Pet policy and guest refusing to cancel

[Priyanka44]

Hey folks, 

I feel like I’m on here every few days posting about something new and ridiculous.

So I have a guest that booked for my property from November 28 to December 19. I was very excited for the semi long stay and the business. I have had several issues with guests lately and therefore I sent her the house rules before approving her booking. My exact words to her in the message were these are the house rules do you agree to this do you need time to think about it before I approve your day? She supposedly read the email or the message and agreed to it. 

The third bullet point on that message was no pets allowed unless they are service animals. She messaged me today about two days after her booking was approved and asked me whether it’s OK to have a dog in the house. I said no. I said my booking says no animals and you agreed to a message that says no animals. She’s refusing to cancel the booking because it’s non refundable. Airbnb has advised me not to let her in if she shows up with an animal.

My concern is very simple. I’m not going to monitor her like a child.

What guarantee do I have that she’s not gonna come into my house and then sneak the animal in? I feel uncomfortable even allowing her to come, but she booked a nonrefundable trip and she’s claiming she doesn’t have money to live somewhere else. She said she’s planning to find another accommodation for her dog, but has no money to do so. It would be one thing if she didn’t read the rules and just got approved or did instabook. But I literally sent her a message with the rules and she agreed to no pets.

What would you do in my situation?

[Priyanka44]

I also just wanna point out this individual has a blank black screen as her background/profile photo. If as an Airbnb guest I require a profile image to confirm a booking… A blank black image does not constitute as a profile image. I don’t understand why Airbnb allowed her to even be prequalified for a booking.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Priyanka44 As you have proof that the guest broke one of your rules (a black picture is not a profile photo) and is likely to break the animals rule call Airbnb and ask for a no fault cancellation with full refund for the guest. If you get lucky you will get a sympathetic advisor.

[Katrina79]

@Priyanka44 you said that you had to accept this guest request, therefor she didn’t pre-qualify to book your place. The guest sent you a request and you accepted it. If she had pre-qualified to your instant book she would not have had to send you an inquiry or request to book. 
Instant book has parameters that a host can set, must require photo, must have been recommended by other hosts and one other. If you have all of the parameters set, great! Guests must meet each of the parameters you have selected under instant book. There are many benefits to having instant book turned on, one is the ability to cancel an instant book reservation without penalty. You are allowed 3 cancellations per year, in order to cancel contact Airbnb and tell them why you want to cancel. Ex. guest previous bad reviews, guest has no picture on profile etc. 

If you have instant book turned on and you get a request to book, you can be 99% sure this guest does not meet one of the parameters set in order for guests to instant book. This should trigger you to do some homework and find out what is amiss! 

Now how to deal with this scenario? I would try to get the guest to cancel. Add into your house rules a pet fee charge and also include it in the “what else should guests know” section. Add a very large amount! Guests who bring animals and break the no pets rule will be charged $1000 for additional cleaning. Take screen shots of your rules. 

Airbnb has recommended you wait until the day of checkin and refuse entry if there is a pet…awkward, puts the guest out of a place last minute and keeps your calendar blocked. I don’t like the suggestion. Plus the guest will be able to review you because if you end up terminating the reservation once it has already begun, they can leave a review. No thanks! I’ve been there done that and it’s a scenario ripe for a 1* review. 

Take this reservation into your hands and initiate a very empathetic, clear and firm conversation with your guest. Write a message from an empathetic viewpoint that is guest centric and use the sandwich communication method (google it, practice it and master it) to relate the bad news about your $1000 cleaning policy for pet rule breakers. Attach screen shots of your pet policy extra charge for cleaning in event of rule breakers to your message thread. Hopefully you can plant the seed for the guest to initiate the cancellation on their part! 

[Kelly149]

@Priyanka44 there is absolutely no reason for her to agree to cancel if she will get zero of her money back... it's wrong, but I believe your best bet at this point is to agree to refund her some/all of the rental amount to get her to cancel. This is not a guest you want to host. OR call up ABB and tell them that she intends to break your rules, you'd like her stay to be cancelled and you realize that you will be refunding all of her stay. ABB does not ever believe that you can cancel them and keep their money. Rules or not, they just don't.

AND if she gets within 24 hours of the start of her reservation then she can review you (what will a 1* review do to your stats?) and if she appears at some point with a dog and you throw her out for violating rules then abb will still give her back any nights of her stay that she doesn't use. You are better to forgo the money and get rid of this guest and hope that a better group comes in her place. Waiting is an exercise in frustration, futility and possible damages

[Mark116]

@Priyanka44  Why won't Airbnb do a neutral cancellation in this case, especially if they're telling you to refuse entrance to the guest?  This seems like a needless escalation when they could cancel the reservation and then the guest can rebook, rather than setting things up for an ugly in person scene.

[Christine615]

I think Airbnb is correct. Put a camera on the building and arrange to meet her and hand her the keys or have someone you trust do it. If she shows up with a dog, or is caught on camera with a dog, she can't come in.

Many people have the option to board their dogs. It is possible that she is going to do that. But she needs to have a photo.

That no photo issue or fake photo issue is one of my largest pet peeves re: Airbnb.

[Stephanie365]

Dear Guest,

I do require guests to have an actual profile picture when staying in my home, per my Booking Terms and Conditions. I will also need you to send me a photo of your driver's license.  Please upload these by 6 pm local time today. 

I also must reiterate that you may not, under any circumstances, bring your pet with you. This was discussed with you prior to booking and is clearly mentioned in my house rules. Violations of House Rules are subject to immediate termination of your reservation with no refund due to you.

If you are not comfortable with any of this and wish to cancel, I completely understand. You will need to initiate a cancellation of your reservation by 6 pm today. For any days that I am able to rebook, I will refund you the money for those days.

Thanks for your understanding.

[Lisa723]

@Stephanie365 asking guests to send a photo of their ID before check-in is a violation of Airbnb TOS (unless you are legally obliged to do so for some reason).

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/2799/airbnbs-offplatform-policy

[Priyanka44]

Hey Lisa I actually wasn’t aware of this so thank you for pointing it out. I did ask the guest for a photo. And I actually have it in my rules that they should provide a photo if they expect me to open the door but I also imagine that there’s a way to argue this because this is a shared property that I also live in that I’m renting out. I can’t open the door for a stranger. And that’s what I argued with the Airbnb representative before they actually allowed a cancellation of my booking.

[Stephanie365]

I don't ask for the ID off-platform; I ask through the messaging program and it is in my House Rules that guests must provide me with an ID.

I ask because I don't trust AirBNB and because I'm letting a random stranger into my house. I want to know that the person booking is the same person who is staying. 

If ABB doesn't like it, they can pound sand. 🙂

And in this case, the person does not have a Selfie posted. So send me a photo of your ID.

[Laura2592]

@Priyanka44 I don't understand why you don't tell this guest you will refund her $ if she cancels as a courtesy.  It will cost less than a 1 star review.  Turn off your nonrefundable policy. It forces bad guests into a corner and you had better believe they would rather stay and break rules than lose their $. 

[Annie1372]

Hi @Laura2592 

i believe that if she Turns off her nonrefundable policy, the new setting will only apply to future booking, not past ones.

In the same way as when you change your pricing, it affects new reservations not the ones already booked.

[Laura2592]

@Annie1372hosts always have the option to refund. Though I understand it won't be automatic in this case, it can be done.

Non-refundable policies often put hosts in a bad situation. I understand how annoying it is to have last minute cancellations. But I would sooner give money back and send a poor fit guest packing than dig in my heels and put up with a bad stay.

[John2406]

@Laura2592 You are right in saying that Hosts' always have the option to refund, but they still have that option with non-refundable policies in place.

Surely it is the circumstances that dictate whether a Host  requests CS to refund a Guest in full? I have certainly taken that line in the past, and CS have accepted such