Blocking specific guests

Kathy1
Level 2
Aston Clinton, United Kingdom

Blocking specific guests

Help! I've had someone book, then cancel. At all points in the process he has called me and is rather odd (he called me 6 weeks ahead to check I had the booking, again to cancel?)  He's now decided that he wants to come again and I really don't want to accept the booking - he's ringing me daily, asking to book offline and frankly, if he's freaking me out this much by phone I don't want him anywhere near my house. I've currently blocked the next 2 weeks so he can't book but I'd like others to. I don't want to start another conversation by changing from instant book and then declining his booking. 

 

I have never had a guest I felt uncomfortable about before but he is really creeping me out. I am a woman on my own and need to be happy about who stays. Is there a way to block him from booking without just making all my dates unavailable (current solution along with blocking his number from my phone)? 

 

Any suggestions? 

 

Thanks

28 Replies 28

Lizzie, 

While blocking guests who you give 3 or less stars is an improvement, it's still not what I want.  As I mentioned, there are some guests who don't do anything to violate the rules, per se.  

But maybe they're cold and unfriendly.  Maybe they ask for endless favors.  Maybe they just rub me the wrong way. 

Since the didn't do anything against the rules,  I don't want to ding them on their ratings.   Maybe with a different host, who has different expectations, they would get along fine.  

But I don't want them in my house again.  So I'd like to block them without hurting their ratings.  

Chris 

Totally agree with you. Airbnb should consider some tools to help hosts to do this 

 

I had to block a guest this morning and it worked perfectly. She had rented from me, checked out yesterday morning, and has been harassing me ever since. I'm fairly certain that once they have emailed you once through Airbnb and you now have a "link" to them in some capacity, you can block them at any time. The initial button I had to click on within my inbox was "Report". Then I had to select a reason. There are three very specific reasons listed first. One is Spam I think, another is along the lines of a guest trying to pay outside of the Airbnb platform, I can't recall the third but the fourth is simply "something else". I selected that one. It said something like, "Are you sure? Once you block [guest name here], they will no longer be able to send you messages." Voila! Blocked.

Hi Sue,

Thank you so much for your tip on how to block a guest!  I have been searching for the answer for some days and your solution is so simple and so effective. Brilliant!

Kind regards,

Chris

Katherine158
Level 2
Los Angeles, CA

I got an instant booking from a gentleman at 3:30 AM for 4 nights for a stay that would take place two weeks from today.

A few minutes later, he changed it to 3 nights. Although I am very clear in my listing that guests should always inquire prior to booking.  I guess is was my bad for not dismantling the Instant booking feature, which I have since done.

 

The gentleman's intial e-mail adressed me as "Hey Luv."  That and some other stuff that he mentioned creeped me out so I cancelled the reservation in the morning when I saw it.   Airbnb punished me by blocking all 4 nights (not just the 3 that the potential guest  had changed it to).

 

As of the time of this writing, I have was in hold at AirBnB for more than 1 hour  -- I just now finally spoke to a real live human being. That customer service rep said that they could not unblock the dates, but that they would  fill out an expedited ticket that would "kick the issue upstairs," so that someone can call me back and hopefully fix it.  That was this morning. It is almost 2:00PM and I'm still waiting.  We should be able to cancel anyone that makes us feel uncomfortble.  They are not helping the hosts by having unflexable rules. 

Katerina

 

 

 

 

Jennifer692
Level 2
Babson Park, FL

It appears you CAN block someone.....copy/paste from airbnb "help" section

 

How do I report a message or block someone on Airbnb?

To report a message from someone or block any future communication from them:

  1. Go to Messages on airbnb.com and click the conversation with the person you want to block
  2. On the left, click Report under their profile photo
  3. Select the reason you’re reporting this person, then if you also want to block future messages from them, click Next > Yes, block now

If you block someone, they won’t be able to send you messages, send you a reservation request, or accept a reservation request from you.

 

**** I'm not sure if this includes "instant booking" - not likely but it at least does away with the traditional booking

Lori285
Level 2
Houston, TX

Add me to the list as well..

I would like to block a couple of guests that apparently thought they could sneak in a pet as well as one who left a rave written review but then decided that a 'perfect' experience translated to just 3 stars and effectively lowered my rating for no reason..  When I pressed him for an explanation on why he gave me three stars  and what could I do to improve, he said I didn't have a keurig like some 5 star resort hotels.  So I'm just 3 stars...  I never advertised having a keurig, as a matter of fact my 'Mr. Coffee' is shown in photos.  These guests should be educated that they are grading on certain parameters and not whether your place is a 5 star resort..

 

Mark_Kathy1
Level 2
San Diego, CA

Not sure if this is an old post or not, but it's totally possible to "Block Guests"  I've done it several times for much less.  Just go to the "Profile Page" of the guest, and look for "Report" then  pic the worst of the options or reasons they offer for blocking, even if yous isn't listed, it's okay in my book, since Airbnb has failed to allow us the REAL reason, jsut pick the worst they offer!  The option to block then comes up usually, but if not, jsut call AirBnb  and let them know you reported a Guest!  Each time I've done this its was CONFIRMED, by AirBnb phone rep, that the USER  is Blocked, and can no longer see my listing, or message me on AirBnb!

Opps, Just saw, Jenifer addressed this already!  Happy hosting.  Now lets see how we all DEAL with NO Photos Issue.  Seems AirBnb want us to take Incognito Guesst,  Nope, ill need a work aroud on that!

 

Thanks, you're right but does that work with instant booking too?

Siobhan79
Level 2
Alachua, FL

I have had 2 guests recently that really make me want to be able to block a guest.  One contacted me with bizarre questions and I did not reply because he had zero reviews. Then 2 days later he requested to book again using a different Airbnb ID but clearly from the exact same bizarre style of writing and questions, it was 100% the same person. I should have been able to block him.  The next guest booked for 4 nights 3 weeks in advance.  Within 48 hours of her arrival she wanted to cancel.  Of course I was a bit upset, knowing with not much time, I would most likely lose those 4 days, so I told her to please go through Airbnb to cancel, knowing I would at least recoup 1 day.  Next thing she sends an alteration request to book  3 weeks down the road again.  Like a dope I accepted the request and here's the kicker...She CANCELLED the next day! This way she did not lose one days refund money! I did get booked for 2 of the 4 days from her original 4 day booking, but it infuriated me that guests have loopholes and we do not.      

Helen3
Level 10
Bristol, United Kingdom

You can ask Airbnb to block her @Siobhan79 

 I get told "sorry, there is nothing we can do."

Karol22
Level 10
SF, CA

I have once asked Airbnb customer support about how to block specific guests. They told me that in order to block them I can flag one of their messages (in the Airbnb website inbox, not app) and from there it will give me the option to block the user. The second way is to write a bad review of the guest and they won't be able to book your listings again - but obviously that means they need to have stayed in your listing.