Guest inquiry, pre-approval sent , Air cancels after 30 mins.?

Hi, folks:

This might be as hard to explain as it is to understand, so bear with me…and feel free to give up halfway thru reading, or to reply with a “oh, for heaven,s sake,

  1. I don’t do Instant Book
  2. 6:30 am Received inquiry from a seasoned AIRBB traveler
  3. I don’t even have my coffee til 7:30, so sent the Pre-approval at 8:30 a.m.
  4. the instant I sent the Pre-approval to guest A, AIRBB chimed and I read a Request to Book from guest B. Oddly, for a completely different kind of trip, but for the very same 5 day period as Guest A
  5. Waiting for a confirmation of guest A’s booking, I sent a “have to wait and see” to guest B, then jumped back to check messages. Less than 5 mins had passed between my response to Guest A and Guest B, during which time Air cancelled the Guest A inquiry (over-riding my pre-approval? How?). Guest A’ canceling surprised me as She and I were friendly & seemed a great fit
  6. Calendar free now, I Booked Guest B, who was thrilled.
    7 Within this minute Guest A sent a “I’m trying to reserve, but my Abb site seems “frozen”, please bear with me - she obviously hadn’t a clue that my pre-approval would - and did - turn into a cancellation , while she was struggling to book - this had been going on before I booked Guest B
  7. I msg her - with regrets and incredulity: She messages me back, upset: I only get 30 minutes to book?! What’s going on . I feel terrible for her, advise her to call Airbnb, then have them contact me so I can verify from my end.
  8. She declines, as she now has to scramble for an accommodation proximate to transportation, and to her venue - or rent a car.

…sorry, folks - composed the above a couple weeks ago & forgot about it. Trying to write a new entry, it seemed I had to cancel this draft first. I meant to, honest! And , yet…:crazy_face:

FYI, You can delete the entire topic yourself if you want.

@rubychix do you have a question regarding this or are you just venting?

Originally I think it was going to end with a, “has this ever happened to you?” and a “what if the guest hadn’t been so understanding” kind of open question- but I’ve forgotten and just hope it was a fluke…

Don’t feel bad for guest “A”. They could have sent a Reservation request instead of an inquiry. “He who hesitates is lost”

1 Like

I am on IB but when I do get an inquiry and decide to pre-approve I always tell the guest that I have IB and do not hold dates so your reservation isn’t confirmed until you accept the booking.

Also, it’s possible (but I can’t quite tell from your message) that Guest A had trouble with verification or payment and that’s why Airbnb cancelled this guest. If that was not the case and you wanted to hold the dates for Guest A you can always say block dates when you pre-approve.

I personally would never hold dates for a guests. They almost never come through and you are blocking it from another customer.

Thanks, all. Still getting used to all the variations. And thanks, PitonView - the difference between an inquiry & a reservation request is, I now see, the crux of it!