Soooo... Where are we on being able to block guests?

[Alexandra316]

I just got a booking request, which I turned down. I do accept instant bookings, but they have to be recommended by another host: unfortunately,  I believe the guest in question was recommended by his first host. Luckily, he tried to book for today, which means he had to send a booking request.  I chose the reason for declining option that I wasn't comfortable with the guest, because they had signed up recently (in 2019) but already had a string of bad reviews. I never want to get a request or a booking from this guy again. Can we block guests again now, or does declining because I'm not comfortable block them? If we can block again, how? I couldn't figure out a way. Any suggestions are welcome. 

If I do get an Instant Booking from him, I'm going to call Airbnb and get them to cancel, but it would be nice to avoid it all together. 

[Emiel1]

@Alexandra316,

I don't know if the "blocking" feature still works, but you could give it a try:

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/2020/how-do-i-report-a-message-or-block-someone-on-airbnb

Best regards,

Emiel

[Alexandra316]

@Emiel1I was kind of on the fence about trying that, because I'm not sure I can report him in good concience. I don't want to host him, but his messages were polite and respectful. I don't really want to say that he was spamming or scamming me or was offensive, and the something else options are definitely not applicable. 

[Ange2]

@Alexandra316  

If you give him less than 3 stars he won't be able to book with you again.  But, the downside is he won't be able to IB any listing (hearsay, not sure if that is a fact). 

There is no honest way that Airbnb have come up to block a guest.

I have had guests who I do not want to host again but I am sure they would be fine in a non-sharing environment,  it was their lack of awareness that they were sharing that was the problem so I didn't want to penalize them by giving them 3 stars and denying IB to them across the board  (still not sure if that is the case, but it has been said to be on this forum).

[Alexandra316]

@Ange2This person is never going to get to the review stage with me: if he requests a booking in future, I'm going to decline, and any instant bookings will be cancelled. I was just really hoping to block him from trying in future, because his reviews from other hosts are very poor. 

[Kelly149]

@Alexandra0I think there is nothing wrong with working with the tools that abb has given you. 

Youre offended that he has bad reviews & still the ability to IB. So I’d choose offensive and get the blocking taken care of. 

it seems fairly obvious that blocking & reporting guests doesn’t necessarily ever get acted upon by abb so I’d protect myself & not worry about it. 

[Alexandra316]

@Kelly149You're probably right. I tried it and it didn't give me the opportunity to block him, unfortunately, so I guess we're still stuck with not being able to block unitl after they've stayed with us. 

[Ange2]

@Alexandra316   Another problem is that a guest can delete their profile and start anew, and you won't know it's the same person because Airbnb does not allow you to see their faces or legal names until you have accepted them.  Airbnb excels at Catch-22.

[Alexandra316]

@Ange2I considered that also. I'm surprised he hasn't done it already, TBH, because I can't imagine many hosts accepting him... the reviews are really bad. Extra guests, a party, damage, place left a mess, etc. Definitely a worrying possibility. I'll be watching for red flags extra diligiently for a while. 

[Ann3]

@Ange0,  A recent guest who Instant Booked with me had one former host who had not recommended him. I don't know how he got through IB, but he did. One host had downgraded him on following house rules (although the written reviews were all okay). He was a bit of a challenge, but I was upfront with him when he arrived, asking him if he understood our property's rules and telling him (nicely) that an earlier host had an issue. As far as I was concerned, his stay went okay, and I was able to give him a good review. 

Edited to add: I didn't want to use up one of my IB cancellations. His messages were polite and pleasant. I figured I could talk to him in person and head off any potential for trouble, and it worked out okay. Sometimes we have to trust our gut feeling, as it sounds like @Alexandra316 has done above.

[Ange2]

@Ann3   I have accepted guests with bad reviews (even when it is the only review they have). And some of them were IB with less than 3 stars.  It depends on what the review says, plus I live here so I have more oversight.  I read the reviews that the hosts in question had given the guests and they were all equally as scathing - so, pinch of salt!  They all turned out well,  in fact the guests were great.  But, " a string of bad reviews" - I would be leery like @Alexandra316

[Alexandra316]

@Ange2Yeah, if it were one or maybe two (depending on circumstances), I might do some more digging and be forgiving, but when there are a string of them and they're almost all negative, I think the writing is on the wall. 

[Ann3]

@Alexandra316, @Ange2, Exactly. I live on-site, as well. After meeting the guest,  I could definitely see how this guy might have been challenging, but after our conversation, it went fine. Multiple reviews with similar issues is a big red flag. 

I had a host reach out to me not that long ago about a guest who had requested to book with her and had stayed with me a couple of years ago: "you probably don't remember this guy, but. . ." Remember him? One of the worst guest I ever hosted. And I had I posted my (pretty bad) review before I found out that he had left a nasty mess on my next door neighbor's front porch (!). The other host wanted to know what happened before she accepted his stay. 

[Wendy117]

@Alexandra316@Ange2 Interestingly I just experienced the first guest trying to re-book by auto-booking today and I had given them three stars in 2017.  So it did not accept the booking but put it in as a tentative booking in red with an accept or decline button for me.  So yes it works.  I am also happy with the Airbnb approach as this person is a local for a religious group who books for overseas members of her group for local events.  So the first group were disrespectful of my home but I have been able to communicate and request details of this new group before deciding. She has been booking other properties for others of her group with no problem.

[Alon1]

@Wendy117 

The booking you describe seems to be a 3rd Party Booking. 

If that's the case, are you aware that 3rd Party bookings are not strictly permitted?

They are tenchnically not permitted at all from apersonal account. 

There is the Business account which is effectively a 3rd party booking.

If a Host knowlngly accepts a 3rd Party booking from a personal account, then Airbnb will still process the booking, but not accept liability in the event of any problem occuring.

If a 3rd Party booking is undertaken without disclosure prior to booking, the Host has the right to Cancel the booking at any time, notably even when the 3rd party arrives.

Lastly, if you chose to accept a 3rd Party booking, it's advisable to inform the booker of the Airbnb rule, and request the booker acknowledge the rule, and 'accept liability in any eventuality'.