Instant booking and cancellation

[Juliette63]

I woke up this morning to find that someone had booked my house instantly for one night on Easter weekend.  It clearly states on my house details that a stay is for a minimum of two nights.  When I told her this she said that she did not see it and when she typed in the dates she wanted my house came up.  my house was reserved on the 28th and 30th and she booked the 29th.   I told her she would have to cancel it.   I notice that if I tried to cancel it, I get penalties, which is rediculously unfair as there was nothing I had done to cause the problem.  In the reasons for cancellation, there is nothing to say...... Oh, the guest didn't read the house rules and requirements properly!

Anyone else had this problem.  Such a pity, Airbnb seems to be getting worse.

[Steve143]

Hello @Juliette63,

Stating a minimum stay in the "Other things to note" section has no effect and will not be enforced. You must set the minimum stay in the "Trip length" section of your calendar availability settings. You already have different minimum stay lengths set as your calendar says "Minimum stay varies".

If you require a minimum stay for Easter then you must set it using the "Add a custom rule for seasons or specific dates" link in the "Trip length" section. If this is done then guests will not see your listing when they try to stay for 1 night of your minimum 3 day period.

If you have set a minimum stay length of 3 days as above and your guest was able to book then contact Airbnb support. Otherwise the guest booked, in good faith, the date that was available on your calendar so it's not their fault. Only  minimum  stay settings in the "Trip length" section have effect, text in the "description" section doesn't.

Steve.

[Juliette63]

Two nights minimum was under Trip Length.  Still fault of  Airbnb.

[Marit-Anne0]

@Juliette63

It would not be enough to write 2 nights minimum in the house rules, it will also have to be correct in your settings.  Your guest is correct, if you do not have a 2 night minimum in your settings, your place will come up in the search results and can be booked for single nights.  

In this case I do not think you can blame your guest - you need to have your listing set correctly to avoid such surprises. 

[Juliette63]

It was not under house rules or description, it was under Trip length,  2 nights minimum!

[Marit-Anne0]

@Juliette63

Then you would have to contact airbnb and have them assist you in cancelling penalty free.  Inform the guest that you will cancel as there must be a bug in the system and your minimum stay is 2 nights.  

[Ange2]

@Juliette63     Click here for all the ways to Contact Airbnb. IB can apparently cancel three bookings penalty free, but you do need to contact them first. As this looks like an Airbnb glitch I would ask them  to make sure it is NOT computed as one of your 3 free cancelations.

[Anne791]

I woke up this morning to find a booking for two days in this month  when I had deliberately blocked out all of March except weekend of 31st. This is because of work being carried out to prepare my lodge for rental. I  immedeately messaged  the would be guest with an emplanation that I was not open for booking until that date. Her relpy was one of understanding that there had been an error in the booking system but she requested a refund. In order to do this I had to cancel the booking. Non of the computer generated reasons for cancellation allowed me to offer an explanation that the booking was taken by Abnb in error .I am now faced with a penalty and a fine for the cancellation.I am new to Abnb and have had some teething problems due to struggling to get to grips wowith the system and protocol  My biggest frustartion is that I cannot find a contact   to speak to . I feel that this treatment is very unfair and am losing confidence that Abnb is the best way to proceed  . Has anyone out there maaged to find a person to person contact. I am at a loss and woud be grateful for some help

[Matthew285]

@Anne791, yes definitely get help from support regarding this. You should not be penalize for an system error like this.

On your Help page, near the bottom right is a "Contact us" button.
Or you can use this link: https://www.airbnb.com/help/contact_us

Once you are on the "Contact us" page, choose "Its something else"

This will give you the choice to either exchange messages with AirBnB or to speak to someone on the phone.

[Sandra126]

Both your listings have minimum stay: Varies. I tried for a one nighter and it came up.