Strange Reservation

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Wj3
Level 2
New York, NY

Strange Reservation

Something strange is happening with my current guest...

Last week, I received a booking request from someone seeking to stay ASAP for a month. He said he's in between places and searching for a permanent place. However, when I asked him to delay 2 days, he was very flexible.

After he booked, I asked him to check that he's OK with the house rules (wear a mask, no additional guests, etc). On the day of check-in, he arrived at 1030PM with another person (he booked for himself only). They left at 11PM and never returned.

Days later, I messaged to check on him. He said he had found another place but would keep the current booking. When I suggested that he cancel and I'll refund the remaining month, he didn't reply.

Is this some kind of scam? What should I do - should I cancel for him on my end? He hasn't done anything major, but it's strange. 

Top Answer

@Wj3 In the olden days I would've suggested getting Airbnb on the phone, but by most accounts they aren't doing much customer support these days. So to take matters into your own hands, I think the first thing you should do - immediately - is change the door codes. 

 

Then, you'd need to inform the guest that the door codes have been changed for security reasons, and if he still wants to keep the reservation, he will have to schedule a time to complete the check-in procedure in person. In the unlikely event that he does so, you have many reasonable questions to ask about his intentions with the property (which are quite murky at best) and a chance to negotiate yourself a way out of this booking.

 

If you don't reach a resolution easily, you can send the guest a  Change Booking request, advancing the checkout date to today and refunding the remainder of his stay. It's hard to fathom why the guest would refuse an offer that puts money directly into his pocket. But if he does, your last resort is to get Airbnb on the phone (grab a book for the long hold time) and show from the correspondence that this was a de facto guest cancellation. I hope it doesn't come to that, since results are wildly unpredictable these days.

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15 Replies 15

@Wj3About eight months ago there was a man who booked for a same day rental from a local account.  I think he might have actually had one review which wasn't bad.  At 5PM, I saw him drive up in the front of the house and was upstairs looking out the window, expecting him to come inside.  He sat in his car for a long time then got out and walked around a bit.  He was looking around very nervous and then he just stood there for a bit staring at the house.  He then got back in his car and drove away.

 

I half thought he had just gone to get dinner or something like that, but he never came back.  He didn't send any messages and didn't cancel the reservation.  I received the payment and he never left a review.  To this day, I don't know what his deal was.