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A guest contacted me to enquire about dates for a weeks stay in June. I advised of my availability for the dates selected and others in the month (he was flexible). He wished to go ahead so I sent him a Special Offer.
This is where the issues started - he has been unable to get verification of ID to complete the booking for two days. There has been a lot of back and forth trying to help him (and secure the booking), including resending the offer, navigating him around the pages and me calling Airbnb to see if they can assist. They have suggested he calls them and I have passed on their contact details.
The way it was left I feel the gentleman is frustrated and will not persist any further. He has self confessed he’s not great at technology but the options for verification are limited for him. He has a booking history for the last year with at least 6 trips with Airbnb so I’m confused why this is an issue now, unless the requirements have changed.
We would like to secure the booking so any suggestions for him or me to do now through Airbnb? The only other option is to book through another platform but not sure how I can do that - don’t want to raise the issue on Airbnb’s chat system!
Don’t push it. You’ve done what you can, and apparently, so has AirBnb. The ball is in his court. If he sends another request, then you can give him a Special Offer if you choose (I almost never give Special Offers).
I don’t see how there can be a “verification” issue if he’s already used AirBnb. The requirements have not changed. The problem is more probably a credit card issue, and only he can sort that out.
I have had three guests who ran into verification issues. In all three cases it was because they do not use social media. AirBNB contacted all three of them after I used twitter to let them know that they were about to loose a potential booking due to frustration.
All three guests were wonderful. One is now a repeat visitor.
I was just really frustrated for him as he clearly had never come across issues before. It might be the public sector worker in me trying to help. The special offer was essentially regular price.
I got a message from him after I posted this topic saying thanks for my help and he’ll give it another go tomorrow. I had all but written it off at that stage. Twenty minutes later I get a notification saying he was booked! It turns out a neighbour’s printer was all he needed (I am not sure if this would actually be a scanner?).
I had the issue once recently and the guest was great. She and her husband had also previously used Airbnb so there is something new on Airbnb’s end. She was very keen to reserve my listing so she called Airbnb who in turn called me and asked me to hold the room for 48 hours while they worked it out. Though the booking was only about a week in advance I was willing to hold for the two days. I think if your guest is willing to call Airbnb they can help him. If he’s not willing to call then Airbnb is not for him.
I have an American friend who emigrated to New Zealand, was working in China and needed to go stay in Germany a few weeks for a medical treatment. She tried to book an airbnb but became frustrated due to multiple issues, one being no social media and the other having to do with payment originating in China. She is very tech savvy but was quite pissed at Airbnb at the time I spoke with her about it. And she’s the stubborn type who probably will never give them another chance. She’s the smartest most widely traveled person I’ve ever met and yet they can’t figure out a simple way for someone like her to use the system.
Not sure if this is the case here, but I had a guest that clearly just didn’t want to go through the process of id verification. Kept saying he didn’t know how to do it after detailed instructions. Ended up just declining the booking.
As others have said, let it go. And I’m curious to know why you are sending special offers for a stay so far out? Is it your off-season? My prices are higher the further out someone wants to book because clearly they want the security of having reserved a place to stay.
