Blocking a Guest

[Dio1782]

Hey guys, i am a new host in this space and i’ve been wondering if we can block guest into coming again to our space?

Recently i have some problem with a guest harassing my cleaning staff and just now i heard the story directly (confirmed by another person).

Since it been done in offline and i have no evidence to back it up, i have been wondering if we can block out this person to come to visit us again in the future?

Thanks in Advance for any leads!

[Helen3]

@Dio1782  https://www.airbnb.co.uk/help/article/2020

[Jason2727]

Useless link! Don't bother clicking. We want to block them from booking not from messaging! 

[Helen3]

How incredibly rude @Jason2727 

[Jason2727]

sorry - don't mean to be rude. I have been sent the link a million times by AirBnb reps and other contributors. I've read it and it's not what this thread is about. This thread is about having a simple function that allows hosts to block unwanted guests. Not a function for reporting a guest or some other unrelated function that could potentially serve that purpose in a convoluted way. Please stay on topic. 

[Helen3]

Dont worry I certainly won't be taking the time to respond to any future posts you may make @Jason2727 

I was responding to another host . Not You! Who wanted to know how to block guests .

the information I linked to shows hosts how to ... block guests.

 

[RoniSue0]

I’ve wanted the same ability to block a former guest!  He was from my local area. I’m not easy to intimidate, but this guy’s interaction with me (a single female living alone on the premises) made me feel very uncomfortable and possibly unsafe. I didn’t have anything concrete to report or anything in writing to give as evidence to AirBnB, and I didn’t want to upset him by accusing him of something I couldn’t prove. (Being local, he could easily return to retaliate). I took a couple of precautions, like having my neighbor-friend’s burly husband come over and make himself visible from the guests’ windows. I don’t know if the guest is dangerous or not, I just know that when he left, I felt relief and never want him back here.

A couple of weeks later, he was sending me an inquiry to book again, and I looked all over the platform for a way to block him. There isn’t one! I replied with excuses for why I couldn’t accept his request, and he finally withdrew it, but if he ever tries to book again, I’ll be calling AirBnB host support to try to get out of it.

There really should be a way to block FORMER guests based on the past experience. I understand there are discrimination laws, but if they were your guest once, your reason seems less likely to be due to discrimination. 

If you call AirBnB, please let us know what they say about the possibility of blocking.

[Kathleen710 · Accepted solution]

Go on the persons picture and report the profile.  You can block them there and you have to give a reason.

[Jason2727]

Reporting the profile IS NOT the same as blocking them from booking. Hosts might want to block a person from booking but not report them. The two are completely different features. Although "reporting" may achieve the blocking function in a convoluted way. 

In RoniSue's case - she might fear reporting this guest in case the guest found out that he's get questioned by whomever and go and seek retribution from RoniSue0 

[Jason2727]

I agree! This is a problem with AirBnb. They don't offer you a way to block unwanted guests which is one of the reasons I want to sign off. 

There should be a simple button with "Block again from booking" with an optional box to provide reason. 

I think AirBnb would find that it's same bunch of people who are blocked by mosts hosts. 

[James2815]

Hear hear!  Jason2727 has exactly the right and simple answer.  Some guests are just disagreeable, unreasonable, high-maintenance, or just plain jerks.  The "I would not host this guest again" checkbox is only available upon review, and it doesn't seem to do anything -- not even filtering your listing out of their search results in the future when they are logged in.  Moreover, you must submit a review of them in order to even access this useless flag.  If I submit a review, they'll naturally assume it's negative, (which it would be if I were honest about it,) and they'll post a retaliatory negative review.  I'd rather just let sleeping dogs lay.

I'm sure AirBnB is paranoid about discrimination lawsuits, but they could require a reason and apply some logic to not allow it when the rationale is legally prohibited.  When grandma blocks someone with a reason of "I'm just not comfortable with the colored," they can simply not apply the block.  AI could even do all the work with free-text rationale, if a simple drop-down list of reasons was deemed insufficient.  Risk-averse lawyers make everything worse.

"Guest is bats**t crazy" ought to be reason enough, but an AI could prompt a host for more specifics until a legally valid rationale is sussed out of them.  They could also apply much more scrutiny to the first block against an individual, but after you get multiples from disparate sources, you *know* that guest is problematic, and lesser standards could be applied to blocking requests.  This is an example of where they could exploit AI to make things truly better, instead of the awful implementations they are currently using.

[Joan2709]

@Jason2727 

But Airbnb doesn't want to make it easy for a Host to block a guest. They only make money if a guest books a stay, even if that means a horrible experience for the Host.

To Block a Guest From Booking:

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/2020

[Jason2727]

I think having this feature would make AirBnb even more revenue in the future; because I think these unwanted guests only comprise a maximum of 2-3% of the total guest population. When Airbnb sees that it's same people getting blocked where-ever they go then Airbnb might just kick them off the platform altogether or do some investigation. Hosts can then spread the word that Airbnb is superior to other platforms and mop off any stragglers still deliberating to use AirBnb or not thus increasing their market share / profits. 

[Joan2709]

@Jason2727 

I don't believe Airbnb looks at it that way. 

I wouldn't expect Airbnb to come up with an easier way to block guests.