I was looking at my airbnb calendar and noticed there were three nights blocked out for next week. I never received notification of the booking. There was a message from the guest saying she was looking forward to the stay but the calendar said Awaiting Guest ID and As soon as Maureen verifies their identity, this reservation will be confirmed. If they aren’t verified within 4 hours, these dates will be opened for other guests. That was at 9 am this morning. It is now 8 hours later and the dates are still blocked but no booking. Has anyone else had this happen?
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This has happened a lot over the years but I don’t recall anyone posting about it recently. It’s frustrating but most of the time it seems that it’s not a serious guest and it doesn’t turn into a booking. Did you contact Airbnb to get your calendar opened back up?
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As soon as you see this, reply to the guests and let them know that you can’t finalize their booking until they fix their ID or upload their ID to Airbnb. Airbnb. Usually they just don’t have any idea of what’s going wrong. They don’t get messages from the Airbnb app or they don’t check their Airbnb email or it went to spam.
I have found this pretty much only happens with newbie guests who don’t bother to join Airbnb and upload all their ID and credit card info before they decide to book something.
Never had it happen with seasoned Airbnb guests- their bookings get confirmed immediately, no “awaiting payment”.
I wish Airbnb would have a requirement that guests upload all their info for verification at least 24 hrs before making a booking, so Airbnb has time to verify the guest info, instead of making it an issue for the host, with a blocked calendar.
James’ advice is good, though. I did have a guest this year (not a newbie) who I got a message from Airbnb about saying they were having an issue collecting her second payment. I messaged her, and she contacted Airbnb and they worked out whatever the issue was. Sometimes it’s just some glitch.
Thank you James and Muddy. I messaged the guest and told her that her reservation was not confirmed until she verified her ID. She never looked at the app and was unaware that her reservation was not confirmed and my calendar was open for the dates she wanted to book. She just booked. All is well. The guests’ information including verification she be confirmed before they block the dates on my calendar. This situation worked out fine but it could have been a bad situation if someone else booked and the guest showed up not understanding that their reservation was never confirmed.
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The non confirmed guest shouldn’t have your address.
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