Guest not having a booking but saying they paid

[Nicole362]

We have a situation where a guest booked for one night and arrived. He however claims that he paid for a second night and the payment went through but there is no booking on our side or even a booking request.  When we talked to him and said there is no booking or payment on our side he looked irritated and said he refuses to book again because he already booked several times and has probably been charged more than necessary already. He then simply stated that we should follow up with airbnb tomorrow (which is today). Is what he is claiming even possible? How do we handle this without offending him and causing a bad review?

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Nicole362

Why does the guest think the host has to check with Airbnb about a non-existent booking??? If the guest really did make a reservation and really did pay, then the booking and payment is entirely between Airbnb and the Guest. If the host has no reservation showing, then the host has nothing to ask about. If the guest does have a reservation then he can use that info to contact Airbnb. 

Just calmly tell the guest you have no idea what he's talking about, and that HE should be the one to talk to Airbnb. Show him your "Upcoming reservations" page is you have to - but don't get involved. Any problem he has is between him and Airbnb. Be sympathetic, but make it very clear that it's not your (the host's) problem.

[Kate157]

Totally agree with @Jessica-and-Henry0- do not make this your problem, it is the guest's problem. I would continue to state simply that there is no reservation, there is nothing I can do about that, and unless I received notification from Airbnb about a confirmation, the guest would have to leave by checkout time for the one-day that was confirmed.

[Helen3]

Hello @Nicole362

I agree this is the guests problem not yours.

Just calmly explain to the guest that you can't let him stay for an extra day if he doesn't have a booking as you will not be paid.

Suggest he calls Airbnb to sort it out and that if the booking comes through you will be happy to accept it. If not he will need to leave.

[Nicole362]

Thank you @Jessica-and-Henry0 , @Helen3, @Kate157 for your quick response and help!

I calmly explained to the guest that this is not the way it works and if his booking is not succesfull he would not be able to stay another night. Eventually he understood and apologized, said it was his first time using airbnb and got his booking to work. 

Thank you all again for the support!

[Pat92]

Hi, on that note, what could you do if a guest came to the end of their stay, but refused to leave? It's never happened, but I always worry about it

[David126]

Boot them out.