My "gut" says cancel the reservation, but I'm hesitant...

Joe151
Level 5
Lancaster, PA

My "gut" says cancel the reservation, but I'm hesitant...

I'm on the fence about a rental. A young woman rented my house for a weekend in May (about 7 weeks from now).  She included this message with her rental... "Hi, I'm booking your place for my family from May 12th to 14th, as they are coming for my graduation. Thank you."

 

Several yellow flags started waving simultaneous...

1. She's renting it for her family (not for herself);

2. College graduation (Party!?);

3. She's using a pseudonym on her Airbnb profile;

4. She has no positive reviews (she also has no negative reviews).

 

I use "Instant Booking" with a requirement for basic identity verification (phone, email, photo, payment info). The phone number that I see when I check the booking confirmation is a Swiss phone number. When I call it it goes directly to a voicemail box.

 

Somehow I can't get the vision out of my head of people doing keg stands in my living room and beer pong in the kitchen.

 

Airbnb suggested that I message the guest to learn more about who will be staying at my house. My thought is that if I start probing with "Who? What? Why?" questions I'm just going to be setting myself up for a potentially adversarial relationship with a renter.

 

Apparently I'm allowed 3 discretionary cancellations of Instant Book reservations. I'm tempted to use one in this instance, but would love to get input from anyone who might help me figure out how to approach the Guest without coming across as ogre.

 

advTHANKSacne,

Joe

 

P.S. Complicating this is that I myself will be out of country when this rental occurs and will have limited ability to monitor what's happening.

23 Replies 23
Wendy-and-Frank0
Level 10
Stonington, CT

I hear "family" and I'm thinking mom and dad and no drugs or booze.

 

Find out how many and run with it.

 

You'll be fine.

 

Nancy67
Level 10
Charleston, SC

 

 

I have had a few 3rd Party bookings-- Parents who booked a 10th Wedding Anniversary for their daughter and her husband as a surprise. A Daughter who booked for her parents who are not very tech savy, etc. All ended up being great guests. 

We have a line in our "Other Things to Note" section that says: We like to keep it to registered guests only on the property after 9PM unless discussed prior to check in.

I have a question: Is the box checked in the host profile: Is this property suitable for parties or events?

If indeed that box is checked, "no" then I might send her a quick note that says in a friendly way:

 

Just checking in-- I noticed your note said this booking was for your graduation-- please accept my congratulations. Graduation is defiantly a time to celebrate, but I just wanted to make sure that you noticed in the agreement that my rental is not suitable for parties and events. Additionally, Airbnb has gotten pretty serious about making sure everyone who will be staying/visiting on the property needs to be registered as a guest unless there is prior conversation and agreement.  If you need assistance getting everyone properly registered, please let me know and I will direct you to this process.

 

We often get 1st time guests who aren’t aware that additional guests need to be registered/accounted for. Usually a friendly message makes everything clearer. Good Luck!

 

Steve211
Level 2
Palm Springs, CA

I had an inquiry yesterday from a couple. Then the wife said could someone sleep outside? - my cabin is one room - one bed-  she said boys will be boys and her husband wanted to sleep outside- ok not the best idea in the desert- I explained their are all kinda of critters/ then she said how about a tent? I started thinking - my gut is telling me more is going on- I said just your husband in a tent - she replied he wants to bring some friends- ok I said politely how many people are you looking to host-  answer- no more than 10!! Yikes. From two-to ten. So sometimes trust your feelings 

Zacharias0
Level 10
Las Vegas, NV

Follow your gut and cancel. File it under a 3rd party booking when you call or message AirBnB and problem averted. I wouldnt host while away on vacation anyway. Youre on pins and needles the entire time. I hosted in Vegas while being away in Europe for a month and it was like splitting myself in two and its not something Id do again. Many hosts are under the guise that we should ask questions, but lets be honest, people only tell you as much as you ask. If the guest wanted to provide more info they would have in the initial interaction. They found your place and liked it and booked it. If they wanted to secure their space without question it behooves them to provide as much detail as possible about how many people, relationships and so forth. Ive had many guests provide a full synoposis of their trip to me and I'm ever so grateful and then there are those that say nothing. Just a simple "visiting friends." or "going to the grand canyon." Wtf! If you have only one sentence to send me...send me your time of arrival and departure. lol.  If you send them a message or several to clarify their intentions they take FOREVER to respond. Its as if the guest fell into a dead spot and cant reply and had just enough internet reception to find your place and book.

 

Good Luck.

Wendy-and-Frank0
Level 10
Stonington, CT

@Nancy67,

 

"Graduation is defiantly a time to celebrate..."

 

Those pesky Freudian slips!

 

Ha ha ha

@Wendy-and-Frank0 - that brings back memories of a much younger co-worker who contantly typed defiantly instead of definitely.  I would try, in my most professional voice, to tell him that he was making an error.  Finally after multiple attempts, in frustration, I sent him actual Webster definitions. He blamed it on the fact that spell check wasn't catching it.  He actually blamed spell check for his vocabulary mistake.  Plus, he pointed out my negative message to our boss and I got a dressing down for being rude and unsupportive of junior-level employees. He didn't point out the multiple times I pointed out his mistake - to the point that I thought he was doing it on purpose because it pissed me off - just the time I finally said - NO MORE.  I was not long for that company after that. 

Huaai0
Level 10
British Columbia, Canada

@Alice-and-Jeff0 LOL it seems there are difficult people everywhere. This also reminds me of a grad student who filed a formal complaint against a senior professor who, she believed, "undermined her confidence" for academic writing by editing her paper rigorously. The complaint was escalated to the President of the university, and the good-hearted professor was very hurt. Since then she no longer edited students' paper. 

Ha. Not sure why that posted twice and yes,I am a bad speller. 

Oh well-- back to washing sheets and mopping floors. 

Joe151
Level 5
Lancaster, PA

For anyone still following this old thread...

 

After contacting the Guest and learning that she had, in fact, rented the house on behalf of someone else I decided that I'd allow Airbnb handle the cancellation of this reservation on the ground that 3rd-Party Reservations are not allowed.

 

Well... about a week later I get a semi-panicked text message from the guest asking that I call her. She tells me that Airbnb instructed her to cancel the reservation. Airbnb apparently didn't want to or couldn't do it themselves.

 

After talking with her I came up with a compromise... As long as she promised to stay in the house on the nights of the rental I would tell Airbnb that everything was OK and allow the reservation to continue. She agreed to the compromise and the rental went forward.

 

She was not the idea guest, but thankfully there were no parties and everything generally turned out OK.