Decline booking after acceptance based on recent reviews unknown at the time of booking

[Paul---Amy0]

Even with IB activated, we still review guests profiles to ensure they do not have bad reviews and that they leave reviews for other hosts (if this is not their first stay). 

We also re-review the guest profile a few days prior to arrival to see if anything has changed.

We recently had a guest with 3 excellent reviews at the time the reservation is confirmed, but between this moment and their arrival date, they received 2 really bad reviews. 

We wanted to cancel their reservation based on this new information. 

However, when we contacted Airbnb support and explained our concerns, we learned from Airbnb support that if we cancelled based on these recent bad reviews that were NOT KNOWN when reservation was confirmed that we will incur penalties from Airbnb and possible loss of SuperHost status! 

What can be done to change the option for hosts to cancel AFTER a reservation is confirmed based on reviews from other hosts not known at the time of booking?  

[Elena4354]

Hello @Paul---Amy0 , 

If a Host uses Instant Book, they may be able to cancel the reservation for additional valid reasons without penalties under certain circumstances. Some examples include:

• The guest makes it clear they are likely to break one of the Host’s house rules, such as bringing a pet or smoking
• The guest has several unfavourable reviews or a lack of profile information that concerns the Host (this is the reason why the reservation can be cancelled without penalties in your case).

Hosts will be able to cancel Instant Book reservations online for these reasons in most cases, but sometimes they may have to Airbnb support to cancel without consequences.

I have personally used this option and cancelled  IB several times without any problems.

Kind regards. 

Elena.

[Paul---Amy0]

True, but you cannot cancel months after the IB was made based on the guest's profile/reviews or risk the wrath of Airbnb

[Paul---Amy0]

Remember that these bad reviews did not occur until many months AFTER we confirmed the reservation. 

One of the recent bad reviews posted to the guest profile after the reservation was confirmed indicated that the guest broke a house rule that 99.9% of hosts have. 

So, maybe I could have pressed the issue more strongly with Airbnb that based on the guests reviews, that the guest is likely to break our house rules. 

Good idea! 

[Joan2709]

Hi @Paul---Amy0 

Tough situation....depends on whether you want to alert the guest that you are on to them or not? Not sure Airbnb will allow you to cancel if the guest has not indicated in some of their messages that they intend to break one of your House Rules. 

You could message them as suggested and say something like "we have noticed several negative reviews recently on your profile? Could you shed some light on that?"

If the negative reviews were from a group trip (they were not the primary booker) this can happen. You do run the risk of getting a negative review for their stay with you if you message them about this though if you can't get Airbnb to cancel. You could also just send a seemingly routine message with something like:

"We are looking forward to your upcoming stay! Please respond back to us and let us know you have read through our House Rules and if you are able to agree to them, or have any questions. Please let us know if any guests staying have special requirements or allergies. if you have any other questions about your upcoming stay, please reach out to us. We're happy to help!"

[Paul---Amy0]

thank you for your comments

Airbnb will allow us to cancel but we will incur financial penalties from Aribnb and possible loss of Superhost and Guest Favorite Status.

We thought about asking the guest about the recent negative reviews, but did not want to create an adversarial situation.

We did alert the cleaners and our co-host to be on high alert for these guests. 

Luckily, the guest did not do anything bad at our place during their stay. 

[Paul---Amy0]

thank you for your comments.

We do have 2 of our Scheduled Messages ask the guest to re-review the house rules/manuals and to notify us if they have any questions, comments, or concerns. 

So far, 99% of our guests have been very good. 

We thought about asking the guest about the recent negative reviews, but did not want to create an adversarial situation.

We did alert the cleaners and our co-host to be on high alert for these guests. 

Luckily, the guest did not do anything bad at our place during their stay. 

[Greystone0]

HI @Paul---Amy0 ,

Interesting conundrum presented here! I am unaware of any formal pathway to remove a guest for this aspect. It seems you would be stuck with a cancelation initiated on your end, which is something to be avoided, obviously.

Here's some thoughts:

- for the bad reviews, can you determine what the issue was? If it is for something where the guest violated house rules or AIRBNB rules and you worry it will happen at your listing then that may be grounds for AIRBNB to get involved. 

- if you can't determine the reason for the lower review, have you reached out to the host that posted it to ask for some details?  I have done this once with a guest with a 4 star review and didn't have any problem with keeping the reservation after feedback from this host.

- alternatively, you could have a frank conversation with the guest. "Hey Guest, would you mind adding some background into your experience at blah, blah where the host gave you a "insert rating here"? We just want to make sure this is a good experience for both sides?

- if  the issue for the low rating was something like, they parked in the wrong spot, didn't follow check out instructions, were on the messy side, you could just make sure that your messaging is really clear for whatever issue. If it is a case in this scenario, for our listing at least, I wouldn't be too worried, I would just chalk it as par for the course and alert my team if needed.

Good luck with this guest!

[Paul---Amy0]

The lesson here is that AFTER you accept a reservation, if the profile of the guest now has bad reviews from hosts AFTER the reservation was confirmed, that is NOT a valid reason to cancel the reservation. 

Example:

Jan 1 - you accept a reservation and guest has 3 great reviews

April 1 - guest arrives on April 7 and you recheck their profile

April 1 - guest has 2 really bad recent reviews from Feb and March that were not available at the time of reservation

These 2 really bad reviews would convince any reasonable host to NOT accept a reservation from this guest. 

Host CANNOT cancel the reservation based on these recent bad reviews, unless the host will accept all the Airbnb penalties associated with a host initiated cancelled reservation. 

Maybe we can add verbiage to our house rules or other things to note stating: 

"If there are bad/negative reviews posted to guest profile after reservation is accepted, guest acknowledges that the host reserves the right to cancel with no refund provided to guest"

Would this be acceptable to Airbnb?

Thoughts? 

[Frances3408]

@Paul---Amy0. Airbnb have lots of very unfair rules imo. The question is, do you value your property more with the financial penalty possibly imposed by Airbnb than the damage caused by a bad guest. How long is the stay? Can you replace the booking (alternate platform?).

You dont mention why they were so bad but have you investigated the safety aspect? Perhaps you now feel unsafe hosting this guest in light of their "really bad" recent reviews?