New host scared to cancel but red flags!

[Kyndall0]

New host! Like first guest checked in tonight NEW. Second guest booked 10 days starting oct 15 and said they intended to book oct 28-nov 22 and wanted discount on top of 20% first 3 guest discount. I offered to black out the 3 days in between stays so they could leave belongings there. I block the 3 days as they request. Then they only book 3 more days. Nothing in nov.  I’m sick that I might have a guest only trying to take advantage and I need some stars. I need to recoup my renovation expenses and want to just cancel the guest entirely but the fee plus blackout scares me. Advise me! 

[Sarah977]

@Kyndall0  Contact airbnb. Tell them you are a new host and have been scammed by a guest. Ask them to look at the message stream to see that the guest misrepresented their intentions in order to get a bigger discount. Ask Airbnb to cancel the reservation for you with no penalties (a neutral cancellation).

Guests who ask for discounts beyond what is already offered on your listing should be declined- they are always red flags.

And if you are using Instant Book, turn it off until you become more experienced in vetting guests.

[Mike1034]

@Kyndall0  You just get started. If Airbnb does not do what @Sarah977 suggested, you can just cancel the booking yourself. 

I am not sure if there are other bookings. If no, you can do.

And then create a new listing by duplicating the current listing. Deactivate the current listing since those canceled dates will be blocked.

[Kyndall0]

Thanks for the advice!  It reassured me that I was not over-reacting.  I talked to a case manager this morning and they cancelled the bookings and allowed the dates to remain open.  The guest has sent me some pretty nasty messages today, so I did the right thing.  I got too eager to get first few guests by approving it in the first place.  I have since switched to no instant booking (which hurts where I come up in searches), but worth it for my sanity.  

[Sarah977]

@Kyndall0  Glad to hear it worked out with CS. 

Now that you've turned off Instant Book, you will only get Inquiries and Booking Requests. Make sure you are clear on how to handle them, as they are different.

On an Inquiry, a host has 3 choices- pre-approve, which you can do if you feel good about accepting them based on their communiction and answers to any questions you may pose to them, decline, or simply answer. Just answering an Inquiry within 24 hours fulfills your obligations, you do not need to click pre-approve or decline, and as declines do count against you, if you see red flags, simply answer. You will get annoying proddings from Airbnb to pre-approve, but you can safely ignore those.

A Request, you do have to Accept or Decline within 24 hours. But you can exchange messages with the guest prior to that time if you need to. It's best to message back ASAP in case you need time to get things clear before you have to click one of those buttons.

I know that not using IB lowers search ranking, and that some guests won't bother with a listing where they have to request first, but I can tell you that I have never used IB since starting hosting 3 years ago and I have never had an objectionable guest, nor one who tried to scam a refund or left a bad review. That's worth a lot in terms of your listing ratings, stress level and mental health. That's not to say a guest hasn't ever done something that I had to call them on, but it was pretty minor and I could easily handle it myself without involving Airbnb, and it was resolved between myself and the guest amiably.

[Kyndall0]

THANK YOU for this valuable info.  And thanks for the reassurance that I am not shooting myself in the foot by having it off.  I'm coming off of 9 solid months of renovating this property every evening and all day every weekend after my FT job - trying to recoup the strain of expenses - and navigating/learning airbnb now is just drinking from a new fire hose.  It's overwhelming and already feeling the - oh lord what have I done these people are scammers and rude - feelings.  I have the first booking leaving Friday (it is going well) and nothing next on the book - but it is early.    

[Sarah977]

@Kyndall0  Yes, it may take more time to recoup the cost of your renos, but getting bad IB guests who lie about their intentions and throw a giant party can make you see profits go down the drain. 

It makes me feel calm about my bookings when I have an opportunity to exchange a few messages with guests prior to accepting and can tell from their communication that I don't have anything to get stressed about. My listing is just a private room in my home for solo travelers, so the person I'm communicating with is the only person I have to deal with on arrival and stay, which helps. Most listings accept more guests than that, but as long as the booker understands that they will be held responsible for the behavior of their entire group, and that they can't book for a 3rd party, you should be okay.

Even if your bookings go down after turning off IB, keep in mind that it may have nothing to do with IB. Bookings in many areas can be seasonal- Sept.-mid Dec. are generally summer vacation is over, back-to-school, back to the grind times in the northern hemisphere, unless you're in the midst of a big city, like SF, LA, NY, London, Paris, etc. or a major tourist destination. Then it'll get busy for Xmas holidays, then may slack off again until spring break. It just depends on who your listing appeals to, why people generally travel to your area, etc.

[Mark116]

@Kyndall0   There is a wealth of great information on this forum, how to deal with bad guests, how to deal with writing and responding to negative guests and reviews, all kinds of helpful stuff.   The most common sense advice I have is to stand your ground on your rules, people who push you for extras are going to be trouble, and you will never please them.  I'd also say trust your instincts, most of the time, you will be correct.  Sometimes you will be wrong, sometimes you will expect a guest to be fun/nice/great and they will be awful, sometimes you will have major worries of a guest and they will be wonderful and leave you a gift, but MOST of the time your instincts will be correct.  And, please remember, airbnb is not here to help you, so don't expect them to be very helpful or on the side of the host, for all intents and purposes, you are on your own and must depend on yourself.  

My last advice is that if possible, do a phone video walk through of your place before every guest arrives.  This gives you a baseline of proof on damages, should the worst happen.