reservations made without confirmation from me

Theona0
Level 3
Taumarunui, New Zealand

reservations made without confirmation from me

today I received confirmation that a booking had been made without me even knowing about it? Two people booked into my place without me even knowing. No contacted me to ask if  they could stay, I never received an email that theese people wanted to stay. Somehow the booked in  and paid without me knowing?? Surely  people would be required to send a message asking if they can come before apying and me receiving they are arriving on such and such a date. Surely hosts need to be able to confirm if  they are available for the perspective guests? Surely a booking can't be made without the approval of the host? Thedn when i cancelled a booking I didn't even approve, I get told that I may ahve to pay a cancellation fee! Surely I should NOT have to apy anything if I didn't even know about the so called booking. I am positive i do NOT want this to happen again, so how can I make sure it doesn't happen again?

21 Replies 21
Sandra126
Level 10
Daylesford, Australia

Hi @Theona0, you have Instant Book activated (the lightning bolt next to your price). This means anyone can book anytime. New hosts are having no choice but to have Instant Book, this is something most hosts seem unhappy about. I suggest snoozing your listing  (bottom left on your manage listings page) until you can sort out NOT having Instant Book. You will be penalised for cancelling guests, finacially as well as ranking. Sorry.

 

But try, by all means, to see if you can unselect it. Don't know if you can without seeing your listing.

This has happened to me twice and I didnt know anything about it. Airbnb has no phone listing and their help is non existent. I don't know how to fix this. It seems everything is sided with the guest and absolutely no help from airBnB. They have a terrible website for the host also. Jody

Amaris0
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

Can I ask why you cancelled? If you had concerns about the guest then with instant booking you may be able to cancel up to 3 time in a year without penalties but if it was because you have other commitments that would not count unfortunately. It is an extremely unfair situation to place a host in since you basically have to put you life on hold and work around guest, risk cancelling and getting penalties if you can't accommodate the guest or take you listing off to avoid the situation - it's an illogical demand and I'm so sorry you have been put in this position.

 

 Have a look at teh cancellation poliy -https://www.airbnb.co.uk/help/article/990/how-do-host-cancellation-penalties-work

 

Ama

 

 

 

Sandi9
Level 1
Cobourg, Canada

EXACTLY what has happned to me--now twice. We are new to this system, so far no so happy. Twice in 3 months this has happened.

I have a family wanting it for a week..in the meantime I have received notice it has been rented...no notifications to me. I am not happy with this. How can this be fixed? 

hi! did you resolve your problem? I'm in the same situation now

same here - they should have a human you can at least talk to and get help. I'm thinking of just taking myself off site, thx Jody

I just had this happen,  brand new to air bnb and expected I would be notified. Instead I woke up to someone trying to break into my house. They were climbing through my downstairs window after removing the screen and using a screw driver to get the glass open. I immediately tried to deactivate my account as there was multiple requests I was never made aware of. The app would not let me until I canceled all requests, each with a fine. I reached out to air bnb and have not received any response. 

Jeff158
Level 10
Caernarfon, United Kingdom

Unfortunatly if you don't want instant bookings you will end up taking your listing off ABB. As a host we have two choices, put up with what ABB wants to implement (Instant booking) or leave, nearly all advertising portals have implemented or are moving over to Instant booking and its probably the hottest topic on a number of forums.

i was able to turn it off but im super nervous it will switch me back to instant listing with out warning me. it just randomly switched from manuel to auto booking like 2 weeks ago and i didnt know what was going on?

Happend with me too, booking and conformation were made without contacting me, without approval or even preapproval,  just a late phone call from someone saying am coming , he had confirmation and paid money to AIRBNB while the place was not available,

The story of instant booking mentioned within the coversation above is unrealistic, even if it happened to be true, I did not know before hand about this instant booking , and I happened to decline two booking offers one week ealier to the (confirmed one) for unavailability , so how come this instant booking choice was switched on ? 

I had this happen too

Sarah977
Level 10
Sayulita, Mexico

@Neil439  You had what happen? You had instant book turned off and it got turned back on again without your knowledge, or you never realized that was the setting on your account? IB is the default setting on all new accounts. You have to change it to Request to Book if you don't want IB bookings.

Debra300
Level 10
Gros Islet, Saint Lucia

@Sarah977,

I wonder if they didn't click the Save button after turning off IB or unintentionally turned it on again while updating the Guest Requirements in the Booking Settings, e.g., checking government ID or host recommendation as guest requirements.

@Debra300  That's for sure a possibility, and more likely with newer hosts who aren't familiar with the ins and outs of their settings,  but I've read posts here from experienced hosts who said it just switched to IB on its own.