Is it OK to reach out to a non-responding guest on FB

[Susan1188]

My guest arriving next week is not answering airbnb messages and gave an invalid phone number.

I need to reach her to clarify Covid travel rules, get ID's, plan her check in.

I found her on FB, is it ok to reach out thru facebook messenger?  Is that weird or invasive?

I also contacted client support, extremely disappointing - got a series of bots and even an answer to somebody else's question with personal info of somebody else's guest.

What would you do?

[Susan1188]

@Robbie54 if you ever use airbnb as a guest you will see the huge amount of emails and messages you get, many people just send the airbnb notifications to spam and turn off text notifications and don't install the app on their phone;

[Robbie54]

@Susan1188  I've used Airbnb many times as a guest, I cannot recall any "huge amount" of emails etc.

How do these "many people" expect to receive any important messages from hosts if they turn off their notifications? Its asking for trouble and doesn't helps hosts who are trying to run a business, more so during the pandemic. 

[J-Renato0]

About invalid phone number -  @Sarah977  @Emiel1   @Susan1188 

As far as I know Airbnb check the phone number by sending an SMS message with a code to confirm the phone number. I have never had a guest with fake phone number.

The problem with some phone numbers is... maybe, when you called the guest he/she was on the way.

There are cases of guests that are travelling throughout some others countries (e.g US, Brazil, South America) and their local phone account  (in the country they are from) does not cover calls from foreign countries.

The company that provides sevice to the phone number of the guest may not cover some areas or even other countries.

So, the host may think the phone is fake.  (It may return... You called an invalid phone number).

That is why I go for whatsapp. I have guest from Europe, UK, US and many countries from Sout America. Most of them use regularly whatsapp.

[Susan1188]

---

@J-Renato0 wrote:

About invalid phone number -  @Sarah977  @Emiel1   @Susan1188 

As far as I know Airbnb check the phone number by sending an SMS message with a code to confirm the phone number. I have never had a guest with fake phone number.

So, the host may think the phone is fake.  (It may return... You called an invalid phone number).

That is why I go for whatsapp. I have guest from Europe, UK, US and many countries from Sout America. Most of them use regularly whatsapp.

---

@J-Renato0 

Thanks for trying to help out!

In this case over a period of 10 days, when I called the phone number given on her profile I got a recorded telephone company message saying "this number does not exist".

I was reaching out to make sure she wasn't going to cancel her 10 day high season trip because the current guests wanted to extend their stay.

I of course tried by Whatsapp, my guests all come from different countries obviously that is what I use.

The number was unknown on Whatsapp, when that happens, you can see it: WhatsApp proposes to send a text invitation to the person.

I tried by Skype call, by normal phone, by normal text, by facetime call, whatsapp call and whatsapp text.

The number was disconnected, not just out of reach or not responding.

Perhaps it worked years ago when she made her profile and she changed numbers.

I have had over 150 guests and a small number of phone problems, usually it's older guests who give a land line instead of a mobile.

Finally, 3 days before arriving for her 10 day Christmas and New Years high season booking she did reach out and contact me... to tell me she was not coming.

[Nash-Cottages-LLC0]

@Susan1188

We're going with the crowd on this one - keep your contact through the Airbnb messaging app. This person made a reservation, so they used a computer or the app at some point. Sure they have to log back into Airbnb's website, but we imagine they would log back in at some point before their arrival.

If this happened to us and we had called them, we would use the message app and state that we attempted to call but received this message: "X" and type whatever we heard. For example, if the recording says this number has been disconnected, we would type that. If we did need to involve Airbnb customer service, the agent would see the text string from us that we attempted to contact the guest. If the CS got the same message, they could note that in their internal system. 

We will say that just because a guest does not reach back out to you does not mean they will be a bad guest; they are just bad at communicating in that moment or moments. 

Good luck, and let us all know how this turns out. 

[Susan1188]

I was reaching out to make sure she wasn't going to cancel her 10 day high season stay, because my current guests wanted to extend their stay.

Since she wasn't answering on the platform and the phone was invalid, I told my current guests they had to leave.

Now today this guest finally did get in touch with me through the app, claiming phone was down due to travel (surprising because it is still disconnected when you call).

And she informed me 3 days before arrival she was not coming.

[Stephanie365]

1. I do not provide any check in information until I've received answers to all of my important questions. I let guests know at the time of booking that they will receive check in information the afternoon they are scheduled to arrive. This way, I have leverage to ask questions and expect answers or they don't get the code. (I don't tell them this; but I do it this way for this very reason)

2. I have had both scenarios (non-communicative and no cell service).  I had my incredibly persnickety guest list her home phone number as her mobile number so I wasn't able to contact her (and then she marked me down for communication!) And I've had people who were in areas with no cell service who did not respond promptly to communication. 

To address both scenarios, when I don't receive response from a guest, I send a simple, non-threatening message:

"Hi Guest, Just following up as I've not heard back from you. Please get back to me when you have a moment. Once I hear back from you I will be able to complete your reservation request." I don't elaborate on what completing their request entails. In this case, it means giving them the information they need to check in.  If they're being jerks who just don't want to communicate, it forces their hand. And if they are simply out of cell range, it's nothing more than a friendly follow up and you don't come across as confrontational.

And I absolutely keep it on the app. Or if I reach out directly on their phone, I reference it on the app.
"I will be sending a text to your phone shortly regarding xxxx". This way it's still documented on the AirBNB app.

[Susan1188]

@Stephanie365  great advice - I do all that too and yes it works

in this case my current guests wanted to stay longer so I was reaching out not to get check in info, but to double check she was not going to bail on my last minute for high season new years dates

so since I couldn't get in touch, I had no choice but to tell current guest to leave and now non-responding guest is asking to change her reservation because she can't come claiming a sudden medical situation.

[Anonymous]

@Susan1188 in this case, your normal cancelation policy will apply. You're under no obligation to grant a date change - probably a bullet dodged if you get out of this booking.