Warning about Instant Book - learning about "No Negative Review" Rule

Introduction
64

Thank you for raising this topic. It is front of mind for me lately after a very dissatisfying and confusing call with ‘customer service’ yesterday.

I’m concerned about a returning guest who didn’t use Instant Book because she had a question….would I allow more than my limit of people to visit.

They were great guests in 2019 and I was happy to discuss the request. The only way to actually call them was to accept and then get their number from the confirmation.

When I did call and discuss, it turns out that the 5th person is an adult child who refuses to be vaccinated (everyone else in the party is) and “has caused a lot of heate ld family conversations”.

I still agreed to host.

Fast forward 2 months and the Delta virus is taking off and I know of young vaccinated individuals getting sick with COVID.

I call AirBnB to discuss making vaccination of proof of a negative test on of my booking requirements. I got no satisfactory answe about this but went ahead with it.

The convo revealed that I would lose my cancellation fee and get dinged on my Superhost status if I cancelled it this reservation because I’m uncomfortable with it. They stressed that if it had been an InstantBook reservation, I could do so easily, without penalty.

I think I’ll keep the reservation because I have enough time between the next guest to allow a 24-hr period of ventilation before anyone enters the house.

I don’t want to get penalized with reduced search optimization by Airbnb’s anti-host policies (eg don’t turn off instant book).

Do you think the following message to instantbook guests would provide me with the basis to cancel if the guest refuses to agree to my house rules?

“ Hello, thank you for your interest in staying at the Eco-Bungalow. I am a Superhost with exceptional reviews. I expect the same from my guests. Thus, I require all guests to read and agree to my House Rules. One of those is the requirement that all guests eligible to be vaccinated for SARS/COV2 provide me with proof of vaccination or a negative PCR test for COVID-19 72 hrs before arrival.”

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65

So when someone makes an inquiry, don’t accept, just make them use instant book?

Make it a House Rule. If it’s IB you can indeed cancel 3x a year with no penalty. Don’t expect much help from Airbnb, they haven’t settled on a policy with regard to vaccines.

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