When to cancel/decline

[Chiara96]

Hi there! My husband and I just became hosts and got a request to stay at our place right away. The guest doesn't have a history on AirBNB so I was reluctant to accept, but also afraid to decline and start off on a bad foot/rating.

I accepted and he just told me he won't be arriving until 1:00am, which is really inconvenient for us given our early workdays. The reservation is for tomorrow so I feel bad cancelling, but it's really not a great fit. 

What is the etiquette in this situation?

[Ephraim0]

Hello Chiara, I started with airbnb about 3 months ago. My first month I did instant booking and accepted just about everyone because I didnt want to start off on the wrong foot, and I knew I needed reviews. So I figured I'll go for it. I would likely do it again but let me warn you some of the experiences were awful. Instant book in large cities will attract some real losers. In every case I bent over backward to make their stay great. I was biting my tongue. I will never ever use instant book again, ever. So if it should become mandatory I'm moving to VRBO that day. Now I make every guest contact me and they must use verify and supply a government ID. I have had a much better experience and for the most part better quality people.

The things to look out for are the following

Last minute reservations.

Requests for early check in and late check out

endless requests and endless questions prior to stay

If a guest has no reviews make sure you have a dialogue until your gut tells you its ok to approve. Just make certain you accept or decline within 24 hours.

In short if a guest is a headache before they even arrive I promise you they will be a headache once in your home. 

One of my first guests was a kid and his friend from California. They arrived at 2:00AM and they never even had the decency to leave a review. Often new airbnb guests are not familiar with the system. They assume youre running the holiday inn and they can be a pain. But grin and bear it as best you can. Get your great reviews and then become picky. 

Good Luck!

[Chiara96]

Thank you, Ephraim! Super helpful. I have a friend in Greenpoint who uses instant book and she's said it has been hit or miss. I steered clear of it and began a conversation with the guest, though he is 12 hours ahead and I was afraid of the countdown clock running out without accepting—lesson learned, for sure. Thanks so much for your insights!

[Annette33]

@Chiara96, hi! great place you got 🙂

A few pointers/ideas:

you are not on instant booking ( good!), so as soon as you cancel, you will get penalized by having either $50 or $100 withheld from your next booking, and also those booked dates will remain blocked out on your calendar. So: Don't cancel! (ever)...

Consider this one a learning curve, go with the flow, but I suggest some changes in your listing asap to prevent such things from happeneing again:

1.) Be specific, not open ended,  for your check in times, like: noon to 5 pm, or whatever suits you. If a guests needs something outside of your rules, it's in their court, you can then agree or disagree. If they don't contact me, I always get with guests the day before arrival and narrow down the ETA, no problems..

2.) many new Airnbnb members have no reviews and nothing in their profile, it seems to be the trend. I wouldn't necessarily worry about it, maybe exchange some messages back and forth before accepting them, that gives you a good feel... you can ask, so, are you new to Airbnb, are we your first stay, etc.... and then accept or decline. =peace of mind 🙂

3.) Maybe also change your cancellation policy from flexible to moderate. As a guest I would like to read something in your listing about  joint spaces, or no joint spaces, like you show a nice living room, but  is a guest welcome there, or  is he/she welcome to use ( and cook) in the kitchen? The more you specify now, the less headaches later. I also wonder about the private bathroom: it looks stacked with a lot of personal stuff, maybe take new pictures, or clarify if it is shared.

Good luck, you're on your way!

Annette

[Chiara96]

What a helpful response! Many great pointers I hadn't considered. For now, I responded to his message asking me if that time was okay and let him know it wasn't and that I was sorry for the confusion. I assume that means he'll cancel it? I'll change the setting for check-in now (didn't see that I could before!). Thanks so much, Annette 🙂

[Annette33]

@Chiara96, whatever changes you make now will only apply to future bookings, not this one.

So, in case this one cancels on you, which apparently is okay with you, do NOT agree to the cancellation when the request ask you for your consent. it's a new, tricky way by Airbnb to save the guest the booking fee while you get penalized as if you had initiated the cancellation. however, you might want to refund the guest his booking fee with airbnb, which he would not get refunded by Airbnb if the cancellation s solely on hs shoulders (which is what you want.). 

in any case, the booking is accepted as of now, so something needs to happen.....

[Pati1]

If you cancel it will be a negative against you and I do not know if you are able to reply back with short notice.

[Katie93]

Hi Chiara,

My very first guest was last month and she was arriving at 2am. At first I was so excited to get a booking within a few hours of registering for Airbnb, I didn't care when she was arriving. Then, the next day I had major reservations about leaving a key for a complete stranger to enter my house while I was sleeping. I did some Googling on the event she said she was attending and I decided she was going to be great, and she was, thankfully. It was her first Airbnb experience, too, so she had no reviews.

Now what I do when they have no reviews, is to tell them that because they have no reviews, to please give me their last name, and their social media profiles. Then I can Google them, and also see their background on LinkedIn, and what they're posting on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. I also ask them what brings them to the city to get a better idea of why they'll be staying with me. 

[Chiara96]

Great advice. Thank you, Katie!

[Pati1]

If you cancel it will be a negative against you and I do not know if you are able to reply back with short notice. You will also pay a penalty and those dates will be blocked on your Airbnb calendar

[Chiara96]

Luckily they didn't penalize either of us as they could see our correspondences and b/c it was my first booking!