Late Pre-approval turns into a no-show...

[Hannah41]

Hi 

Yesterday I had a late booking which sent me a pre-approval.  I message them to say that should be fine and what time did they expect to arrive.  I prepared the room/house etc... and waited for a response. They informed me they would be arriving via train at 8.30pm, therefore I waited and waited and messaged asked when would they be arriving... along with providing my house details and directions best from the station to the house etc. Finally asking Please notify me of arrival and if further details were required.  

I heard NOTHING more.  With this being a pre-approval I also couldn't view the profile to check out if they had any previous reviews, as their account had only just been set up in October 2016.  Are you able to confirm if they were legit or bogus or booked elsewhere?

It's very frustrating to go to the effort of preparing for a pre-approval to be let down at the last minute. Is there any compensation for these types of scenarios? 

Thanks

Hannah.

[Marit-Anne0]

A pre-approval is just that.  You pre-approve an inquiry so that they can easily book at the push of a button.  They did not book, so there is no booking.  Providing details and dircetions before there is a confirmed booking could even put you in trouble and be a security issue. As they did not book, there is also no no-show and consequently no payment,

[Andrea9]

Explanation of the different terms

Must reads for new hosts

[Annette33]

@Hannah41, a "late booking which sent me a preapproval" is confusing: guests don't issue preapprovals, only hosts do. so perhaps Airbnb encouraged you to send them a pre approval and you did just that? In any case, no answer means no booking, so you never got a confirmed booking statement from Airbnb, right?

Sorry you went through all the trouble with preparing the space, I guess you now learned the hard way to only do it when the booking is confirmed. No compensation for you for this one.

[Hannah41]

I appreciate the quick response, thanks.  

...The booking message was sent with only the options of 'pre-approve' or 'decline'. Am I able to revise this options, to be able to approve straight away? Or, ensure that the requests are at least 24hours in advance as per my options?  Thanks!

[Annette33]

@Hannah41 and @David126, so was it a booking request - that one is binding to the guest,  you just click accept or decline, or was it just an inquiry, with perhaps Airbnb suggesting to pre approve ot to decline? Sounds to me like it was the latter.....and sounds to me like David responded to that.

So, If it was just an inquiry, not a booking request, and you pre-approved, the guest has the option to book or not to book. If you don't hear anything, then the guest didn't book with you. you cannot accept an inquiry and make it into a binding booking, you can only pre-approve. 

the term  "request" sure can be very confusing when used for all sorts of scenarios. I guess the term "booking request" clarifies that it is binding to the guest as soon as the host accepts.

[James1]

@Hannah41 if the original message gave you the choices 'pre-approve' or 'decline' then it was just an inquiry. There is no commitment from the guest in an 'inquiry'. You cannot FORCE them make a booking. YOU pre-approve and the guest still has the option to accept or ignore your pre-approval. Guests often shop around and may get multiple 'pre-approvals' before they pick one and confirm (and pay $$$$). You need to spend some time reading all about how things work on airbnb.

[David126]

You will know if it is a booking, often people travelling last minute will send many requests to see who has availability, the way you describe it that is what happened.