I'm curious whether I was too harsh in this decline.....

[Mark116]

Stupidly, last night when I got a message about Aug 24/25 are popular dates, do you want to unblock them, I did.  

I got a request from XX [could not tell what gender this person was and their profile was blank] at 6pm yesterday.  They wanted to arrive between 6 & 7 am???? So that would have been apprx. 12 hours from the request time.  The only thing on their profile was that they were from Louisiana.  There is almost nowhere, certainly not LA, that you would drive from to arrive at my house by 7am unless you had been up all night, so huge red flag.

I tell them they can't check in until 2pm, they say okay.  I then send my standard please read house rules/location details, etc. etc.

Next message is 'Do you have parking?'  This tells me that they have not read anything in the listing at all, so strike two.  I send back another message with the details on parking and then decide, that my Spidey sense is telling me to decline because I'm picturing a totally irresponsible group that may have been up all night and will have read and known nothing about the listing at all.  I declined them.

Was this too harsh?  

[Brian2036]

@Mark116 

No.

You might suggest that they go to Motel 6. They always “leave the light on for ya.”

[Mark116]

@Brian2036  Ha.  I just could not imagine where they would be coming from, in a car, that would make a 6am arrival time anything but crazy.  Even if they were doing some kind of East Coast tour of top spots.. Boston, Philly, Newport, etc.  they would still have been leaving in the middle of the night to get here so early.  Very strange.  

[Sarah977]

@Mark116  So they expected you to start cleaning at dinner time and into the night so they could check in at dawn? And didn't bother to read the listing info re check-in time or parking or probably anything else? 

It's never for certain, they might have been okay guests, but more likely you dodged a bullet.

[Mark116]

@Sarah977  Yeah, I felt a slight twinge of guilt because they were no review/new users and maybe totally unsophisticated about Airbnb, but still.  It only takes an extra 30 seconds to say 'I'm traveling with ZXX, coming to NYC for XYZ, or some kind of detail. 

I felt like I gave them a chance to save things with the second message, where a better response and I would probably have accepted them.  But when they seemingly didn't read that message, at all, or the listing, at all,  I said, eh, the possible downside is not worth 2 nights fees.

[Sarah977]

@Mark116  As far as where they might be coming from to arrive at that hour, I can think of a few possibilities. Some people do drive at night on a road trip, or perhaps they couldn't find a place to stay, and slept in their vehicle. Or they got booted out of wherever they were staying.

[Mike-And-Helen0]

Better too harsh than the long regret of bad guests!

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

No, I would do the same

[Michelle53]

@Mark116  Early in my hosting days, I allowed same-day reservations. I had quite a few people on road trips messaging, wanting to arrive in 3 -4 hours.  It didn't take long for me to realize I'd never be able to turn things over that fast, and keep my other work schedule, so I went to a minimum 2-day advance notice.  Also, I have a minimum of one day on each side of a reservation blocked for turnover and cleaning. 

Occasionally, I'm still caught a bit by surprise when someone wants to book some days that have been languishing open for a while, between two weekend reservations.  But at least I always have 24 hours to prep, and more time to communicate. 

[Colleen253]

@Mark116 “Stupidly, last night when I got a message about Aug 24/25 are popular dates, do you want to unblock them, I did.”

You were staring into the Airbnb gazing ball a tad too long. Sounds like we almost lost you there for a minute. Be careful, please. Lol.

[Helen427]

@Mark116  perhaps a little harsh, have you stopped to think of all those people who work shift work/ graveyard shifts , including in Hospitals, Police Force, Fire Brigade etc who would likely be awake and travel through the night?

Just a thought for next time.

It's when situations like this happen that one must ask more questions.

On that note from across the oceans it's time to go shut eyes in New Zealand!

All the best

[Emilia42]

This is 100% a decline based on communication alone. Had the stay been for dates further in the future, I would have considered working with them given that more time would have been available to further a conversation. But when the clock is ticking, I expect guests to make more of an effort.  

[Mark116]

@Emilia42  Yes, the fact they ignored the long second message regarding reading the rules and acknowledging them, and instead came back w/a question on parking that showed they still hadn't read the listing or even the previous message was the proverbial last straw.  As soon as I declined them I reblocked the dates, which is too bad, because we were willing to accommodate someone arriving the next day if only they had been more rational and communicative.

[Mark116]

FYI the end of the story is that the guest got/gave a good review at the place they choose after we declined.  So, I guess I will chalk this up to how paranoid Airbnb has made me in terms of being on my own to deal with any problems....if I felt anyone actually had my back I would probably have taken this reservation.  Still wigged about driving from anywhere and arriving at 6am, but maybe that's my own prejudice as an afternoon person.  

[Emilia42]

@Mark116 I also think that this is where Aibnb's no-profile-photo-until-the-reservation-is-confirmed policy hurts guests. Had you seen a photo of a smiling human you probably would have felt at ease. But a grey silhouette only adds to the anxiety of a last-minute reservation.