Is this normal? I received a message from Airbnb support saying they are looking to book a potential guest because “her original reservation will be canceled due to an unexpected travel issue with her Host in the listing they originally booked. I also wanted to make sure that your listing can accommodate 5 Guests.”.
Forgive me if this is standard, but I’ve never been messaged from Airbnb.
Can someone confirm this behavior? Thank you
I have been rarely messaged by Airbnb, though not to make a reservation – though it makes sense that they might do this.
I had read here of others that were messaged by Airbnb and I thought it a trick of some kind but @muddy pointed it out that it can happen.
1 Like
Ha! Ha! Ha!
That’s code for “The original host cancelled them (or refused to modify the terms of the original reservation) when they realized…” and the sentence could be completed “the guest had tried to expand the size of the group after booking a smaller number” or “the guest discovered one of the group had become a chain smoker” or any one of a number of reasons that gave the original host a legitimate reason to cancel, and Airbnb is scrambling to keep the guest from deserting to VRBO or one of the other competitors, so Airbnb is canvassing nearby hosts as a substitute for the original.
Judging by the specificity of the question about “five guests,” I’m guessing the item that got their reservation cancelled was an attempt to pack the original property with too many people.
9 Likes
Thank you for your reply!
1 Like
Ah, I felt like it could be code for something, but I just didn’t know what it could be. Literally over here dreaming up what it could be. I appreciate your reply and a little reality check to go with it. I will tread lightly.
1 Like
It could also be that the host cancelled because he/she received a warning violation from the township. That happened to me in June, I failed inspection because my fire extinguisher was not mounted and was not within 10 feet of the range. I had to cancel all my June reservations since I didn’t know how long the process would take to get re-inspected. So it might be a cancellation because the host truly can’t host them.
4 Likes
There are plenty of terrible hosts who misrepresent what they offer or who try to cram guests in. I had a friend who booked an Airbnb in Paris and lost the key to the rental. The host claimed to not have a spare key and Airbnb rehomed them into a very nice hotel, only because no Airbnb same day was available.
@Spark, assuming that Airbnb would do this because it’s a terrible guest is puzzling to me. Is this how people operate, assuming the worst of guests? On what basis? Stories here? We have good reason to assume that 95% of all Airbnb stays are problem free. Why do host here who also have 95% problem free stays assume the worst.
3 Likes
You don’t know whether the issue was with the guest or the host. But it is a bit odd that AirBnB would ask to be sure you can accommodate five guests - I presume your maximum occupancy is clear in your listing.
So treat this as any other booking. The guest needs to read your listing, agree to your house rules, and book in their name.
3 Likes
Rebooking I think would be related to some failure of the property; here is excerpt from Airbnb’s Rebooking and Refund Policy:
If the guest decides to vacate the accommodations because of the Travel Issue and contacts us we will offer assistance with finding comparable or better accommodations for the remaining nights of the stay.
What Travel Issues are covered
The term “Travel Issue” refers to these situations:
- Host cancels the reservation prior to check-in.
- Host fails to provide access to the accommodations.
- Host fails to disclose in the Listing that the Host, another person, or a pet will be present during the stay.
- Accommodations are not habitable at check-in for any of the following reasons:
- They are not reasonably clean and sanitary, including bedding and towels.
- They contain safety or health hazards.
- They contain pests.
- Listing contains a material inaccuracy such as:
- Incorrect home type (e.g. entire home, private room or shared room).
- Incorrect type or number of rooms (e.g. bedrooms, bathrooms and kitchens).
- Incorrect location of the accommodation.
- Special amenity or feature described in the Listing is not present or does not function (e.g. pool, hot tub, bathroom - toilet, shower or bathtub, kitchen - sink, stove, refrigerator or other major appliance, electrical, heating or air conditioning systems).
4 Likes
Yes, my listing clearly says up to 6 guests. Thanks for the feedback
Wow. That’s interesting. I hate that you had to go through that. Thanks for the reply.
1 Like
Thank you for this info!
It was truly my fault, I should have known where to put the extinguisher. I felt badly for the guests, especially for the ones with short notice. Luckily, the guests were very understanding and Airbnb was helpful.
1 Like
I accept same day bookings so I get this message quite often. As soon as I get the message I jack up my rates to something close to the nearest hotel.
Most likely a host had some violation and their listing got suspended or the host canceled.
My guess is they contact hosts with good reviews and with no history of cancellations.
1 Like
I’m curious how the township came to know the extinguisher wasn’t in the proper location. We don’t have any experience with that.
Really?
Are your senses damaged?
Even though verbs take adverbs to modify them, in the phrase ‘I feel bad’ the verb ‘feel’ is said to be a linking verb to the subject – ‘I’ – which takes the adjective, bad.
Newcomers to the forum: This is just one of many tidbits that you’ll read here!
1 Like
I see you’ve used the joking or crazy emoji. Still you might be interested in this:
2 Likes
Thank you for this.
I’m a pretty agreeable person so I didn’t think any less of @Ritz3 for the ‘grammo,’ I just felt bad about the sense impairment. [Either that or there was some groping going on!]
[I strike again!]
2 Likes
Normal for me. (Well, about once a year normal).
My favourite was when they asked me if I could accommodate an emergengy guest that very night.
Although I had blocked the following day for mainenance, I agreed but said that the apartment wouldn’t be ready until 7pm. (The messaage was at about 5pm).
The guest had arrived in this city and found that the place she had booked just wasn’t ready. Airbnb diverted her to another place that was substandard. So she ended up with me, just for the one night.
She was a lovely guest.
However Airbnb told me after I’d agreed to host her that she was travelling with four dogs.
That was fine, they were lovely too. 
2 Likes
You’re right! LOL I have adverbs in my head since I created a ppt for Spanish adverbs to use with the students. Even when translated to Spanish, an adverb would NOT be used: Me sentí mal. Sorry for the grammar error.
2 Likes