Had to decline a guest

Jeanie12
Level 4
Connecticut, US

Had to decline a guest

 I just a client a guest because he indicated that he wanted to overstuff the house with more than the 12 people allowed. When I declined a questionnaire was sent out by AirBnB asking why. There was no option for guest wants to break house rules. I find that annoying  as I have had this happen a few times where guest of wanted to bring dogs  or fill the house with more than the allotted number of people. In the questionnaire it said it would be nice if I gave the guest a note explaining why I turned him down to which I responded I already did and knowing that this is sent to the guest. I hope that this is corrected by AirBnB because If I communicate with a guest I want to know it. I do hope that AirBnB considers adding guest wants to break house rules to the options in their questionnaire. Have other hosts had this issue?   Who else would like to see a guest wants to break house rules option? I was told by the Airbnb support team if enough people request it it will probably be added. 

31 Replies 31
Jeanie12
Level 4
Connecticut, US

Sorry that was supposed to read I just declined a guest.

Ann72
Level 10
New York, NY

@Jeanie12 That's a really sensible addition to the questionnaire!  You can give feedback on the Airbnb site about it, and I'm sure others will as well.

Ian_Janice0
Level 4
Longmont, CO

I have had several guests send an inquiry to book days when they actually have a question. Many of these have been requests to make special payment arrangements. Can I pay on arrival or 1/2 on arrival amd 1/2 after my stay etc. Sometimes they are requests to book out of the airbnb platform. The only option I have is declone or pre-approve. If I decline I need to pick a reason and I agree none of them fit, except I do not feel right about the guest. I just let them hang neither declining or pre-approving and message the guest exlaining why I cannot accomodate their request. In that way I have responded timely. Eventually they fall off as expired. I have not received any emails from Airbnb. Although I will get remindes to either decline pr approve.

Thomas1033
Level 10
North Tonawanda, NY

@Jeanie12  I absolutely agree in fact I’m wondering what more I can possibly do this upcoming busy season to stop people from going over our max occupancy of 5.  During the summer we want to set a fixed price for up to 5 guests including “infants”.  If someone wants to cram two families and their 3 “infants” ( read actually 4 year olds) into our place I’m going to lose it this year.  In the past when I told guests they had too many people they told me oh the kids will sleep with them and completely missed the point.  I have instant book turned on right now and I’ve put every disclaimer and a penalty fee in the house rules but still think that we shouldn’t have to come off as jerks about it.  When someone searches for a place with 5 adults and 2 “infants” I don’t even want our place to show up as an option.  Things that should make our hosting easier shouldn’t be this hard to obtain should they?  Yvonna (cohost)

@Thomas0

I also get request from people that "do not count their kids" in the total number of people...I let them know that by city and fire marshall rules we cannot have more than eight people in the house and that includes kids & infants...it is in the listing too, but still we have issues with poeple trying to go over the max occupancy

@Jeanie12 

For inquiries I almost always pre-approve but I make it very very clear my rules MUST be followed, no exceptions. For guests I hope DON'T book, I will politely but very firmly tell them IF they book and try to break any of my rules, they won't get a refund so to not even try to evade any of my rules. Then I bombard them with all my house rules and my common courtesy rules and community rules for residents and that booking means they automatically are agreeing to my rules. So if they don't want to follow my rules in MY home, just let the pre-approval expire. This has always worked for me 🙂

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@Jessica-and-Henry0 

 

That's exactely the way I do it, I always pre-approve or confirm a booking and then tell the guests they have to live up to all the rules.

 

For guests I absolutely don't want to have: I have a 1000 feet privat driveway to my house steeply uphill from the public road. I tell those guests that unfortenately exactely at the time of their booking there will be some road construction on that driveway and they have to carry all of their luggage up the hill. Adding: "I hope that's not a problem". This always works. Noone ever booked under these circumstances.

 

How can you make it so they can't get a refund?  I have ppl booking thinking they will be in the area for longer than they are. So they are reserving my place for a month and staying for about 3 weeks. This is making it so I can't rent out that last week because they are leaving early and getting a refund. They're not leaving early because of anything I'm doing wrong they're leaving early because the job they came for is done or something along those lines. I do not feel they should get a refund for that last weak and Airbnb automatically does it.

Jeanie12
Level 4
Connecticut, US

In retrospect I should have pre-approved with the disclaimer that house rules are strictly enforced but I do not like the mixed messages this sends to the guest.  @Jessica-and-Henry0  I don't think these guests would be angling for a refund.  They just wanted to overload my house with people sleeping on sofas and sleeping bags and have a large party.  What is the penalty if they break house rules?  If we are going to be penalized for declining an inquiry why isn't this made transparent by Airbnb? @Thomas1033 I recently had an instant booking with the maximum number of adults plus four "infants".  I did ask Airbnb to decline this.  There is no limit to the amount of "infants" Airbnb allows.  If the guests said they were bring twenty infants that would be hunky dory with Airbnb which is not acceptable.  

 

These are common issues; why isn't Airbnb addressing this? If you look at these boards the same issues are repeated ad nausaum and Airbnb continues to ignore us.  Smarten up Airbnb because other platforms will spring up that will address our concerns.

Isn’t when you posted your listing it stated that how many people for acommadtion. 

@Jeanie12 

Well for me...... it's not just about the refund. I am an onsite host with a single occupancy private room listing so......my message is very clear - I won't put up with tresspassers in my home. I do not think a pre-approval is a mixed message. It's a very clear message that I pre-approve under the assumption ALL house rules will be strictly enforced by me, and fully respected by the guest. And I clearly spell it out..... if you have any intention of breaking ANY of my rules, don't book 🙂 and especially, don't expect a refund after booking and NOT getting away with breaking my rules. I clearly state I don't allow a second guest regardless of age - only one adult guest. 

 

I agree that there are  A LOT  of issues Airbnb needs to address but as long as we are on this platform, we need to find a way to "play the game" to our advantage since it's pretty clear Airbnb isn't listening to us. Airbnb is simply just a booking platform. They never have and never will "care" about hosts and our homes. 

You are absolutely right. They do not care about us but without the house they have no business. And now blocking the profile pictures so we can't see who is trying to book our house is absolutely ridiculous. These people are staying in our homes and we need to make sure we are safe. It does not matter to them if we are not safe and I feel there should be a massive lawsuit on Airbnb when someone not safe is locked book without showing their profile picture and their intentions. I have had two felons now stay at my house because Airbnb is not making sure people are safe. One even asked me to take him to the bail bondsman place 45 minutes away because he had no ride. This is ridiculous!

@Katie583 

Which is why it is really up to the host to screen who you let into your home. Many people (hosts) express concern about offending (potential) guests when asking for personal information or ID - which I personally have trouble understanding. Anyone who understands how Airbnb operates and has no bad intentions would not and has no reason to be offended by a host who only wants to make sure they know who exactly we are letting into our home. 

 

I've started to ask all potential guests to please provide their full name and a pic of themselves because Airbnb blocks all profile photos and personal information and that I can't even see their profile introduction before they confirm their booking which doesn't make sense because I need to know about the guest BEFORE in order to make an educated decision about whether the guest would be a good fit with my home. And I've always emphasized being a good fit with eachother is really important since my listing is a private room in the home I reside in. None of my guests till now have ever been offended by me asking them about themselves and me wanting to make sure we are a good fit. 

I just put my listing on ‘snooze’ until Airbnb does a better job on their end. I was under the impression that Airbnb was screening people but after the experience I just had, that’s not true. Please disable ‘Instant Book’ even though Airbnb crams it down your throat. Too much stuff going on in the world these days and I refuse to play the game and put my life and property at risk. It’s not worth it.