Last night I accepted a reservation, but tonight I would like to cancel it. This guest has only one verification - an email address and it is. I asked her to provide more information , but she did not. What can I do?
This has happened to me before. Call your AirBnB customer service rep, explain the situation, and they will probably tell you they will “reach out” to the guest to make them respond. If the guest still refuses, then AirBnB usually will waive the cancellation fee for you.
Thank you for your answer!! I cannot find a customer service phone number! Maybe someone has it handy, please!
+1-415-800-5959 customer service
I hope you have better luck than I did. I recently had an experience with a guest that was being dishonest and manipulative before even arriving. Changing dates around, saying they had said messages that they hadn’t sent, changing the arrival day again, even on the day they were on their way (oh, didn’t you get the message yesterday?). No, there was no message.
I called airbnb and said I was very uncomfortable having someone that was being this dishonest and manipulative in mY home. I was told I could cancel, but there would be penalties. I would lose my superhost status, and there would be other penalties. I was flabbergasted. There was literally no support. They didn’t care one bit that they are punishing me and essentially forcing me to choose between harsh penalties or a guest that was already acting very shifty. It was very stressful, and I felt betrayed by airbnb to put me in such a position. Disgraceful.
Thank you everyone for answers in my topic! I called the Airbnb, they were VERY NICE and supportive. I do not speak English well, but Natalie took some time to explain to me everything about my penalties and offered to me to reach my guest. And she did… My guest put up all verifications, information and a picture immediately! I felt much better and I am glad that I saved this reservation! I am living in a middle of nowhere, in an unusual house that is artistically designed, usually I have for guests couples for a romantic get away 
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Well you were lucky your guest was cooperative and shared about themselves. Otherwise you would have been stuck with a guest not willing to share anything about themselves arriving to your home, and your only choice to hope for the best, or be punished by airbnb if you didn’t feel like taking the risk on a completely unknown and uncommunicative stranger.
Sandy,
I learned a lot from this situation. I am a new at the Airbnb, only one month and half I host tourists.
But I will demand verifications first and the second I will accept. And will not go on the Airbnb after a glass of wine.
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Lol Marina. Yes, it is a learning curve. Glad to see you are figuring it out.
As part of the learning curve, take my advice: don’t allow the guest to book until after she provides additional information. Then if she refuses, you can always decline. I have my configuration set to allow bookings only from verified accounts. Even so, if someone does not have a face picture posted or enough information that i am satisfied I know enough about them to allow them into my home, then I politely say something like 'hey…i would love to welcome you. It looks like you are pretty new to AirBnB. Be sure to post additional information and a picture of yourself on the profile so I know more about you and can help you make the most out of your stay. Most of the time, this results in the guest happily complying and thus increasing my comfort level. In other cases, I just never hear from the guest again, in which case problem solved: minimal fear danger of quesitonable characters staying in my home.
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I also ask for more info, but I have never asked for a pic. This is a great approach. Thanks Jackulas!
Update…My guests left today. They are those guests whose reservation I wanted to cancel and open this topic for. I should have done it, by the way… Usually my guests are art people or professional couples from Washington DC, NY or Philla area. This time I got a military man with his girlfriend and they are both bordering on trash. They broke my house rules - they smoke in rented suite and sprayed everything with some kind of chemical, I guess it was anti smoke spray.
What to do?
And left 20$ bill, I guess it is my tip.
Oh dear Marina. Sometimes a gut feeling is really worth relying on. I have found this time and again. You should open a resolution case immediately if there is any damage. (Smoke damage included, you can get a quote from a company in the area that deals with this). You only have 48 hrs to lodge your case. Be sure to include everything. Also, call airbnb, to make sure they are aware of what happened. I’m sorry you have had your first bad guests. It feels like a terrible violation of trust. I hope you get some support from airbnb.