Profile photo that doesn't show face

[Toby145]

A guest with no feedback and a profile photo of a dog has booked to stay with me.

Airbnb state in multiple locations on the website and in the app that if a host isn't comfortable without a photo that shows their face I may cancel, penalty free.

When I contacted the Superhost support team they firstly refused to cancel the booking, and then relented saying they could cancel it but it wouldn't be penalty free and they'd strip me of my Superhost status for 12 months.

Has anybody else encountered this problem where the support team make up the rules as they go along? How did you escalate your complaint?

[Gwen386]

Hi, Have you cancelled before in the last 12 months? If yes, how many times?

[Toby145]

Hi Gwen, I've never cancelled a single booking in seven years of hosting

[Gwen386]

Hi Toby

This is really unfortunate then that Airbnb is not empathetic to your concerns. Another question—was this an IB? I’m asking because unless it was IB, you would have seen guest had no reviews. And even for an IB, I thought host had at least 3 times a year to cancel w/o penalty. Hopefully a super host will come along shortly and add some perspective to your dilemma. 

[M199]

@Toby145 

If you accepted a request to book and it was not Instabook, all penalties apply. And the 3 declines are for Instabook only, not for "request to book" that are accepted.

Learned that the hard way last year.

[Toby145]

Eventually, after sending them screenshots of their own website where it confirms hosts can cancel penalty free if a guest's profile photo isn't a photo of themselves, they relented. They have now cancelled the booking penalty free.

Sounds like I'm not the only one who's had problems with penalties being applied where they shouldn't be.

My experience of Airbnb support as a host is definitely not a good one. It's equally poor as a traveller 😞

[Helen3]

Why don't you ask the guest to upload a photo of herself and tell you more about why she chose your place and plans for her stay @Toby145 

[Toby145]

I ask all my guests if they can tell me a bit about themselves, what brings them to the area, and their likely arrival time when they book with me. If the booking had been made further in advance I could have tried rephrasing it as you suggest and encouraging them to change their photo and give less evasive responses to my questions, but there were only a couple of days between booking and checking in.

My issue here was that various things about the booking combined to make me uncomfortable, including the lack of profile photo - which Airbnb state gives cause for penalty free cancellation. However, when I asked for their support their initial reaction was to refuse and basically threaten me with consequences at odds to their policy to try and bully me into going ahead with a reservation that made me uncomfortable.

[Helen3]

Just call them again and quote the terms on IB that says you can cancel penalty free if you're uncomfortable with the guest @Toby145 

Sadly a lot of CS don't have a good knowledge of how Airbnb works.