Guest ignored my cancellation and re-booked!

[Huma0]

Yesterday I cancelled a guest's reservation for the first time, but rather than accept this, the guest has just gone ahead and Instant Booked the room again!

There were numerous reasons why I cancelled, including that the guest only booked for two nights when he and his girlfriend wanted to stay for five. It took a lot of communication before I could get him to tell me how many nights they wanted to stay. By then, the room wasn't available for all five nights anymore, but I offered him another room. He asked for a discount. I said no. He took so long to book that by then, the other room wasn't availabe for all five nights either, so he had to make two reservations, splitting his stay between the two rooms, but then only booked the second room for one person.

On top of that, he is ignoring my check in times, even though I have repeatedly reminded him of them. The conversation went something like ME: "What is your estimated arrival time, bearing in mind my check in is from 3-9pm?" HIM: "6.30." ME: "Do you mean 6.30 in the morning, or in the evening?" HIM: no response. This went round and round until I finally got out of him that it was, as I suspected, 6.30 am. Reminded him again of the 3-9pm check in and he eventually replied, "We will check in at 2pm." Just one example of how difficult it has been to communicate with this guest.

He wanted to communicate via email, no doubt to try to avoid Airbnb fees. There were numerous other issues. Airbnb told me I had every reason to cancel, although it counts as two cancellations because he made two separate bookings.

I messaged the guest and explained very clearly why I had cancelled and why I was uncomfortable hosting him, but rather than asking if I would reconsider, he just went ahead and booked one of the rooms again!

I do not want to host these guests. I think they are going to be a nightmare. If I cancel again, that's the third cancellation (you get three 'no questions asked' cancellations a year and after that have to have the backing of Airbnb CS). Then, he could just keep booking again until someone else manages to get in there and book in the narrow window between me cancelling and him rebooking.

Has anyone else had this problem before? How do I make the guest understand without being rude?

[Huma0]

And, if it depends on the assessment of the individual CS rep, then the unlimited penalty free cancellations aren't assured any more than the Host Guarantee or Deposit payments...

[Marit-Anne0]

@Kelly149

Maybe so - I have only cancelled twice - no questions asked, not including one IB that booked blocked dates in my calendar. airbnb was contacted in each incident.

[Alexandra316]

@Huma0 I had a similar incident when I cancelled a guest because they were clueless,  rude and abusive, but they even took it a step further: after I cancelled and blocked them on Airbnb, they found me on another booking site I used previously and booked me there! Needless to say, they were only booked very, very briefly. I am also no longer on the other site. Just amazing that some people can be so clueless.

[Huma0]

@Alexandra316

That's incredible. Why would you want to stay somewhere where you were clearly unwanted? And by unwanted, I don't mean discriminated against, as I don't think Airbnb's anti discrimination policy is desinged to protect the clueless, rude and abusive!

Actually that reminds me of the recent guest who tried to IB for herself and two kids. I explained that I don't take under 18s, nor do I host more than two people in one room. So, she tried to IB again, but this time for two adults. Why would you think that's okay, when the host has clearly said no? Luckily, she must have had a thumbs down or something, because she still couldn't IB.

[Alexandra316]

@Huma0 I know: it blows my mind. If someone has already cancelled your reservation or told you no, maybe get the hint! Just move on.

The reason I was asking questions of the guest in my situation was because the person was local, but they said they wanted to stay with us for a wedding. They had no profile picture, and their name was only initials. The whole thing just made me super uncomfortable, so I asked more (polite) questions, which they ignored, and when I asked again they got abusive. It was one of my first Airbnb bookings, and at the time, it upset me. Now I'd probably just point and laugh.

[David126]

You would have thought a second such booking was the definition of uncomportable.

Not happened to me, blocking instantly would be my first thought.

[Huma0]

Also, I haven't heard back from CS on this one yet, so will probably give them another call tomorrow.

In the meantime, I have messaged the guest again, explaining again that I am uncomfortable with the booking and asking him to cancel it. Let's see what happens...

[Fred13]

Goodness, these persistent people trying to book in a place they are clearly not wanted come across as 'stalkers'. Not taking a hint? More like they have no shame.

[Alexandra316]

@Fred13 Yes, it's weird and stalkerish. Especially as my Airbnb is nothing to write home about: it's a place to rest your head, full stop. If they were trying to sceme a way to get into your place or @Huma0's place, I can see it, but mine? Why bother? Just get the hint and pick somewhere else!

[Rene-and-Zac0]

@Huma0 Rule number one, no haggling discounts. If there’s any “discount”?

That’s me playing with the rates an not a guest out hagglingme for one. 

I am so quick to cut them off. It never ends. 

‘You know it’s hard out here for a Host’

[Huma0]

@Rene-and-Zac0

I agree. My prices are already very reasonable, I don’t charge a cleaning fee and I already have weekly and monthly discounts. I can’t see any reason to give discounts for short stays just because the guest wants one. The only exception is when it turns out a room isn’t available. Then I will offer a more expensive room to the guest for the price of the cheaper room they initially wanted.

[Huma0]

The guest has sent me a very long message, apologising for making me feel uncomfortable and for the delays in his responses and says he means no harm. He says he and his girlfriend are in love with the house and is asking me to still let them stay.

My initial feeling is to be understanding. Maybe it really is just a language barrier. However, why has he only booked for two nights again? It took forever to make him understand he needed to book the other nights, not just keep sending me vague messages saying they wanted to stay longer. When he finally booked the other room, it was not only for the wrong number of people, but the wrong number of nights, which I didn’t mention in my initial post.

Now he is asking for the extra dates again, rather than just booking them AND five nights has somehow turned into six! Surely they knew already they were coming on the 16th and not 17th? Their flights were already booked.

He has finally acknowledged my check in time, saying they will arrive at 3pm BUT also says they will check out at 12. My check out is until 11am!

Really, I give up... I was more organised about planning a holiday when I was 15. How difficult can it be?!

[Huma0]

So, after another very detailed message to the guest, he finally cancelled. I also blocked him just in case he decides to try to book my place in the future.

I do still feel a bit bad about it, because he was always polite and friendly, but perhaps he will learn something from the experience, e.g. that check in/out times can be important to a host, to read the listing, to provide the information requested and, most of all, to book for the correct number of people/nights! I hope so anyway.

BTW, Airbnb CS never got back to me on this one...

[Fred13]

My reaction before a morning cup of coffee is that he is way too flaky and an idiot.

My reaction after a cup of morning coffee is that he is way too flaky ..hmmm... (and still an idiot).

[Huma0]

@Fred13

Ha, ha. I think I would go through canisters of coffee hosting these guests for six days! I will trust my instincts more going forward. Some guests are a pain in the backside before arrival but turn out to be a breeze once they are here. In most cases though, they continue to be a pain in the backside.

The last time I had similar problems corresponding with guests, they turned out to be a nightmare, damaged my property, were totally disrespectul of me and my rules and then left a horrible review and the worst star ratings I've ever received. My gut instinct had been to not accept their booking. I deeply regretted not listening to it.