has anybody else been prevented from declining a booking request by the button not working?

Carl79
Level 3
Cambridge, United Kingdom

has anybody else been prevented from declining a booking request by the button not working?

I have recently suffered a frustrating couple of days when a booking request (inspired by airbnb setting my rates for next year, without my consent, to a ridiculously low fee per day) proved impossible to decline because the page went black when i pressed the decline button, then a message popped up asking if i was sure i wanted to decline. I pressed on the yes i do button and the page just clammed up. Tried this about ten times and same nothing happened. Next day i got a mail saying the request had expired and i was dissapointing etc. Little help boxes in the corners reminding me of penalties for declining bookings too.  When i checked the search for my listing i was now way down the list, despite being a superhost with five stars. 

After batting back and forth with a 'help' bot i have been told it was a tech glitch and that my listing is at the top. Apparantly , for security reasons, your own listing is not put where its easy to find when using your own IP. Sounds nuts. Requests for my history to be corrected to remove the decline attempt were ignored three times over. The last reply from them was a snotty case closed message.

Any body else suffering the same thing recently?

6 Replies 6
Letti0
Level 10
Atascosa, TX

@Carl79   This glitch has been an on going issue for weeks now. Some hosts not being able to decline on the web via computer have been able to on the phone app. If it happens again call them when it's happening and have them do the decline on their end before the 24 hours is up and you get penalized. 

 

AirBnB United Kingdom +44 203 318 1111 

Sally369
Level 1
England, United Kingdom

Yes! I have the exact same problem. The clock is ticking down telling me that I am a bad host for not responding. Not okay.

Carl79
Level 3
Cambridge, United Kingdom

Sorry to hear that Sally. I didnt think to message the requester with a simple reply in the text box asking them to withdraw their request. The decline button being frozen distracted me and led me away a bit. 

The 'help' person was adamant that there was no plot to thwart a host excercising free will, told me i was 'outside of reality' for suggesting it in fact. Yet the little 'are you sure ?' box has appeared out of nowhere in evident contradiction. I would guess, if was a cynic , that they have been experimenting with the site to experiment with ways to force our rents down to suck up more commissions on bookings and cripple comptetition from other platforms. Of which there are now many. A race to the bottom.

Some geek perhaps forgot to delete a few strands of the experiment and suddenly hosts have lost some more control.

I also cut my calendar short, from a rolling next 12 months version to a next three months version so that only this year was involved. Doesnt make any sense why they refuse to have a simple 2018, 2019, 2020 etc calendar available. And damnright rude for them to fill in my next years prices with their own figures, ie peanuts, without my consent. Without the stupid rates being touted i wont get people trying to request bookings i have to decline , and get hidden from searches as a penalty.  

Good luck out there!

Carl79
Level 3
Cambridge, United Kingdom

Yesterday i had a booking request turn up, two days after it was sent according to the email date. No reminder or time running out emails from airbnb. No email saying the request had timed out either. Just the lone request email. Two days after it was sent. Too late for me to do anything about it and much too late to get their business. 

Another black mark on my record!

 

I already replied to the visitors intend to make the booking and I continue to receive messages that they are 6h only left until the offer expire. Seems to be a malfunction or the address is wrong.

@Monica1038 If it's an Inquiry, simply messaging the guest back, without clicking on pre-approve or decline, is sufficient and you can ignore the warning messages (if you clear your cache, those messages will stop)

If it's a Booking Request, you can't simply message back- you have to either Approve or Decline within 24 hours.