Just had a message emailed from Airb that a guest cancelled their reservation as they have got accommodation with friends. below message there was box marked “Reply” So I replied: That’s O.K. Thank you for letting us know your reason for cancellation. I then clicked the send button and a message popped up saying Your message is in violation of our policies and might result in your account being cancelled. Below were options Edit or Send. I x’d the whole thing out as did not want to risk getting cancelled. That response from Airbnb was uncalled for and extremely arrogant as why have a reply button if replies violated their policy?
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It sounds like they are running a very poorly implement bot to scan emails. My guess is that it triggered on the word ‘cancellation’ and decided you were trying to cancel via messages. If so, you could send the messages leaving out that trigger word.
Bots trying and failing to take the place of humans is definitely a trend these days.
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Another attempt of Airbnb trying to control your business
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I don’t understand what @RIGSBY is referring to. “Received an email from Airbnb”- you mean a notification sent to your actual email address? Did Airbnb tell you the reason for the guest’s cancellation, or did the guest message you on the platform saying that?
I have never replied to those notification emails. If I get a notification of a cancellation or guest message, I go to my messaging page in my hosting pages. If the guest has sent a message regarding their cancellation, I will answer it, saying too bad they couldn’t make it, hope they can come some other time.
If the guest has simply cancelled, without any accompanying message, I see no reason to message the guest about it.
A lot of hosts seem to refer to Airbnb messages as “emails”, which they aren’t- an email is something received or sent directly to or from your email address. And when Airbnb sends an actual email advising you of a cancellation or message, that is just a notification. So I find myself confused, not clear on what hosts are referring to.
But as far as the programming of Airbnb’s bots, I would definitely agree it is poor.