Unapproved guest

[Dawn9]

Hello! wondering if anyone has had this issue or can explain. I received a reservation request. went to approve it and the site said the dates weren't available. Odd. I looked at the calendar and the dates were blocked but no guest profile is attached. Checked my messages and nothing in my email or Dashboard concerning a reservation for those dates. called Airbnb. The 1st rep said the dates were pending verification of a guest. The guest has 24 hours to complete verification. Which guest? I explained that I do not have insta book as an option. And guest must be verified before booking. So who is this person and why can't I see their profile and why is my calendar blocked because of their inquiry? I spoke to 4 representatives. one hung up (Dominic) saying I was trying to tell him how to do his job when I asked him to explain to me Airbnb process. and finally Jacob was polite and said he understood my question but did not have an answer. They all said that I would have to wait until this random person contacted me in order to ask them to release the booking. Or wait 24 hours and it would automatically release. still don't understand how anyone can book / block dates that I haven't approved. And worse its preventing me from accepting the reservation that I want to accept.
Any insight from the community?

[Jeet0]

Hi @Dawn9,

That's very unfortunate the Airbnb Support Center couldn't help you even though you spoke to 4 reps, but yay, you have the Community Center 😄

1) What you've explained is strange and ideally shouldn't have happened, since you don't have Instant Booking On. And yes, bookings/blockings should only take place on your approval.

2) I think the explanation you received about a guest pending verification etc is false and probably there is a bug that has blocked the dates.

3) W.r.t your current inquiry, please explain the guest that there's some bug due to which the calendar has frozen and that you'll get in touch with them within 24 hours to update them. Hopefully in 24 hours, your dates should be realesed.

Try using twitter to contact Airbnb, they are fast to respond and hopeful this time you should receive some sensible and positive reply.

Good luck 🙂

Jeet

[Marit-Anne0 · Accepted solution]

A "pending verification" booking request (not instant book and not inquiry) will block the calendar while the verification procedure takes place.  I do not think it is a bug, but it is very unfortunate if the booking for some reason does not go through.  I had the same issue 8 months ago and if it were a bug, it should have been corrected by now.  Several reports on the forum on the same issue.  In the end I had to contact airbnb to have the request removed so the guests could start again after they were verified. It took me a full day on the computer and on the phone for a mere three day booking.  

This was the one with a happy ending.  Since then I have seen cancelled bookings on my reservation list - these I think have been expired bookings from those who had not managed to do the verification within the given time frame or simply given up on the procedure.

[Dawn9]

Thank you!

That's more than any of the reps explained. And still it seems unfair to the host and other guests.  If you want to accept a reservation from a known (verified) guest, but you can't because you're waiting on a pending reservation that you're not aware of and haven't even accepted?  I couldn't even see the person's profile. There was nothing in my inbox notifying me of the inquiry.

Hosts have to respond to inquiries within 24hours. So because this unknown guest is in limbo, you're in limbo too. In order to keep the response rate, you have  no option but to decline the known guest and wait for the other unknown guest to release the inquiry. Doesn't seem right.  None of the reps offered to cancel the reservation.  However, one of them sent an email asking the guest to cancel the reservation.  

[Stephanie6]

Hi @Dawn9, airbnb wants to add new users (potential guests) which is why they block the host calendar during the verification process.  I don't think anyone at airbnb will tell you that, but it makes sense from airbnb's point-of-view.  As a host, I think the potential guest should complete verification before being allowed to send a request (inquiries are fine before/during verification).

[Dawn9]

Thank! You were right. They responded promptly via twitter. I'll definitely try that method again in the future.