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I am at my wits end for the past two weeks. I have been a Superhost for several years now, but sold the home that I had for almost 3 years as a Host, and recently bought a cute little cottage by the beach in South Florida. Like my other home, this is a “shared home” listing. Because of COVID, the first rule in my House Rules is Guests needing to be at least 25 years of age, verified through Airbnb, and vaccinated against COVID. It was always my understanding (and Airbnb has confirmed) that when a Guest Instant books or sends a request, they have read and are agreeing to the House Rules.
In the past two weeks, I have had several Instant Bookings (have since removed the feature) and at least 6 requests. I have now had to ask Guests to “cancel” their Instant booking or cancel their reservation, after they have confirmed that they have read and agreed to the House Rules. Some of these Guests had to cancel the day of check-in, as the COVID requirement states that they will have to show the vaccination card upon request.
Am I going insane? Are these Guests just pretending to skip reading the first rule, or do they think they can “pretend” to be vaccinated? I am beginning to believe that all the non-vaxers are coming to Florida for the holidays and figure that the whole state doesn’t care about being vaccinated. I not only have an auto-immune disease, but I take care of my grand-daughter 3 days a week, a 5-month old infant who is not vaccinated (also stated in the House Rules).
The worse part is that I have a STRICT cancellation policy so over 50 percent of these bookings were not entitled to a refund. Airbnb had contacted me several times asking me to “consider” making an exception and giving Guests a full refund. I did so two times already, but I am at the point where I am done being nice. This is a business and my livelihood right now and every time a Guest books a reservation, my calendar is blocked until they cancel.
Need feedback on any other Hosts in South Florida or other states that are insisting their Guests be vaccinated. Are you having these issues? Do you ask to see proof or are you taking their word for it? If you were in my situation, would you keep giving the refunds?
First of all, if I were in your situation I wouldn’t be home sharing at all. But if I had to, no I wouldn’t give refunds. I suggest you make a saved message that says something to the effect of requiring the vax and you will want to see proof on arrival. Add that you will cancel reservations and guests won’t be refunded. Make that the first message you send as soon as they book. If someone doesn’t confirm they understand in writing in the message thread, don’t send them any check in information. Also if you don’t hear back from them, text the number listed on their account and tell them you need a reply on the Airbnb message thread.
I’m in SC & not a home share BUT I can tell you Florida & Texas as perceived by Anti-vaxxers as the places to go to be with “their people”.
My cousin’s family (he & his wife & adult children & spouses) vacationed in Florida for that reason. Plus they wanted to go someplace where they didn’t “have to wear those stupid fxxking masks”.
First, some guests just don’t read what you say on the app/emails. And even if they did, they just don’t/won’t reply. It’s awful. This will NEVER change. You can’t take it personally. People are just terrible sometimes. Doesn’t matter the country, state, race, gender, or creed.
Next, I would literally call – on the phone – every single guest that books/confirms from this point forward. If this situation is that important to you, it’s the only way you can be sure. It’ll suck to have to take an additional 5 mins to engage each an every one of these guests every time they book, but it’ll be worth it to avoid future problems. Then, use the text/message thread as your fallback to reiterate what was said: “Thanks for taking my call today! As per our conversation, bla bla bla.”
As for the reservations in flight that may need to be canceled/displaced? I think that the recommendations above are spot on. Hold firm. They broke your house rules. NEXT!
@KKC I love Hosting which is why I continue to do so even during the pandemic. Hosting has given me a purpose at a time in my life where I had to stop working full-time due to severe arthritis. For the most part, I have had some amazing, respectful guests since being in this new home. What you suggested is exactly how I respond to each Guest. I have a “quick reply” asking them to confirm that they’ve had a chance to review all of the House Rules, and that they will be required to show the vaccination card. This is where they either state that they are not vaccinated, partially vaccinated, or can’t provide proof. If they have confirmed more than once that they knew about this requirement, why would Airbnb ask me to give them a refund? My fear with cancelling them on check-in day & not giving them a refund is that they will then be allowed to review me. Although Airbnb has removed a few reviews when Guests didn’t “officially” check-in because of this. I worry, though, that they won’t keep doing so. Again, I am not in a position to keep bending my cancellation policy. Airbnb does write me back to remind me of how grateful they are for Hosts like me
I try not to call on the phone, as I think it’s best to keep all communication on the Airbnb message thread. This way, there’s no question that they did agree to the House Rules. It’s good to know that most Hosts would not be issuing a refund. Thank you again for your feedback
This must be very frustrating. I’m mostly closed over the last year and taking direct bookings from regulars or letting friends from out of town stay here. But in the title of my listing it says “pro-vax host” and I also say I prefer vaxxed guests. I don’t ask for proof and I’m not “requiring” it because they are separated from my part of the house. But I’ve had one direct booking and one on Airbnb not book with me due to the vax request. I cannot state strongly enough how little I think of people who won’t get vaxxed. (with a very few narrow exceptions for legit medical reasons) So we are in a bit of a tough spot with this issue. At least Airbnb doesn’t seem to have any problem with you requiring it.
I know I’m a broken record but… lots of people don’t read. Some probably have legit reasons for their trouble, like simply not being good readers. I see it all the time here on the forum. This week I saw in a music artist group I follow where someone was commenting that they didn’t know that no recording was allowed in a concert venue. But my email with info on the concert clearly said no recording of any kind would be allowed. And several people reported that no recording signs were up in the venue. And yet these people “didn’t see it” anywhere.
Aside from not reading, more and more it seems that there is a whole segment of the population that hold that “rules don’t apply to them.” It’s a creed worthy of 1st Amendment protection and every man is a religion unto himself. I guarantee that this wretched attitude will not be confined to a political issue or two. It will continue to seep into every aspect of American culture.
I love the idea of putting that in the title. Didn’t think about that so another thing to change right now. I so love this forum as you all have so many great ideas–thank you again
Never a broken record to me–every Host here on this forum has valuable information to share It’s frustrating when you are asking these Guests several times, and they literally lie about it. I think they are just hoping I’m not going to make a big deal of it. Maybe there are a lot of homes sharing Hosts that aren’t upholding their requirements but I simply can’t do that. I am sure Airbnb realizes the importance of House Rules being upheld. This doesn’t seem to be an issue internationally, but it seems here in the U.S., a lot of guests do seem to think the rules don’t apply to them like you mentioned or they think that because they’ve had 5-star reviews, I should just accept them.
Vaccination proof required is in my house rules, and in my automated sendout of info etc from my Edgestate smartlock. Them when they book, I ask for it to be uploaded, so I have a photo of it that day.
I ask for their status, but frankly I think the cards are super easy to fake. Fortunately I have many repeat guests who have earned my trust over the years.
Do you home share? I would think that the automated sendout on your smartlock means the Guest has already booked? I am trying to avoid a Guest even wanting to book my listing so that I don’t have to decline the request. The Guests have been booking and then when reminded to upload the document or asking them to provide it at checkout, they are stating that they are not vaccinated or don’t have proof, causing me to tell them they will have to cancel. This is already having a negative impact on my performance, as I had a 100% in accepting reservations and in two weeks, I have dropped to 78%. If Guests have to cancel or I have to decline the request for lack of not reading or following the House Rules, this should not be reflection on my performance
Though I know that it feels safer to keep that Acceptance Rate up to the goal of 88%, I want to remind you that it has no bearing on Superhost status or really anything other than your Acceptance Rate.
I find that declines come in runs. I am accepting everyone and then all of a sudden there are 3 or 4 in a row that I decline (and this is with being Instant Book) so my Acceptance Rate has been below or even well below 88% at times sometimes for a long time and I have experienced no consequences and not even an email just an ever pervasive note next to the Acceptance Rate that says “something to work on”. Meanwhile I keep raising my prices, getting great guests and staying booked.
That being said, if you can get the guest to withdraw their request without much fuss then it’s great to do that but if they won’t withdraw the request then just decline it and click on “I have reason to believe the guest is intending to break my house rules” (house rule to be vaccinated, etc) and then don’t sweat it.
And here we go again! I now have to “decline” this request and this goes against my performance as a Host. I am trying to get the Guest to “withdraw” hoping that maybe it won’t reflect on me this way.
Your guest Josiah is not just not vaccinated, he’s not very bright. I’m so sorry, I know it must be frustrating but he is so stupid that it’s almost funny. You can, if you have the time, call in and have Airbnb cancel the Request by Admin. They have done it for me in situations like this. I have in my house rules “dogs only, no cats due to allergies” (we’re pet friendly) and I’ll get a stupid message like that you have from Josiah, “We have cats. Thank you.” and Airbnb squashes that immediately since it’s in my house rules.
