Help!!! I just found someone is trying to book the dates similar to that 70 listings host wanted. When I check this new guest profile, I found all his 5 star review were given by that host. And they live at the same location. I think either it’s his friend or himself just using another identity. I am so worried!!! Because I have instant booking as long as they have government ID, other hosts recommended and 5 star reviews. So he can book my home instantly without my approval. Now, it shows ‘Awaiting guest ID’… Can I do something to prevent this booking? Please help!!
Quick, block those dates on your calendar!
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I can’t, the dates already been blocked by this new guy. But I just turned my instant book off. I am so scared!!
Just call Airbnb and tell them about this. I had something similar happen once and they booted the request and blocked the guest.
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I am talking to Airbnb Support now. But I have feeling they are not just one or two guys, they are a team, they would change different IDs and try again.
The Air told me to decline his request again. I am afraid it would really irritate this guy. Is there any better ways to make this guy walk away?
yes, all messages are within Airbnb
You can open them in 48 hours so you don’t lose someone you want. He’s gotten the message and if not, send that special offer of 5x the normal price. Or just say “This isn’t a fit for you and I’m not comfortable hosting you and your party, please withdraw your request and open my calendar. With millions of ABB properties out there, I’m sure you will find one that better suits your needs.” And then block them and report them as harassing you.
Now you have an open calendar and with one or two polite but firm sentences, he’s out of your hair.
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I saw the grey flag with 3 options but blocking is not one of those. And it looks he has multiple accounts so he can keeps requesting using different identities. I have contacted the Airbnb support, but the only suggestion from them is to decline the request.
Excellent sleuthing! Now that you know his identities, you can report them every time he requests and MESSAGE ABB CS saying “I’ve called about this guy, reported him, he’s harassing me under 3 identities and I don’t want the decline hit on my listing. I’m not comfortable with this guest and ABB should work with me to make him go away.” Then go on twitter and complain on their feed.
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I will report him if he make a request again. So frustrated with this guest. He doesn’t want to comply the house rules although I clearly stated upfront that all the guests have to confirm they agree and will comply. But he keep requesting to make reservations.
Good luck. At this point he’s hoping to wear you down. Never host a bully. I did and it didn’t go well. Ugh.
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yes, I know, I had to setup my calendar availability to 3 months (it was 9 months) so his dates are blocked to avoid him. :(((
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It doesn’t say “blocking” but that is what it does. If you did it then you would see a message afterward that says, "YOU BLOCKED SO-AND-SO. They’ll no longer be able to message you. They also won’t be able to do things like send you a reservation request or accept requests from you."
Anyway, for anyone interested, I noticed this morning the option to Report this Guest, underneath the reservation information is back, where it used to be.
@Amy_nyma . You can just go to Report this Guest and not bother with the flags. The flags were just a workaround because they removed the report button but now it’s back.
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Thank you very much, JJD!
I’m an Airbnb Plus host in Hollywood Hills part of Los Angeles with more than 250 positive reviews. AND I’ve never been the renting guest on Airbnb, as I prefer to stay in hotels and when I do travel with a group of friends that rent Airbnb properties, they want the airline mileage that their credit card use on the rental adds. So maybe there’s a similar explanation why he has no personal reviews.
As for your house rules not being visible, why don’t you just paste them into a reply email to him – or better yet APPROVE his inquiry, with an email that has those rules pasted in them as part of the confirmation. You can say, “By confirming this inquiry with a paid reservation, you are consenting to my house rules.” That’s what I have in my inquiry and confirmation emails. Whether house rules are easy to find or not, it never hurts to put a repeat in front of your guest. I hope this is helpful, Amy! Eric @ STUDIO 1080
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Hi, Studio1080, thank you for you suggestion. And yes, I did copy/pasted the house rules to him but never got confirmation from him. It’s been very frustrated communicating with him. So declined his requests politely and blocked my calendar. Hopefully he will walk away without hard feelings.
I skimmed the comments, so I’m not sure if anyone else said this, but I always send my house rules in my pre-visit messages as a separate message.
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Being scared is counterproductive and not helpful when hosting. Contact ABB for each one of these guests (same guy, new accounts) requests and push ABB to get you a supervisor who sees that this is a scam for a new host.
This happens all the time to new hosts and it’s wildly annoying. It happened to me and thank goodness this forum told me what to do and it worked.
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Oh, he won’t. He obviously gets nasty when he doesn’t get what he wants. You don’t need to concern yourself with his feelings. He is being scammy and aggressive and certainly isn’t concerned with yours.
As we are reminding you, this is business- try not to get wrapped up in how a guest you don’t want will feel about getting declined or cancellled.
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