Guest making multiple bookings and changes, but never actually staying!

[Patricia55]

The bare facts:

He joined in April 2016 – but has no reviews so it seems he's never actually stayed in an Airbnb.

First enquiry was in early April, I pre-approved, he didn't respond. Second enquiry late April, with a series of 5 booking requests (all Sun-Thurs), which I accepted.

Since then, a series of booking requests, alterations and cancellations, totalling 20.

In between, he asked to come round for a chat. We agreed. He didn't turn up at the arranged time, but a week later he rocked up unannounced. Okaaay... We all met, he's a nice guy (with a rather complicated work/life arrangement, so we were sympathetic and prepared to give him some leeway). He asked if he'd be able to store his bike (we agreed), use the kitchen (we agreed) and leave a couple of bags when he went home for the weekend (we agreed).

A week ago he cancelled 3 of his July reservations because he'd been offered a house-sit by a colleague. (He previously had a house-sit with another colleague.) This left us with a big chunk of July un-booked. I was miffed. Contacted CS and said: given the constant changes, it seems as if this guest is just using us as a contingency, therefore, if he makes any further cancellations, would Airbnb cancel ALL of his future bookings? Needless to say, I was told there'd likely be penalties.

So, we're now in the uncomfortable position of have multiple bookings by this guy (6 stays, totalling 21 days, all different from the Sun-Thur stays he originally mentioned) and feeling that we can't rely on them actually taking place! But neither can we do anything about it!

He has now put in another alteration request – just one extra day on an existing booking – I'm tempted to accept but say, effectively, “we don't want any further bookings until we see how things pan out, and, if you make any further cancellations, we want you to cancel ALL bookings.” Does that seem fair?!

[Noel63]

Just seem as sympathetic as possible, but explain to him how it is affecting your business.

[Kath9]

Hi @Patricia55, 

I think guests often don't think about or realise the impact their actions have on hosts (they should, but they don't). Unfortunately, with a flexible cancellation policy, this is the risk we take - we do it to be flexible and accommodating, but some people will take advantage of this. It could be that he chose your accommodation based on the fact that you do have a flexible cancellation policy! I doubt Airbnb would cancel all his bookings based on the fact that he has cancelled some as, annoying it is for you, he is well within his right to do so. I agree with Noel - politely explain to him the impact the constant alterations and cancellations are having on the business. I don't think you should ask him to cancel his bookings but you're well within your right to not accept any more bookings from him until you have seen what kind of guest he is. Best of luck with it!

[Patricia55]

@Kath9@Noel63  Thanks guys.  I've just drafted yet another carefully-worded response... do feel I have to spend a lot of time being long-winded and diplomatic (when I really feel like letting rip, lol. Fortunately the weather here is currently so blissful that I'm also having great walks with my dog, and totally mellowing... :))

[Noel63]

@Patricia55I think that long winded and diplomatic is a good way to go

[Patricia55]

@Noel63haha, you're probably right, and I do so (but **bleep**, it's hard work sometimes...)

PS I was intrigued by the name of your place and had a nose - it looks and sounds amazing!

[Noel63]

Thanks @Patricia55 that is very kind of you. I do agree with you about diplomacy being hard work sometimes

[Patricia55]

A further thought: We hosts get penalised for cancellations, quite severely. I wonder if there's any penalty at all for guests making cancellations? Do they forfeit Airbnb's admin fee? Is there any cap on the number of cancellations they can make?

[Ange2]

@Patricia55   It depends on the policy you choose, in some cases they do lose their Airbnb fee. You could always change to Strict/mandated with 48 hour grace period 

https://www.airbnb.com/home/cancellation_policies#strict-with-grace-period

this allows the guest to cancel within 48hours of booking with full  refund as long as their resevation is more than 14 days away. If they do cancel outside the parmeters you can decide whether to refund them, it gives you more control.  I have Strict policy purely to deter people like this from tying up my calendar and then canceling at the last minute.

[Letti0]

@Patricia55  Guests are allowed to cancel penalty free 3 times a year on AirBnB and they will get their service fee's back.  

[Patricia55]

@Ange2@Letti0Thanks to both of you for the info, very useful! I have a flexible cancellation policy, for which there are pros and cons.  EG, a recent guest (7-day stay) told me upfront that he booked with me because I had a flexible policy, in case he needed to cancel. As it happened, he didn't 🙂  So, yeah, swings and roundabouts. Tbh, we haven't had a huge percentage of cancellations.  My problem with this guest is that he's never stayed in an Airbnb and I have the feeling that he doesn't particularly want to... he just wants to make sure he has a plan b, in case he can't get something better, ie a house-sit via a colleague. He works for a huge organisation and I wouldn't be surprised if he's sent an email round their intranet...  But, hey-ho, he may actually stay with us, and he may be lovely 😉

[Helen3]

@Patricia55 Why are you letting this guy mess you around? Why do you want to be someone's back up plan and lose business as a result.  I certainly wouldn't have wasted my time by meeting someone who behaved in such a cavalier way. Nor said I would keep his bags over the weekend etc.

In your situation, I would block him so he can't contact you via Airbnb to make any further bookings. I certainly NOT would be accepting new bookings, amendments etc.

And going forward change your cancellation policy to at least moderate.

[Patricia55]

@Helen3 

Hi Helen, unfortunately we don't seem to have any choice – his current bookings (6) can't be cancelled without us incurring penalties and I can't block him because he has bookings with us! We let him come round to meet us and agreed to his various requests before he made the cancellations.

I have now told him that we don't want him to book any more days with us, until we see how things pan out. Should he make another cancellation I'll get back in touch with CS and push for them to cancel the remainder, penalty-free! (One can dream ;))

[Fred13]

@Patricia55 Too many 'requests' and back & forth exchanges ( and actually requiring to meet) are warnings of a very 'High-Maintence' (aka nightmare) guest. This guest is 'great' in one sense - you will never go there again with any guest in the future. 😉

[Patricia55]

@Fred13

Ha! Yeah, hopefully I will learn something, but his predicament was quite out-of-the-ordinary so I doubt it will crop up again. I did break one of my own 'rules' though, letting a completely new guest make lots of bookings at once; normally, on both sides, it makes sense to see how you get on with one stay, before making/accepting further bookings. But, again, I could see his reason for doing so. I did check him out online, and it all ties in with what he was saying.