Confirming reservation

[Peter229]

I did not confirm reservation, yet it appears such in the system. 

(Confirmed at 17.55, when I had no access to internet.)

What can I do? Obviously, I don't want to get a bad review.

[Annette33]

you don't confirm, Airbnb does, a while after you accepted abooking request. did you? not enough info to be clear on what happened. in any case, you can just let the guest come as reserved, cancel it, or call Airbnb with your grievances. good luck!

[Jiw0]

Do you have InstantBook turned on?   Then guests can get confirmed right away.

EDIT:  just checked; yes you have instant book turned on. 🙂    I don't recommend that if it's a shared space in the house/appartment where you also live.   

I personally have this turned on myself but only for guests with past successful stays with good reviews. 

But I would not turn it on to everyone, mostly because many guests don't read all that well so I appreciate the opportunity to protect them from themselves a bit and set expectations.

[Peter229]

thanks, that's helpful. but in the past, i always had to confirm, so i'm not sure what to do now given that i can't really host at the time booked (and definitely for the prices). is there a way to resolve this without getting a bad (cancellation) review?

thanks!

[David126]

Snooze your listing so you work out how AirBnB operates and set your listing up to meet your needs.

Best to just deal with the current booking, accept it as a learning experiance.

[Jiw0]

>  but in the past, i always had to confirm,

Some guests prefer to send an inquiry first even when they have the option to instant-book.   (To make sure that the host is responsive, maybe ask a question, etc.)    It's also possible that you have Instant-Book turned on only for guests with past stays with good reviews, in that case some people can InstantBook but not people who are new to AirBnB.

> so i'm not sure what to do now given that i can't really host at the time booked (and definitely for the prices).

> is there a way to resolve this without getting a bad (cancellation) review?

Well, two things:  you only get reviews on completed stays, you don't get a review if either party cancels before their stay (or even during their stay for that matter.)   However, if you cancel too much then that may result in being ranked less high up in the search results.

Is the issue the low price?  If it's only a couple days then you could just suck it up, call it a learning experience and set pricing properly going forward.  But if you cannot host because it's really unavailable then it's best to contact the guest and explain the situation. 

I personally blame AirBnB to some degree for this, because they are pushing Instant-Book far too much, to the point that people like you don't really know what they're signing up to.   So, yeah.:  Cancel.  Does't look good on AirBnB in the eyes of the guest, but apparently AirBnB wants it this way.

[David126]

You do not need to do anything, you have Instant Book on so no need to confirm.

All booked, happy hosting.

[Marit-Anne0]

@Peter229

With IB you may cancel 3 times per year without penalty if you are uncomfortble with the guest.  But you MUST involve airbnb in the cancellation process to avoid the penalties.

This is what I did last week when I had to change my plans: I vacated my apartment and booked another airbnb for three days for myself.  

[Jiw0]

Are you sure about the three times per year cancellation?

I'm seeing only the following on the AirBnB site: https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/990/how-do-host-cancellation-penalties-work 

Also it seems that with IB you can only cancel penalty-free if you are uncomfortable with the guest, not because you didn't have pricing or availability set correctly.

[Marit-Anne0]

@Jiw0

It used to be three times per year - it may have changed since I was last looking.  That was at the time when IB was heavily promoted and even forced on some new hosts.

[Zandra0]

Simple case of having instant book on and not keeping the calendar up to date.

If a host can manage to set up a listing and get the money coming in, they can also familiarise themselves with the basics of successfully managing a listing. This is not Airbnb's fault.

Ah well lesson learned the hard way.