-5 star super host.  If the trick is to switch to private room, what’s the trick if you’re already a private room? And what about the guests this message is scaring away?!  So frustrating!

It's an error, which can be as described here https://airbnbase.com/choose-another-place-to-stay/

@Antra12  one they’re claiming they corrected back in March but it’s still happening and scaring away all my guests!

I just ran into the same problem.

 

Message from AirBNB to me:

"Thank you for your patience, I checked on the reservation and your listing. This has nothing to do with the listing, it could be in the guest side as to why the system is hindering her in confirming the reservation. There might be information that the guest need to add in her profile.

Is it possible for you to inform the guest to reach out to us? So, we can check her account and assist her."

 

Message from AirBNB to the person trying to book:

"I'm saddened to know about the issue that you're encountering when trying to book a place. I apologize for the inconvenience this may have caused you.

Upon checking, the reason why you were not able to book this listing was due to some procedures in place that block certain reservations for your safety.

Airbnb implemented rules on booking patterns associated with prior risks. My sincerest apology as we are not able to support these particular bookings.
I also want to apologize that as of the moment we don't have the information available as to what specific booking patterns are associated. These restrictions on reservation are one of the measures initiated by Airbnb to protect our guests on a possible safety risks.

For the meantime, I suggest finding a private room or a hotel boutique in replacement to an entire home place.

 

So… To sum up…

  1. You can’t book due to a security problem
  2. We don’t know what that security problem is
  3. Book a hotel instead

 

Michael5132
Level 2
Kansas City, MO

Same problem...tried to book a place weeks in advance for 4 nights. No previous problems booking entire homes in the past and have received positive feedback from all my hosts after my stay....what is going on?

 

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Help/Suddenly-unable-to-book-entire-home-after-doing-so-last-wee...

David7065
Level 2
New York, NY

I just called AirBNB customer support and they said "This message has something to do with the guest's profile and nothing to do with your apartment. You'll need to have your guest reach out to us."

 

My guest reached out to AirBNB and customer support apparently told them to ask me to change the listing to a "private room" instead of an "entire apartment" to allow the booking to go through.  The whole thing just seems sketchy.

Happened to me this week a bunch! My listing IS a private room already and the guest got this message. I had several guests reach out with inquiries this week and none ended up booking yet all we’re interested. When I reached back out to them ALL ghosted me. By their name it said “not possible” suddenly yet the inquiry was still there, thus showing they hadn’t booked anywhere else yet. Finally one guest sent me the message she’d been getting. I think the others got it as well but were afraid to book with me now. 5 year 4.8-5 star super host.  If the trick is to switch to private room, what’s the trick if you’re already a private room? And what about the guests this message is scaring away?! 

Harry353
Level 2
Dallas, TX

I got this error today and support told me it was due to a covid restriction in my area and I had to book using "1 guest" for each guest. I was trying to book with "2 guests" for me and my wife.