Harassment after declining a reservation

[Mary31]

I know Airbnb says I can decline reservations.  But, recently, I feel more and more harassed when I do. 

I want people to have a picture of their face on their profile and a few reviews. I may make an exception, but it is rare.  Recently I have inundated with repeat inquiries by the same person and their friends.  I try to politely tell them my requirements, but they don't take "no thank you" for an answer. 

Does anyone have any suggestions? This is my home and I have to be careful of who I allow. 

How do you handle declines?

[Mary31]

Yikes, I will look for that, but I have not yet experienced them blocking my room when i decline and I decline all the time because I don't like to rent to first time airbnb'rs. Last time was two days ago.

I have no trouble blocking and unblocking form the phone app. The only thing that I dont like about unblocking and blocking from my phone app (iphone) is that I cannot comment, but I go to the main site later to put comments in.

[Carol74]

I had a similar situation.  

After I declined the request, he came back with another request.  He did this six times so  I now have six declines in a very short period of time.  How will this effect my ratings?

The situation was this...he had a very bad review, saying he misled the host by saying he was visiting family.  He then had a party  with underage people and the cops had to be called.    One side of my brain said No.  The other side said lets see.  I asked for the names and ages of the other three people.  Sure enough they were 17, 18, and an adult.  That's when I declined.  

He kept coming back begging until I finally gave him the reason of the bad review and that my answer was final.

He requested two more times which I declined.  By the way, he said he was visiting family as in the bad review.

Then in the same day, I got a request for the same time period saying visiting family from a name that was the same name as one of his guests.  Six requests in all.  Six declines.  All in a day or two.

Im not sure if I should share the names here.  If you want to know, I will.

[Jason1345]

No Offence, but I'm new to Airbnb - When I say "new", I mean like 12 hours "new", and I don't plan to use this "service" going forward. It is more worth it to pay for something private, without having to deal with people coming home from work. I've just accepted a job offer in a different city and have to travel there. I wrote to a woman named "Susan", from Cavan Ontario, and all I received was "inquiry declined". I was polite, and explained my situation to her or him? and then complimented the photos as it seemed similar to my own house and rural property - Nothing! She/he could not be bothered to take the time to reply. Also, if discriminating against potential guests is based on their photos/no pictures, I think that an intelligent person would see that renting from Airbnb is like a Grade 7 popularity contest. I'm not into pretentious people, and I'm also not looking to make friends here. I simply want to work, smile, and leave at the end of the week! Not everyone is seeking accommodations to play scrabble and take part in their clique. Normal checks and safety deposits should suffice, if not - you should not be in this market. Many of us are not looking forward to leaving our homes to live in a stranger's place, and leaving our things there during the day when going to work, knowing you have access to our personal items and documents. I think that if you are going to "decline", you should be polite and explain. If they then have a "problem" and they send unkind messages/calls, then you would be in the right to feel that way. Airbnb is a waste of time! Plus, I cannot find any administration phone numbers for Airbnb. That speaks volumes. Its shady, there are people who are not renting in safe conditions, and we have no way of running a background check either. 

[Sandra856]

Hi @Jason1345

If you need to contact Airbnb there is a thread called "contact Airbnb" pinned in the top in the help section in this community. 

Link : https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Help/Contact-Airbnb-A-Community-Help-Guide-UPDATED/m-p/413245#M5...

Also you will find a link in the inquiry you sent to the host. It's a help link called help and you will be able to contact airbnb CS. They usually reply within 12-24 hours.

Best, Sandra /host

[Emilia42]

@Jason1345 I 100% agree with you and I think many hosts on this forum would too. 

Some future advice if you choose to try out Airbnb again. 

Filter your search for 'Superhosts.' These hosts are required to maintain a high response rate. 

And then click the 'contact host' button on a few listing that you think would be a good fit for you. Introduce yourself and the reason for your visit and tell the host you are thinking about booking. Many great hosts will respond to you and start a conversation. You could also try to choose a listing that has 'instant book' enabled. This means that your booking is automatically confirmed. If you choose this route make sure that the listing has plenty of good reviews. 

[Sarah977]

@Jason1345 I agree that it's rude for a host not to even bother answering your message. But as far as thinking you shouldn't have to post a clear profile photo of yourself, consider this- if you are booking a home-share, the host just wants to feel that the guest is being open and friendly and posting a photo of yourself indicates that. It has nothing to do with a popularity contest- I couldn't care less if a guest is fat or thin, beautiful or not, or what color their skin is or what their nationality is. But I do care that I see a photo of the person who expects to stay in my home. You say you have to trust leaving your stuff in someone else's home- hosts also have to trust guests with the host's stuff. It's a two way street, and we are opening our doors to complete strangers, without the protection of a security staff like hotels have.  If you went to book my listing, you'd see a profile photo of me, you'd have pages of reviews to read, you'd be able to see photos of my home and read all about it. Should I not expect openness from my guests as well?

You are new, so have no reviews for a host to go on, have no photo of yourself and haven't even bothered to fill out the profile section, where you can tell prospective hosts a little about yourself, yet expect to just be accepted into their homes- a complete faceless stranger they know zero about. If you uploaded a photo and wrote up some nice profile info, I'm sure you'd be much more likely to have a reservation accepted.

[Jason1345]

Hello! Thank you all for taking the time to send these replies! I really appreciate this! It’s always frustrating to be a “newbie” on a website and this just gives me a lot of hope! - ok posting a picture is understandable; although may be not always necessary, it gives the host a general impression of who we are. I have a house, and houses are our everything! Renting it out or a portion out can be intimidating without knowing much. As I can empathize with homeowners, I also feel like the tables are turned. But the information provided by you, such as filtering results for a “superhost” is an excellent idea- regardless of their decision, they are expected to keep responses kind. 

I’ll make a few adjustments to my profile And take your advice. If only more people like all of you would provide insights like these! 

Many thanks for taking the time!