Please Don't Say Your Room is Available When It's Not

[Patricia4133]

Please don't say that your room or apartment is available on a date when you're out of town or not able to get a cleaning person in for a week. 

This happened to me with a booking. It said it was available but when I tried to book it and wait until the next morning for a response, the host informed me that he declined the booking because he's out of town and his cleaning person is off for the week.

If that's the case, then block out those days so that no one is stuck in a position of having to check out of another B n B with nowhere to go.

[Helen744]

@Patricia4133 Patricia , a booking does not exist until it is accepted from the host or it is a booking on Instant book , but if the booking is confirmed then the host must pay a cancellation fee if they cannot acommodate you and you will receive a refund, but this is not all automatic , so send the host a message as soon as possible and maybe give yourself a little time to communicate with your host , as these are not hotel bookings and late night bookings are probably not seen until the next day. ..the advantage of course, is that real people are generally there at the end of your message to answer inquiries and even to suggest somewhere to stay nearby if the cannot go ahead with the hosting... H

[Patricia4133]

I didn't do a late night booking. If a place isn't available for a week it shouldn't come up in places available. The host needs to block out those days.

[Kia272]

@Patricia4133  You are complaining without a full understanding of why this might happen. Yes, the host knew he would be out of town. He likely knew that his cleaner was not available that week either. But suppose that you had wanted a different length of stay? Suppose your stay started while the host was in town and extended for several weeks? Suppose you declined cleaning during your stay, or it was possible to work around the cleaner's absence? It's so easy to judge, but you didn't think about why this might happen. It's the host's right to run his business how he sees fit, and leaving his calendar open to reservations that might work in this situation is his prerogative. Jeez. 

[Patricia4133]

Sadly, Kia, this left me in a lurch and I have had to contact Air B n B hosts on the same day I need a room because I didn't find out this place wasn't available until the next morning.

Yes, I could have contacted all the rooms/hosts that said they had a room available today but most of the rooms are out of my budget so this left me with two choices at the most.  I also have to consider transportation and the distance of where I am now to where the location is because I have to pay for a taxi.

There are many considerations travelers/guests have to make too.

I'm also in a city that is completely unfamiliar to me so I'm doing the best that I can and trying to find another place to go so I can check out on time with the current location.

BTW, I'm not judging or blaming. I'm just mentioning the frustration that this has caused me. And yes, I know a host can decline bookings.

[Kia272]

@Patricia4133 With your financial and other restrictions, perhaps a lead time of more than 24 hours might be prudent with regard to any bookings you might want to make. That may reduce your frustration in the future. 

[Patricia4133]

I thought I was going to be staying with a non-Airbnb person who had offered me a room earlier during the week. I wasn't planning on booking Airbnb but when I hadn't yet confirmed the non-Airbnb room, I looked on the Air BnB site as a last option.

I prefer not to book Air BnB.

[Helen3]

Hello @Patricia4133 

I think the lesson for you here is if you need accommodation  urgently then don't wait to hear back overnight from a host that has request to book.  @Patricia4133 

(hosts often have to check with cleaners first to see if they are available where you are making last minute bookings )

book with a hotel or a host that uses instant book or where you can get confirmation straight away

not one where you have to wait to hear back from a host to confirm that it's available

[Patricia4133]

I don't think there is any lesson for me. If I type in dates and it says the room is available then I expect that it is available. 

I realize that a host can decline a guest for whatever reason but it would be nice if they could do it quickly rather than to wait until the next morning.

There was correspondence prior to me trying to reserve the room and at that point, the host could have said, I'm sorry but that room is not available tomorrow. Then I wouldn't have been left hanging until the morning when I had to check out of another room.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Kia272 Technically the host could have marked dates when the is out of town with a 'no check in or out' ruleset and that would help folks like @Patricia4133 . I don't agree that it is the hosts prerogative to run his business as he sees fit. If he gives Airbnb a bad reputation when he could have taken other actions then he damages all hosts on the platform.

[Kia272]

@Mike-And-Jane0 Yes, you're correct. The host could have done several things that would make this more tolerable for guests. I'm not sure if all hosts can figure out something like rule sets.

Regardless, I was offering some food for thought, as this OP seemed to be condemning, rather than considering that there's more to the situation than meets the eye. 

[Emilia42]

@Patricia4133 I agree with you 100%. Hosts should know how to manage their booking settings. If the room was not available (for your specific timeframe) it should not have appeared in the search results. This is a huge waste of a guest's time. If this happened to me more than once, I wouldn't use Airbnb (as a guest) which hurts all hosts. I wish they did a better job of teaching hosts the importance of managing their calendars. 

[Patricia4133]

Thank you for understanding.

I was able to find a different host to book with, thankfully, but this problem caused me high stress.