Airbnb refusing to let me cancel a booking!

[David6]

Hosted for several years. Over 600+ Airbnb reviews. But across all the various platforms I list on, hosted over 2000 guests.  Been super-host, lost it & got it back. Made no difference  to bottom line profit. 

I have had 3  of my apartments trashed . All involved the police. So I feel I really do know when I see obvious ‘red flags’. 

We mostly host amazing Asian & oversees guests. We seem to have good reviews which are prominent when they book from their country.  Or business people. 

I know the signs of the ‘party types’

* From UK. Even worse if they are from London

* Have vague or no reviews

* book for 1 or 2 nights

* always give some bulls£it reason why they are in london. 

Anyway -  received instant book tonight. The profile photos  is the guest  sticking her tongue out in ‘rude girl’ style . She instantly demanded 5 hrs early check in and late checkout from our listed 11am  until 2pm. She also called me 3 times. Another huge red flag. 

I don’t  want to host her...  I  phoned Airbnb as this guest is making me uncomfortable with her demands, and I know she’ll party and wreck my flat. She one of the snowflake generation who feels rules don’t apply to them. No thanks 

But Airbnb refuse the request to cancel - all because this guest has different skin colour to me! My boyfriend is a black guy. This is nothing to do with race or discrimination! It’s to do with ‘party types,’ and my gut instinct that is telling me this guest will be trouble. She has no reviews and I have several hundred from an all huge global mix of nations! 

So now my case is being ‘investigated’ and they will reach a decision tomorrow. 

And yes, I could turn off IB, but out of 2000 bookings I’ve only had 3 major issues! All the lovely newbies with no reviews. They have all been great!

I’ve spent the past 2 weeks migrating my listings to other platforms, and already I’m getting bookings at higher rates. Airbnb I’m so over the monster you’ve become . 

[Helen350]

@David6 Poor you! I think it's perfectly reasonably to turn down this girl based on her inappropriate, uncivil photo, and stated intent to break you house rules re arrival/departure! I do hope ABB support you.

- I myself turned guests away for the first time ever a couple of weeks ago... Thankfully they had not availed themselves of IB, but had submitted an initial inquiry " hey hope u okay hun just wanna ask u something me  and my girlfriend have got plan to come down there on this weekend, so what do u recommend is this place suitable for us bcs we want to see some natural beauty and wanna visit to beach as well Reply me pls when u gt time thnx"

- I'm a 58 year old graduate; I don't do "hun"... nor text speak!

(Tho I DO find young people make the best guests. Especially the sort who prior to ABB would have stayed in Youth Hostels.)

- A couple of hours after declining the booking, I got a charming, educated, young  Romanian couple instead. - Result!  

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@David6 

if you feel uncomfortable with the reservation you can cancel up to 3x a year by yourself but your cancelation will be reviewed. It may take a day. Or you can call Airbnb, explain the reason for cancelation and CS will cancel it.

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/2022/how-do-penaltyfree-cancellations-work-for-instant-book-host...

[Ange2]

@David6  Good luck!    @Branka-and-Silvia0    True, that is what the policy says but in reality it doesn't always work that way. Seems that Airbnb are making it much harder to cancel IB and not honoring their own policy.   I had a nightmare trying to cancel someone ( it was my first IB cancellation).  It took more than two days, five CS representatives, hours of wasted time, threatening and inappropriate responses from various CS.  Airbnb told me first time guests could book with no verifications even if ID was checked as a must have, then that I couldn't cancel unless they talked to the guests first!  The guest had not replied to any messages I had sent, their phone number was a dead end and turns out that Airbnb couldn't contact them either. Never-the-less  I was still told I would be penalized, fined,  the dates blocked and on and on.  Each CS blamed the one before for giving out false information before it was  finally cancelled.

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Ange2

It's unbelievable how Airbnb support is breaking its own policy and rules. I always wonder is it because they are instructed to force pro-guest policy or because they were guests sometimes but never been hosts so they just don't understand it.

It's like a tenants-landlords relationship. Tenants always feel the rent is too high even when it barely covers the cost of maintenance and renovation. They just don't get.

[Laura1355]

i am learning this through personal experience today and have decided I am done hosting. I am sick of their lousy treatment of hosts and the lack of basic safety like actually confirming that guests can be reached on the platform or through the number they provide. I am not doing this any more. Its not worth $30 a night and all the hassle of having stranger in my home.

[David6]

I’ve cancelled about 20 already this year. Airbnb can take their ‘3’ and stuff it where the sun ain’t shining.i will never host someone who sets the alarms ringing. I’ve been a landlord and hosting for 25 yrs. I know when trouble is looming. And I’ll never host the partying types. I can be deactivated, whatever I REFUSE to let Airbnb push me around to this degree 

[Nina75]

Im not worried about being a superhost, Ive cancelled many many people. Especially people who book 3 people for a 7 bedroom house with 14 beds.

[Lan1]

@David6 Why don’t you just switch to normal booking, not instant booking? You can decline reservation request. I had many local bookings, exactly like what you said, party, drugs, smoking, drinking, trashed the house... I am very cautious with local booking now.

[Rich-and-Yan0]

Yes, I'm thinking the same thing. I know that they recommend Instant Book, and I can see why they would: it's a better financial deal for them. But almost all of the problems that I've been hearing from people like @David6 and others like him have been from hosts who have IB turned on.

For the record, we do, too, because as I said, it was "highly recommended" when we were first setting up--but we're starting to reconsider it. I've mentioned already in these hosting discussion forums how guests who did not have the requirements which we had put forth as prerequisites for booking, such as government ID and recommendations from previous Airbnb hosts, were still able to send us booking requests, and we were forced to turn them down. One group was indeed from the UK, David, and they hinted largely how they "wanted to have a good time in the Algarve" in their email. Of course we declined them, but we were amazed to have been put in this position.

So yes, I guess the real question is whether IB is the real culprit here. 

[Yadira22]

Hi @David6 

i am so sorry to hear this. 

It sucks- as a provider of the service itself and the owner of the physical flat you should have the final word and if you feel uncomfortable especially for such a valid issue, this should be taken wholeheartedly into consideration. 

I love the fact that you are not just taking it- and are defending your stance. Good luck to you! 

Yadira 🙂 

ps. When you get a chance any feedback on the other sites would be greatly appreciated! Either way- thank you 🙏🏻 

[Kath9]

@David6, stick to your guns! I'm so over Airbnb holding hosts hostage like this and then doing NOTHING to cover us if something goes wrong. They seemingly refuse to observe their own policies! I also get quite a few IBs but with the rise in the entitled generation, I'm thinking more and more of switching it off - different situation for me though as I am on onsite host. Maybe you should go ahead and cancel or maybe appeal to the guest to cancel so you don't pay the penalty. Just out of curiosity, what sites are you using as an alternative? Maybe a mass walkout will do it.

[David6]

I’m actually listing with booking.com. Much higher rate as they take 15% but if you factor it in it’s ok. I’ve installed cameras externally to monitor who is entering and my neighbours are great of notifying me of any issue. One has hi-tech cctv and she reports back everything, haha 

[Nina75]

Beware of Booking.com they let guests cancel anytime for any reason. many guests will block multiple listings and never show up. I got off that site quick.

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Nina75 

yes, this is the downside of BC, I got off that site for the same reason.... and for the fact that you can't cancel, you have to find and pay the alternative accomodation to your guests if you can't host them.