Please do away with REQUESTS to BOOK.

[Michelle-and-Ray0]

Why, oh why, does Airbnb allow guests to hold dates without having a valid payment?

It's completely unfair to hosts. No other platform does this.

I was forced to call AirBnB this morning and waste more than half an hour of my valuable time to get this sorted.

Newbie guest did not respond once they finished what they thought was a completed booking.

It wasn't, because the payment was not valid, and in the meantime, I'm left with my dates tied up, preventing someone who actually meets the requirements and has a *valid* payment from booking, and I'm also left facing penalties for not accepting a Request to Book.

It's not right, and it's infuriating to have to deal with this in this way.
No other platform does this.
If the payment isn't valid, the booking is simply not made, which is how it should be on AirBnB, too.

They should do away with requests and just go with inquiries, instead of trying to force hosts to accept bookings from guests that don't meet the requirements to book or isn't a good fit.
Had I accepted this Request, I likely would have been out the full amount, since the payment did not go through, and the reservation was for a check in today.
I was never sent the initial Request to Book email, which usually lists why a Request was made, instead of an instant book (except in the case of invalid payment, which lists no reason for why a Request instead of an IB was made), so unless I called in, I would have had no idea that the payment didn't go through.

We have requirements for a reason, and AirBnB shouldn't be trying to force us to waive them.

[Michelle-and-Ray0]

"The only practical mitigant here seems to be not to take very short notice bookings through Airbnb."
And the problem is that, especially now, most of our bookings are last minute.
Nobody wants to commit to a reservation they may not be able to use, due to the rapidly changing pandemic restrictions.
Like I said in another comment.
They need to scrap their whole system and start with a fresh new one, created by *real* coders who possess a shred of logic and actually know what they're doing (and thoroughly test it *before* release to the public), not their high school buddies who took a few computer classes and then realized after the fact that they need to scramble to learn new stuff in order to keep up.

[Cave0]

@Michelle-and-Ray0 

Hate to add fuel to your fire Michelle, but i had one last year where the accepted reservation request went into limbo with no information being given on my dashboard.  I called Airbnb and was told that the guest had not provided ID.  I messaged the guest, the assured me they'd responded to Airbnb's request.  I called Airbnb again, 48 hours I was told, that's how long it'll take.  It made me fell like a right idiot trying to explain this to the guest.  In the end she agreed to cancel and re-booked through VRBO, not problems.

There have been many, many bookings where payment problems have prevented the reservation being completed and I agree wholeheartedly that we should not be held to ransom, I don't have a consumer credit licence and therefore am not allowed to offer the guest 24 hours credit in which to pay for their booking!

As far as I am concerned, not pay, no stay, but this is Airbnb and Airbnb clearly wants to maximise its revenue and it doesn't do that by preventing a guest from booking because of no cash.

[Michelle-and-Ray0]

It's definitely a sad state of affairs on the AirBnB front.
I have none of the issues on BDC or VRBO.
If the guest doesn't pay, or the payment fails or doesn't meet the requirements to book, they simply don't get the booking.
Holding my place for 24 hours by a guest who will *never* be permitted to stay at my place because they don't meet my requirements is completely counterproductive.
So too is holding a unit without a viable payment when that payment has failed.
I fail to understand why AirBnB would prevent *actual* *viable * bookings from guests who *DO* meet my requirements and can pay without issue.
No other booking platform does this.

[Chris24484]

We just added a new (upgraded) listing after 5 years (previously 4.95 Superhost from 109 in 1.5 years).
And we've had nothing but requests to book from inexperienced guests, who have blank profiles.

Approved 2, and they both tried to cancel after checking in ("we didn't know it was just a room").
And expected refunds!

Sorry, Instant Book setting for only experienced....refer to Enquiry otherwise!

Time waste.