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Hi there, we have a unit attached to our house with 1 queen bed in the bedroom. We have 64 reviews under our belt. Had a person book a few days ago for 1 night in Feb and she mentioned today when asking to extend to 2 nights that she was traveling with her father.
I messaged to confirm she knew there was just 1 queen bed and she replied that she asked about the beds in her initial booking message. I never saw this message and still cant find it. It is not in my inbox as part of my messages with her. I obviously did not reply. This lady explained it was a message she was able to write in a text box at the bottom at booking time.
On checking our listing I discovered that it did indeed mention 2 beds, one being in the living room. I did not add this bed in nor was it in there when I last checked the listing some time before Christmas.
How do I find these initial messages?
Does airbnb change listings? I know the previous homeowners had it listed with airbnb
It sounds very odd that your listing would suddenly say there are 2 beds, when you say it wasn’t like that before and you’ve had 64 bookings. I have heard of settings like IB, or check-in times, mysteriously changing without the host having done so, or pricing going wonky, or dates the host knows they blocked becoming available, but I’ve never read of the actual listing changing, like bed numbers or amenities.
I think you just have to explain to the guest that this is altogether weird, and how (including not being able to see her original message about this), and offer her a full refund, regardless of your cancellation policy, as it doesn’t sound like the bed situation will work for her.
And it’s a good idea to preview your listing on a regular basis in the future, to make sure nothing has changed without you having done it.
I was asked about a picture of the pool and hot tub that I definitely didn’t include as an amenity at my duplex …. Checked the listing and there they were ticked and I know I didn’t tick them!
Thanks Muddy, i review at least once a month but this ghost bed was in the living room. It definitely hasnt always been there though because it was the first thing I saw…2 beds…after the guest alerted me. The guest has been wonderful and we’ve had a long conversation.
I have had an instant booking after definitely blocking dates for family. I knew i had blocked them because I had to do it twice as it didnt work the first time. The 2nd time it did, I checked. That guest wouldnt have received a refund but did when I rang airbnb and explained what had happened…it seemed like it was a regular occurrence.
I agree, i dont know how a bed would appear but I have had other weird little things happen on the platform which means I always double check everything I do.
I think the main thing that shows the bed is recent is no one else has ever tried to book it. In October/November we had a father and grown daughter as well as a grandfather and grandson. I checked with both groups that they understood there was only one bed and both replied they knew and often shared a bed to save money.
There are definitely bugs that come and go. As, others have mentioned, it’s a good idea to peek at your listing and your calendar often to find errors. I try to do it daily, usually just having a look while I have my morning coffee.
There was a bug last Spring that messed with amenities and, apparently, bed counts too. I don’t know if I missed it or had skipped a day of checking it but it affected my listing which I only found out about later.
I received a cancelation for a guest that was going to arrive 3 days later. It was very unusual because the cancelation notice said, “you’ll be paid in full for the reservation” and quoted the amount of the entire payout I was expecting. I have the moderate cancelation so I never get the full amount for a cancelation, but only the first night and 50% of the following nights. And no one gets the cleaning fee from a cancelation. Then the guest sent a message, “I’m sorry to have to cancel but we really needed that second bed”. (this listing only has one bed)
I was still debating whether or not I should contact Airbnb and/or the guest to find out what was going on when I received an email from Airbnb. This is the second part of it, the first part said that there was a bug where incorrect amenities were shown to guests and that I should review and confirm them:
I didn’t find any errors when I looked over my listing so they may have corrected them on their end. And I wouldn’t personally consider the number of beds as part of the amenities but that is all that the guest mentioned (and we only have the 1 bed). I considered asking her but didn’t because she had obviously already been inconvenienced. And Airbnb did give me the full payout, cleaning fee and all.
There definitely are so many different bugs and glitches that go around. This one was unusual in many ways, not the least of which is in how Airbnb handled it. They were on top of it before I even noticed it and they left both the guest and the host happy with the resolution. But it’s important to stay on top of it all because it’s not how it usually ends (one or both usually get screwed). It’s especially true with pricing bugs. It’s ideal to check your calendar and your prices very often.
The plot thickens. I messaged the previous home owner to see if she had a 2nd bed (I dont know, same address) and it turns out the sofa/lounge is a fold out. I knew it was heavy but just dragged it around, removed the cushions etc with blinkers on obviously. I saw all the metalwork but having never owned one before just thought that some lounges are metal framed.
So the guest has chosen to use it after I sent her photos and a detailed description. Neither she or I have found her original message though and I really want to know where they go…how many more have I missed
I am not at all a techie, and I realize that programming isn’t an easy thing to do, but just like other people are expected to do the work they get paid to do competently, isn’t it incompetent to have a website full of bugs and glitches? Is there a good reason why computer programming is so much more prone to creating things that don’t work properly than other professions?
We all get updates from all the apps we use, and many, if not most say “Bug fixes”. Can someone here more tech savvy than I explain why all this stuff constantly has bugs? Don’t humans programme this stuff and incompetently cause the glitches?
I had someone show up expecting two beds - a mom and tall teenage son. Fortunately they were flexible and the son just slept on the couch in their living room area. I offered a queen air mattress but he declined. I checked my listing and sure enough two beds were listed. In the past when I’ve gotten two people who reserved who seem unlikely to sleep together I ask if they realize there is only one queen bed. It’s delicate since everyone’s comfort level is different. Of course, I corrected the listing.
I recently did a search of my listings as a guest and discovered that one of my listings was set to 1 guest as a base price, and then $25 for the next guest. Problem is this was my listing i made for just the King room of our cottage, there is NO WAY I set it up like that. other listings i have a base rate fr 2 adults and then it’s $50pp. I’m curious how this random pricing happened, and glad I found it (a month too late, but we’ve been fully booked over December so no big deal)
Glitches are real. Unless you try to complain about them, then you are the crazy person.
Of course people in other jobs make errors or omissions. What I meant was that everyone seems to accept that bugs and glitches are a normal, acceptable, and inevitable result in computer programming. Why?
I encountered a serious glitch just yesterday. I got an automated notice from Airbnb reminding me that my calendar would be opening up the next day. However, I currently have my listing unlisted completely as the AirBnB house is undergoing renovations. It’s nowhere near finished.
I was able to go in and manually block the calendar by selecting “dates unavailable by default.” Hopefully, that should take care of the Airbnb erroneously showing my listing as available when it is actually unlisted.
I have two other Airbnb’s that I used to own but I sold both houses and unlisted them. I did not remove them from the platform because then all the feedback associated with those listings would disappear. I didn’t want to lose the feedback so I kept the listings on the platform but have them as unlisted. Also, that way, former guests of those two houses should be able to locate me if they wish to stay with me again in the current Airbnb.
However I just read a story the other day on the Internet about a woman who bought a house that used to be an Airbnb. She came home one day during the Christmas holidays to find two strangers trying to get in her house. They had rented it on Airbnb. They showed her where it was still listed on the Airbnb platform. The former owner had unlisted the house but not removed it from the platform and somehow Airbnb reactivated the listing and these people booked it.
I don’t know how the guests could have booked the listing without the cooperation of the former owner? Maybe the former owner had it on Instant Book and had automated messages set up previously? But at any rate, Airbnb took their sweet time removing the listing from the platform. The current homeowner had to constantly pester AirBnB for almost a week before Airbnb removed the listing from the platform. AirBnB’s excuse for taking so long was that they had to verify that she was actually the true owner of the house.
