Glitch in Smart/Instant Booking system, how to BAN ppl

[Edie12]

Hi,

Another issue that I am currently facing is that the not-so-smart booking system when it comes to selections/choices of your guests. In order words, how can we BAN a guest from returning?

In total  I have gone through in three different bookings/enquires in the pass 3 months:

Guest 1. Sent me a request and I have approved it, but her status shows “Awaiting on payment”?( I thought Airbnb should have collected the money before she can even book? But obviously it’s not that case.) So she sent me a message the second day morning by saying that she wasn’t aware of that booking and she is not coming. I said fine, if that’s the case can you at least cancel your booking so that won’t block my calendar? She didn’t do it(certainly I can’t do it from my end, to cancel a booking bcoz the guest never have the intention to come) And the not-so-smart booking system literally waited for 24hours to expire that booking, I got zero payment and the guest walked away from zero penalty. There’s no way for me to BAN her from returning??! Seriously?

Guest 2. Sent me enquires about bring her cat along. I have preappoved the request but she didn’t take it within that 24hours window so that offer is already off. In the following week all residents were told by Strata that no pet is allowed in the building. I was so glad that I didn’t take her in. TWO weeks after she declined or ignored my preappoval. I got the confirmation via Airbnb that she is coming. I’m like..?Shouldn’t that preapproval only applied for that dates that she proposed, but soon it expired it should be another approval required? Coz I have “no pet” on my listing and she “said” she is coming by her own “without” pet. So I had to canceled that booking and “gained” myself a “host cancelled on guest a week before their arrival”.....  How do I ban her??

Guest 3. Inquiry for a week of staying, preapproved, but ditch that the last second. I don’t want her to return just because I have had the preapproval previous does it granted her the automatic instant bookings later on just like guest 2? How do I ban her??

And I had the most disgraceful guest last week, left my place absolute messy behind and vomited in my basin without even rinsing it( but I can’t give her the review just simply because she has not given me her reviews?? Duh）How do I ban her??

[Sarah977]

@Edie12   There's a few things you don't understand.

Reviews- Of course you can leave your guest a review and please do, to warn other hosts of her messy ways. You writing a review has nothing to do with the guest writing a review. Reviews are published after either both host and guest leave a review OR if only one party writes a review, that review will be published 14 days after check-out.

Inquiries- Lots of guests send inquiries and don't follow through with a booking. That's not a reason to ban a guest, nor a reason to not want them to book in the future.

Bookings-How could a guest be charged before they book? Or do you mean that the money should be charged at the moment of booking? Airbnb gives guests 24 hours after booking to complete payment. We hosts of course don't like that, but that's unfortunately how it is.

Pre-approval-it does sound weird that the cat guest was able to go ahead and book without your approval 2 weeks after she let her first request expire. Or did she IB it the second time, for which she wouldn't need prior approval? In any case, you didn't have to cancel that on your own and get a host cancellation on your account. What you should have done was call Airbnb, explain that the Strata council nixed pets, and gotten them to cancel the reservation for you without penalties. You could still do that, and see if they'll remove that host cancellation. 

It sounds like you want to ban a lot of guests simply because they caused you a bit of inconvenience. You should save guest banning (flag their profile) for truly objectionable guests who no one would want to host.

[Edie12]

Hi Sarah, thanks for your time.

Now that I’m aware that the review I gave serves some purposes to other hosts, even thought only one party has been given the review.

guest 1:  she sent me a booking request and I have accepted it, it’s a proper booking, it’s not a simple inquiry. I don’t see why she shouldn’t have to be charged by Airbnb in advance before she can make it booking.  The payment not necessarily have to be cleared and transfer to my account, but it is necessary to have at least Airbnb hold the fund don’t you think? I guess that’s not just a simple “a guest who cause you inconvenience”. She made the booking, she got approved, she hasn’t paid, she didn’t turn up and she refused to cancel it on the periods that I would have been hosted other guests. I don’t see why I should not ban her.

guest 2, depends on how would you see it, if a guest instant booked your place by saying that they are coming alone as one guest without a pet (your setting and listing have clearly stated “no pet”) but just bcoz they have been previously preapproved so their booking came through even though the preapproval is already expired 2 weeks later. Again I don’t see why I shouldn’t ban guest like this? Who caused more than just an inconvenience.

guest 3, she caused me no harm but I already have no trusts in her by what she did. Airbnbing is all about trusting and respects, if someone broke her words so easily I would feel comfortable to host, she might not be the same or do the same to other hosts but I’m done with her that’s all. 

Thanks again for your time

[Sarah977]

@Edie12 How can Airbnb charge in advance before a guest has made a booking? How would they know what listing the guest would choose to book and what price it is? That makes no sense. Yes, of course they should be charged at the moment they book, but that's not how Airbnb does it. The guest is simply booking- they have no control over Airbnb policy. So you want to ban a guest for a policy that they didn't create? Or you want to ban her for not cancelling the booking? You can get most guests to cancel by pointing out to them that if they cancel within 48 hours of booking, they will get a full refund. It sounds like this guest booked for the same day, or at least booked within 24 hours of the reservation? If so, this has happened to several hosts who have reported it here- same day booking but guest didn't pay because they have 24 hours to pay.  So what you have to do is not accept same day bookings. Change your setting to 2 or 3 days advance notice, that way you can see that it's paid for before allowing them to stay or not show up and not get paid.

Guest no. 2- You say she instant booked. She doesn't need pre-approval for that. Any one can Instant Book. If you don't want people to instant book, then turn off instant book. Maybe I'm not understanding what you're saying, but it doesn't seem like the guest did anything wrong.

Guest no.3 - She originally sent an Inquiry, which you pre-approved. As I said, lots of guests send inquiries but don't book. They may book later, either IB, or send a booking request. So what? How does that go against trust or respect?

[Edie12]

hi Sarah,

There is a policy to be charged (Airbnb hold the funds) soon as you booked, that’s another way to make commitment to both parties. But you have answered that it could be the 24hrs payment thing. Technically she booked a day in advance (having said that all my settings are 2-3days notices in advance, but guests CAN still send you a request when it’s less than 2-3days notice, it’s upon your discretion to give it to him/her or not), she made it sound quite urgent while she made the booking, and she said she got sth to work on so she preferred to have her own place rather than staying with her friend. But next day she didn’t rock up and I txted her if she’s still coming, she said she decided to stay at her friends. So I said in that case can you at least cancel the booking so that you don’t block my calendar(it’s been accepted and confirmed). But she didn’t cancel it so the whole booking window at least got held up by another 24hrs before the system automatically cancel the booking. I’m not saying that the guest can’t change their mind even at the last minute. What I got annoyed more is that she didn’t cancel the book even though she knew that she’s not coming and after I have explained how inconvenient may cause without her cancellation. (Our of curiosity here, would they get any penalty for that, not necessarily monetised one but at least get a warning from Airbnb?)

Guest 2. The problem here is: on my listing says no pet and it’s for one guest only. One of the instant booking criteria is to accept airbnb’s IB rules, as well as the house rule(which is no pet). For example, your listing is no pet, and me as a guest, I know that I will bring my cat along. But instead of confirmed with you through a request txt first, i just went ahead to make the instant booking then confirmed with you via a txt that I will Be bring my cat. And that’s least than 5 days prior to the visiting. 

Guest 3. I reckon that’s more to do with my personality I guess. I take agreement seriously even if it’s just a verbal one. If I said I’m coming I will, but even if I can’t make it, I will acknowledge the host so that they don’t have to wait up.  

Thanks again for your time 🙂