This forum is dedicated to connecting hosts with other hosts. Sign up to get the latest updates and news just for AirBnb hosts! Note that we are not affiliated with Airbnb - we are just passionate hosts!
Hi
I’m having a bit of a strange problem, wondering if anyone has come across this before.
I got a notification by email of a booking request, but it didn’t show up in the app. So I clicked through the ‘accept/decline’ button in the email which took me through to the website, where an error message popped up saying this guest is currently unavailable due to them still going through the identification process. So i can’t see the request anywhere except the email notifications so can’t accept or decline it. Meanwhile I’m getting the countdown notifications telling me how long I have to respond, meaning it’s going to time out and affect my 100% communication record.
Has this happened to anyone else? Is this a call Airbnb situation? I can’t face explaining this whole thing to their call centre staff
Do you use @smartbnb.io? If you have checkpoint activated, then you get a notification. If you wish to communicate with the guest, you can go to your calendar on those dates, you will see the Verification In Progress across the dates, and you can click on this icon and get to the guest’s profile and initiate a conversation.
@KKC I can’t send them a message as although I can see their message to me in the original email notification, it doesn’t show up in my messages, bookings or anywhere else for me to message them. It’s as if the communication doesn’t exist at all, except for the email notifications and the error message which shows up when I click through (which then disappears after about 5 seconds).
@anon67190644 I don’t use smartbnb, but my Airbnb calendar is just showing as blank. Do you know if I just ignore (as it seems I can’t do anything else) will I be penalised for not responding?
@Gardenhost. That sounds a bit suspicious since AirBNB doesn’t send an email like you describe. And I know that in the past, I have always had the dates blocked by that Verification Pending banner. You might want to call AirBNB for clarification [assuming you have some time to waste.]
Gosh I hadn’t even thought that it might not be a legit email! But I just checked the address it came from and it’s express@airbnb.com, the same as the last confirmed reservation I had, so I guess that means it is from then. I don’t really have time to sit on the phone so I think this time I will leave it and see what happens when it times out. Or maybe the guests will finish their verification and all will be well!
I got an email notification of a reservation request that was sent in March. My phone pinged in May. I never saw the message prior to that despite checking Airbnb almost daily. My response rate went from 100% to 99%. It sucks but it’s not the end of the world or your search ranking.
Yep I think this is going to be the way I look at it, it’s only commitment that needs to be 100% isn’t it? So I don’t think this one will hurt me, it’s just a bit frustrating
I went to bed last night with the resquest due to expire overnight. This morning I had an email from Trust & Safety:
‘I am reaching out because another Airbnb member either requested to communicate with you via private email or Facebook, or sent a malicious message in which you may have been asked to verify your listing, or copy and paste a URL into a new browser window. We ask that you halt your communication with this individual immediately. We have removed their account so that you will no longer have access to their message thread.’
So they must be referring to this guest? There was nothing malicious or dodgy in the message from her I saw in my emails yesterday. Maybe she sent me something overnight and Airbnb got to it before I did. Or maybe someone else sent me the malicious message overnight.
I find this all very strange!
Thanks Helsi, it seems sort of semi resolved for now so I won’t bother this time. I forgot to mention in my update above- no change at all to my communication score!
