I am just going to fly with it obviously because I don’t want to cancel. Any thoughts as to how to get at least some sort of communication before they come. I only have three days.
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Messages through the system.
This is one reason I will never use instant Book.
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What qualifications have you chosen for your instant book guests (under the IB part of policies and rules tab)? Do you require a photo? Do you require that they respond to your pre-booking message? Do you require that they have a host recommendation?
If you require these things and they do not have them then you can call Airbnb and have them cancelled if you would like. If you require a photo and they don’t have one (or if it’s not of them but a flower or something instead) then you can have them cancelled. If you require that they answer your pre-booking questions and they didn’t then you can have them cancelled.
However, if you just want them to communicate, consider emailing or texting them and telling them to log-in and check their Airbnb messages.
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I’ve had this happen a couple of times with guests who have new profiles. It doesn’t bother me because I don’t require a photo or reviews by other hosts. I do have a pre-booking question reiterating a couple of my house rules like acknowledging no kitchen use or smoking.
I have noticed though that within a few hours, some of the info appears as if it were still processing at the time of booking then came through as if it cleared.
As others have said, you can probably cancel with no problem, but confirm your settings first and if you’re comfortable waiting 24 hours, see if some of it comes in later.
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As others have said, if you’ve specified in your settings that the guest must have a photograph then call Airbnb and report the glitch. Tell them that you want to cancel.
Although as @DozerPug says, many hosts don’t have these criteria (I am one) and yet don’t have problem guests.
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I will look and see what I did at the beginning and maybe switch some things up. Thanks
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Ok. Great! Will do. I usually am not sceptical and have had almost all great experiences but for some reason this stood out to me since I have never had a guest not say something when they book.
I just went on there to change all of my requirements and decided that I really didn’t need to require all that. We’ll see after this guest if I change my mind.
So, the reason I require the photo and the verified ID is not because I am going to check anyone’s ID at the door (and during Covid, I am not seeing my guests whatsoever), but I believe that it signifies cooperation.
And I am open to dealing with absolutely anyone, but my life is so much easier if they have a cooperative nature. I ask almost nothing from my guests but only to be cooperative enough to fill out their profile with nothing but a photo and to go through the annoying but quick ID verification process. Because that more or less tells me that they will shut the door when they come in and flush the toilet when they leave, just basic tiny things we do to be cooperative.
The reason I require the booking questions is so that I can customize their stay. It helps me be the best host for them. I don’t hassle them if they don’t answer them all (unless I need a reason to ditch them ,), but they get the best experience if they do. And customizing the stay is the fun part for me.
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Indeed but isn’t your place a home share? If so, one may expect that you may never experience various challenges. Same goes for us. We are on-site, and our “entire place” suite is 3 guests max.
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Regardless, we try to anticipate what a guest might do or try and have signs or preventative measures, all to avoid issues and liability. Same goes for no infants or kids. Our elevated deck has older railings that are not compliant with modern safety codes for kids.
No. I have two rental apartments that are separate. When I did homeshare (four guest rooms) that was in the UK starting back in the eighties.
Actually just had this happen - someone tried to IB without all the qualifications I’d ticked. Air put the request on hold, let me know what was missing from the guest, opened the request to book once they supplied additional verification.
Message them in the message part and ask. That’s what it’s there for.
Mine is the home share. But according to some hosts on here, home share is even more of a reason to vet guests and rate them on gut feelings. Not this one.
Thanks for clarifying. Yeah so limited capacity stay, just like us. So, we are going not going to be a target for “big house parties”, and such.
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Your long experience is clearly helpful in “avoiding issues”, thereby “not having problem guests”.
Yes, both apartments are one-bedroom places (both under 600sq.ft.) so any party in one of them would be a bit of a washout.
With one bedroom apartments, with queen beds, most guests are couples - who bring along their own challenges of course. 
Yep! It’s all good now. Thanks