Halloween policy problem

[Ellie96]

Has anyone had trouble with potential guests trying to book over the Halloween weekend? I totally understand trying to prevent parties, but I have had a 2-night minimum for a long time and now a guest is trying to book the two nights over the weekend and Airbnb is still telling her that she can’t. The majority of my bookings are from local people right now who just need to get out of the house so I don’t want to lose a booking just because it happens to be Halloween weekend. 

[Colleen253]

@Ellie96  Yes, Airbnb aka 'just a listing platform' steps in all over the place once again, telling hosts what we can and can't do with our calendars and bookings. The problem in your case is no doubt due to the guest being 'local'. There are ways around this one if you are confident in the booking.

[Pat271]

Is the guest under 25?

[Ellie96]

I don't think so. She said she was 40 but I have no way of verifying that since Airbnb doesn't show us that much information about potential guests.

[Ann72]

@Ellie96  Could you have the guest book for four or five nights, then shorten the reservation on your side?

[Ellie96]

Update: I reached out to Airbnb support to try and help, they told me that she had to contact them herself. She came back and said that Airbnb is not allowing any bookings entire home rentals at all that weekend. Is this true??

[Colleen253]

@Ellie96 Airbnb CS reps are outsourced and know nothing. They are banning one night bookings over that weekend in the US and Canada. There is always a general ban on bookings of whole home rentals for certain guests, generally those who are local to you, under 25, and booking short or somewhat short notice. There is an algorithm that detects these bookings and automatically blocks them. Again, there are ways to get around that, but you want to be confident in the booking to do it.

[Ellie96]

I've never had a problem with local guests booking, which is a lot of my bookings in the current travel situation. It's making me a little nervous that Airbnb isn't allowing this booking and I don't have enough information to know why they're not allowing it. 

[Colleen253]

@Ellie96 Again, all the (so called) red flags have to be lined up for the algorithm to catch and prevent certain bookings. Though sometimes the system makes errors as well. They must all be there for this one, but haven’t been for your previous bookings. 

This booking may turn out to be just fine, or it may be a bullet you want to dodge. No perfect way to know. You can just walk away from this guest and politely explain that unfortunately your hands are tied. Then someone else can come along and book the space. 

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Ellie96 if you want to host this guest change your listing to private room and then get the guest to book then switch it back to whole home.

A bit naughty and you do need to be 100% certain that the guest will be OK!

[Laura2592]

We just block our place for Halloween and use it ourselves, so I don't know if it is happening in my area. But I do have a friend in Philadelphia who hosts her apartment and she was able to rent it out for Halloween weekend. Its an entire place. Maybe the guest has a flag of some sort?

[Olivia516]

I just ran into this to this problem- they’re cracking down on parties by amping up their restrictions. The guest that was hoping to book my entire home inquired for 1 guest and 12 guests - both attempts failed. She wanted to stay for two nights. I’m disappointed I won’t be renting out my home that weekend.

Also, there isn’t any refund/credit relief to any bookings that might have occurred. Single night advanced bookings are reimbursed for cancellation. 

“As Halloween approaches, we’ll also deploy more stringent restrictions on two- and three-night reservations that may pose heightened risk for parties.

• We’ll leverage our technology that restricts certain local and last-minute bookings by guests without a history of positive reviews on Airbnb and also block all reservations within an expanded radius. “
  
  https://www.airbnb.com/resources/hosting-homes/a/how-were-helping-to-protect-against-parties-this-ha...

[Dylan-and-Lizette0]

This is complete and utter crap. I have had the same issue, even with people that wanted to book 3-4 nights through the weekend. Airbnb once again pulling money out of the pockets of hosts for BS reasons. On the chat with Airbnb rep right now and this is what they have to say...

 ** 

These types of acts are completely overstepping the boundaries for what they say they are "just a booking platform" What recourse is there?

**[Private conversation with CS removed in line with Community Center Guidelines]

[Helen3]

If you want the booking - And are confident they are not party goers in terms of the vetting you have carried out with these guests - can you not filter it through to another platform you use? @Dylan-and-Lizette0 

[Ellie96]

There’s definitely something fishy going on here. I also had someone try to book during this week, not one of those two days listed, and she was blocked from booking.