Bitten by Instant Book - sharing

1

Background:
1BR 1BA 650 sq ft condo. Max occupancy 2.
Guest instant books for 2 then tells me they plan to have 4 adults staying.

I’ve sent an offer to book/move the reservation for a discounted rate to my 2BR 2BA condo in the same neighborhood. If he doesn’t accept I will have to cancel/decline the reservation he should not have made to begin with.

Competition is intense in my area so I started allowing Instant Book for guests with prior positive reviews. Thus far I haven’t had any problems so I’m conflicted on whether or not to continue with it.

2

I think you did the right thing. I have a 3 bd 2 bath and am building a 600 s ft guesthouse on the property and thats how I would handle it, move them to the bigger one. Or if I am feeling pissy just let them show up and refuse to let them in.
Just tell them no the place sleeps 2 if they show up with more deny entry.

RR

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3

Since it’s IB, can’t you cancel without penalty a certain number of times per year?

You could give the reason that they are planning to break the rules.
(Exceeding max. Occupancy)

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4

Valid point—Airbnb help website says this could be cancelled because guest indicates he will break a house rule of max number
of guests. If he doesn’t accept my alteration request to move to the larger condo in the next 24 hours, I will cancel

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5

Ask – What Part of 1 Bed, 2 People Did You Not Understand? Then cancel them. People that stupid, entitled or clueless don’t deserve a second chance.

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I recommend to call Airbnb if they don’t accept the request. Ask them if they can help and explain the concept of max occupancy to the guest and so on. That you offered them a discountd rate etc. Make it clear if they can’t get a result, to cancel it.

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I have instant book and required that all guests staying have to send me govt. photo id. This cuts back on the riffraff and catches things like over-occupancy. I accept a lot of first time guests and I use this as an opportunity to educate them (in a nice way). I truly believe that most of the time, guests don’t understand how Airbnb works and how each location has different rules. I live below the guests and have cameras so I keep an eagle eye on my guests behavior and my house rules is now up to 19 rules.

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8

Agreed. Plus this cancellation should not count against you at all since they clearly stated they plan on breaking your house rule. But call and explain.

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Update: the guest messaged me that the 2 br unit was too expensive and would not meet their needs. My response—I was disappointed but I was sure they would find another rental.

I asked Airbnb to cancel both the original reservation and the special offer. They agreed and stated that I had tried to meet the guest needs and the guest clearly stated they wanted to exceed my maximum occupancy so it was a cancellation without penalty. Airbnb contacted the guest.

Guest promptly responded they decided to accept the alteration request to move to the 2 br condo.

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At this point I would not want to host them, they have already shown they have no respect for your rules. Hopefully it goes well I am curious to see how the booking goes, please update after the stay and subsequent review.

RR

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I have a moderate cancellation policy. I’m hoping the guest finds cheaper accommodations and cancels soon.

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