Lost booking as guest couldn’t use credit cards. Why?

[Henri5]

 just lost a booking because guest’s credit card was not accepted so they tried using her husband’s card with same result. Consequently they cancelled stay & booked elsewhere on Airbnb.

why 

[Marzena4]

I think it was not a problem with the card, @Henri5, because they did use the card somewhere else on Airbnb. Payments are not generated by particular hosts, but by the payment settings. Had there really been a problem with their card, they wouldn't have been able to book anywhere on the site.

[Henri5]

Thanks marzena I suspected as much. Especially when they re booked with someone else. Very rude behaviour they should’ve just been honest about it. I cancelled another guest for them too. Now we’ve lost both bookings.

[Roberta2]

Hi @Henri5

What do you mean by "I cancel another guest for them"?

`You should never cancel a confirmed booking.

If someone request a booking, you accept it, but you can block or keep the dates free.

If another guest wants to book, and has his account / finaces in order, they will be able to book it

I had a couple of bookings asking for the same date, and told both guests. Whoever sorted the booking first got the dates.

[Henri5]

I pre approved both of them.

by the time the first ones told me they couldn’t pay the other one found somewhere else.

[Sarah977]

@Henri5    What you say doesn't make much sense, or you are not explaining it in an understandable way.

You said you cancelled another booking, now you say you pre-approved both. Pre-approvals are responses to Inquiries, not Booking Requests, which are Approved.

If they were just Inquiries, lots of people send Inquiries and never book, it doesn't mean you "lost" a booking.

If they were Booking Requests that you approved, and then cancelled one, you should not have done that, as there are penalties for hosts, like your calendar getting blocked, but you don't say that happened.

They sound like Booking Requests, since you say the first people who claimed a credit card issue cancelled. Did they cancel a request or just not book after an Inquiry?

[Henri5]

They told me what time they would arrive...I told them I would stock up the fridge for them & expected to see them that afternoon. You are right they did not go ahead with booking as planned because their credit cards wouldn’t let them accept booking. 

Dont worry I get it...they weren’t booked but they gave every indication they were arriving that day.

it just seemed like an excuse when both cards didn’t work for our listing but worked on the other place.

i don’t expect any compensation it was just confusing so I thought I’d ask the forum here. Thanks for replying. 

[David126]

Agree a booking is not a booking until it is a booking, I have been told all sorts of things, are they true, who knows, anyway you have no way of knowing what happened, why they did not book.