How to cancel an IB without being penalised

She is. But neither of us went as there was no point.

The choices were (1) mess up the conference-preparation plans of an organisation made up of ex-gangsters and/or gangsters-in-transition and face the potential consequences or (2) accept that I made a mistake and hold my breath for the next 36 hours hoping for the best.

I went with #2.

I think you had nothing to worry about from the get go. It really was none of your business why she was there and who she has over. You rent a seperate space so you were never in any danger. A lot to do about nothing, in the end you did nothing. Your “high end” place will be just fine.

RR

After the reservation click “report” and then as you click through the reasons it may give you an option to “block.” If it doesn’t, you’ll have to contact Airbnb via email or phone and ask them to do it for you. As for the review and dealing with the woman I don’t see why you can’t review honestly. Broke rules, wasn’t forthcoming about what she was really going to use the house for. Tell her that unfortunately you won’t be able to host their monthly meetings.

You know who this woman is and I don’t but your fears don’t seem proportional to the actual threat? Will you feel differently if they leave the house in great condition? Are your biases against
“former gangsters” so great you just can’t overcome them?

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Thanks

I’m dealing with a particularly out-of-the-ordinary bunch of people. When a threat is so unclear, one should tread mindfully.

Nope. I believe they will.

I don’t have any bias. I can’t say the same for all of my neighbours however and that’s my main concern. The house is in one of London’s few private compounds and having so many out-of-place people turn up in high-end sports cars and super bikes at all times of the night and day is not going to sit very well with them. In the STR world, I’d rather have my neighbours on my side than against me.

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I call BS on that. Clearly @Fahed is biased just read your own post. A lot of drama over nothing.

RR

Every time I tell myself to ignore your last comment, you come up with one more.

Aside from your assumptions regarding me and my “high end” house (btw, that’s me being sarcastic about your ongoing sarcasm), you have no idea who I am or what my biases are.

So let me spell things out for you to leave no doubt in your mind.

MY CONCERNS RELATE TO THE NEIGHBOURHOOD!

If our house was on a regular road and fully detached, I would only have to worry about parties.

But as our house is in a private compound with neighbours tightly packed on all sides, I have to care about my neighbours and their attitude towards STR. I can’t change their biases. I can’t open their minds. All I can do is avoid having guests that will disturb my neighbours, like the one who walked out of the house in her bra and panties or these who were coming/going in large numbers.

Now, back to your previous post that I had tried to ignore…

This is in your opinion.

My opinion, however, is quite different.

In my opinion, I own the house and I decide who can stay there and who can’t. I also decide what it can be used for and what it can’t. To keep things simple, I’ve taken all of my decisions and simplified them as follows. The house can only be used by up to 9 travellers who want to use it for accommodation – no parties or after parties, no porn shoots, no soirees, no get-togethers. And no-one who might be using a stolen credit card that may result in a charge back. Again, though I shouldn’t need to repeat this, it is my house and I decide who can use it and how.

In my opinion, people often think that rules can be ignored. But, in my house, I won’t tolerate rules being ignored. If I did, then I wouldn’t have any rules. My pre-booking questions are there to help minimise the chances of getting rule-breakers. And, so far, it’s fulfilled it’s job very well. All of the good guests have not minded me asking them at all. As for the 2 bad guests, they helped inform me of matters before they happened. If only I had listened to my gut on both occasions.

As I don’t mind losing such bookings to preserve harmony in my neighbourhood, why should I accept people who are likely to break my rules?

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You are right, I am being an ass.

Forgive me, I have been in a mood lately.

RR

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Not to defend RR being an ass but there is a clear difference between your initial update, relevant portions below:

And your reply to RRR in which your concern seems to have moved

Maybe bias wasn’t the right word. Your update post initially made it seem like your concerns were primarily related to the relationship of the people at your home to the criminal justice system and secondarily related to your relationship with your neighbors.

To my point of concern, I’d like you to reconsider your statement that you aren’t going to review them. If they were simply people who had violated your rules, exceeded the stated number, drove too many vehicles, etc, you would be reviewing them. No one wants to host misleading rule breakers.

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Prioritising my concerns relating to retribution are only in connection with me kicking them out, not hosting in general. As for hosting in general, the concerns are protecting my home and maintaining neighbourhood harmony.

You’re right. I’ll work on it and get your feedback first before posting it last minute.

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Thank you. I appreciate it.

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All contingent on the stay’s normal completion of course. Based on what you’ve said so far I’d just treat this booking like any other and review as a matter of course. But if they write a threat in blood on your living room wall then I’d say don’t review. LOL.

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@Fahed

You are a very Patient and Forgiving person. Your kindness and openmindedness is inspiring.

I share your concerns, but I would not have had your patience once I found out that I had been mislead. I truly hope that all works out, upon their exit. We all need an uplifting story.

No matter how it turns out, you should write an honest review of her, describing how you were mislead from the start, and continued to be lied to, as Future hosts need to be on alert. In addition I would speak with ABNB and have them detail each house rule that was broken, and each lie that she provided.

PS. Do not wait for Mother’s Day; Your “mum” deserves a special dinner and/or a Bouquet of flowers.

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Here is my proposed review (which will be my first ever negative review). Feedback is much appreciated.

Guest was fast in responding to messages and no physical damage was done. However, guest grossly disregarded house rules by having several unauthorised guests, parking in spaces allocated for neighbours, disregarding quiet hours, checking out 90 mins later than the late checkout time already agreed and having so many unauthorised visitors arrive and leave night and day that several neighbours made several complaints. This was all despite guest giving many promises to the contrary before and during the stay.

I wouldn’t assume that at all - based on the reason you outlined for wanting to cancel. I think you may get one free cancellation so you maybe okay if you are using this.? but if you have already used it - I don’t know your reason for cancelling would be covered.

I agree with @Ken as a new host you would be better not using IB until you become more familiar with how it works particularly as you are in London and can only let out for a restricted number of days.

I don’t get it. What’s there to be more familiar about?

Leave out the first sentence?

@Fahed - with how Airbnb works and how to vet your guests. Surely you don’t think you have learnt all you need to know after hosting for a few months :slight_smile:

Personally I waited over a year before I used IB as I wanted to get used to the ins and outs of hosting.

Many people starting out on Airbnb encounter problems because they rush into using IB before figuring out how Airbnb works and end up having problems with guests, double bookings etc.

It is particularly important as @KenH said that you vet guests for a high end property, where the building management and neighbours are likely to be a lot more concerned about STRs.

You have said you would prefer to use IB because it gives you higher returns and you see it as giving you less hassle.

From your recent experience with your guests who you detail above - I think this shows you this is not necessarily the case.

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According to the understanding which Airbnb has tried to convey…

  1. Vetting can be done after the booking and then cancelled if the host feels “uncomfortable”.

  2. The definition of “uncomfortable” is subject to Airbnb’s policies, so it doesn’t work to say you feel uncomfortable with someone because of your personal biases.

  3. To help you feel comfortable, Airbnb lets you ask questions as part of the IB process.

So, if a host has done everything he can to put bad-intentioned people off from booking your property, then theory goes that most remaining guests will be good ones. IB then helps to convert them. As for the bad-intentioned guests, a basic attempt can be made to vet them as part of the IB process and if they slip through that as well, then at least having clear house rules makes it possible to cancel the booking mid-stay.

My current thinking is continue with IB until this approach proves itself to fail. This approach would have worked on this last booking as well had I not second-guessed myself during the post-IB vetting stage.

Otherwise, turning off IB is probably the way to go. It’s just a shame that few bad ones have to ruin everything for all the good ones.

If she was intent on renting the place, considering how smooth-talking she was, how could pre-vetting her changed anything more than post-vetting? According to my understanding, with pre-vetting I don’t have to give a reason for why I feel uncomfortable. With post-vetting, my reason needs to be acceptable to Airbnb. Or am I wrong?

Exactly @Fahed that’s why not having IB turned on, makes it easier to not accept guests that you don’t feel comfortable with, but don’t have an explicit reason for turning them down such as guests who don’t meet your house rules.