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I have a guest arriving on Monday and whenever I try to access the message thread I get the following message:
“XX is temporarily unavailable until they complete our account verification process. This is a standard procedure that helps us maintain a positive experience within the Airbnb community.”
It’s been like this for two days now. I’m wondering how the hell he was able to book in the first place if he hasn’t completed account verification?!
It’s pretty annoying as I need to know what time he’s arriving and send him directions.
I know you’re all going to say ‘call Airbnb’ and I will if it isn’t fixed by tomorrow. But I’d be interested to hear if anyone else has experienced this?
Sorry Mags, I’ve only had a request to book pending verification but not a booking. I’ve had bookings with the payment method pending. Pretty odd that he booked and was not verified. Keep us posted!
I have has this happen - twice, and airbnb cancelled their reservation one time. In my case I think they violated something and airbnb froze them. I think something like… they uploaded a drivers license that doesn’t match the name on the account, and airbnb catches them, or they used a stolen creditcard.
I did have their direct email (since I request it). For one of them, I contact them & they got it resolved. For the other one, they never responded to my emails.
I am going to go out on a limb and say your guest has already charged back his credit card. If this is the case, there is no reservation, and you certainly wouldn’t be paid for it.
Many thanks for the responses. I’ll wait it out until tomorrow and see what happens. I’m still wondering why they allowed someone to book when there’s a problem with verifying the account. Surely that’s back to front??
I’ve had cases before with payment issues from guests but I’ve never been unable to access their profile or message thread.
Update: I called Air and they’ve cancelled the reservation. They couldn’t give me details about the issue over his account, understandably, but apparently if the guest can sort out the issue in time he can re-book with me.
So… I don’t know, it’s all very unsatisfactory really. From memory this was a first-time user and will no doubt think to hell with it, I’m going to book a hotel and never ever use Airbnb again. And I’m out on the ££ because I won’t get a last-minute booking - it’s not the season for it.
On the other hand, maybe there really is a trust & safety issue and I’ve been saved. Plus they were a middle-aged French couple on holiday so the review would have been crap
And another update: received a text from the cancelled guests informing me of their arrival time tomorrow. Sigh. Shoot me but I’m just going to take cash off them. Need the money and don’t need the hassle of dealing with Airbnb.
They’re just a couple on holiday who probably screwed up entering their credit card details or something. What’s the worst that could happen? I’m on-site with plenty of back-up if necessary. It’ll be fine. And no review, yay!
As long as you tell the guests they had better have cash payment on hand because their cc didn’t clear, I say go for it. (Just don’t give my right name.)
And a further update: they arrived and are a really nice couple. They paid immediately. They hardly speak any English so the whole conversation was in French and I may have missed some details. But essentially, I understood that they have been on a touring holiday and stayed at two Airbnbs with no problem. Then they tried to amend a booking and everything went wrong. Air contacted them and said there was a problem with their payment method and, according to them, asked for their “personal secret code” to their bank account. They were unwilling to give this information. They waited two days for Air to find a French-speaker to contact them. By the time this happened, all their subsequent bookings had already been cancelled. They spent hours at a tourist office in a very remote place trying to find alternative accommodation. They were not informed that their booking with me was cancelled. They’re very grateful to have a place to stay for the final two nights of their holiday.
I don’t know what to make of it. It seems to be a case of mis-communication and misunderstanding on both sides. However, I do think it’s extreme to just cancel all of a guest’s bookings during their holiday over a banking issue. One thing I do know for sure - they said they will NEVER use Airbnb again.
Well, to me it seems that maybe they weren’t supposed to use Airbnb in the first place. I know that in older generation it it quite common not to speak English or any other foreign language, but if this is so, I’m not sure I would dare to use a platform like Airbnb, at least not on my own. My parents are similar in this respect (although my dad does speak English and Italian, and can get by with basic German), so I usually book a place for them as I’m better accustomed to using platforms such as Airbnb and Booking. I had non-English speaking couples several times and every single time it turned out that they made some sort of mistake in the booking process. Once they thought that my village is a part of a larger city that is about 5 km away, because they didn’t know how to use the map on Airbnb search. Sometimes they thought it was a hotel, or they even thought they had to pay upon arrival, not realizing that the money was already withdrawn from their card. It all turned out well, but I saw a huge potential for miscommunication. If there were any troubles, I’m not sure how they would’ve solved it.
Actually they are pretty savvy travellers and clearly used to homestays. Perfect guests, actually! I don’t think a knowledge of English should be a requirement to using Airbnb. It’s an international company, after all, and taking two whole days to find a French speaker to contact them is unacceptable in my opinion. It’s a shame they can’t leave a review - I might have got my first 5* from French guests!!
You’re totally right, I really don’t know how they managed not to find a French speaker for such a long time. I mean, at least French is a world language and quite a few people speak it. I was more speaking in general terms, when it comes to understanding the language of terms and conditions and very technical language sometimes used on the platform. I didn’t want to imply that it is their fault that the platform is not sufficiently equipped for serving non-English speakers, but I was rather stating that it simply is so. But ok, I’m speaking from a position of a person whose native language is usually not accommodated on any sort of platform, because it is too small in global terms, so I’m prepared to such stuff. Also, I’m very deep into this whole Airbnb thing as a host so to me it seems like I’m finding out new things about the platform on daily basis.
I’m intrigued! Basque? Macedonian? Welsh?
I think they have a put a lot of effort into the Chinese and S Korean platform because they are major travellers now and a big market. However, it still feels very much like an American company with little to no comprehension of other cultures and languages despite the whole ‘belong anywhere’ tag.
Aah Croatia, beautiful country that is top of my list to visit next. It’s interesting what you say about the Croatian version being awkward and ambiguous. There is absolutely no excuse for that. It’s annoying (understatement) to me this imperialist attitude
I have to ask, given your positive outcome with their stay; any regrets about the above comment? I’ve had a few French middle-aged couples (and less than) over the summer, all delightful, who have given me splendid reviews, both verbal and stars. On reflection, I can’t generalise on any nationality giving crap reviews; it’s too simplistic to do so.
Once they thought that my village is a part of a larger city that is about 5 km away, because they didn’t know how to use the map on Airbnb search. Sometimes they thought it was a hotel, or they even thought they had to pay upon arrival, not realizing that the money was already withdrawn from their card. It all turned out well, but I saw a huge potential for miscommunication. If there were any troubles, I’m not sure how they would’ve solved it.
Also, I’m very deep into this whole Airbnb thing as a host so to me it seems like I’m finding out new things about the platform on daily basis.