Post by High Priestess on May 31, 2016 5:47:50 GMT
Anita shared on Home SHarers of SF
www.airbnb.com/groups/content/content-106481
Advice needed please
What would you'll do if you accept a reservation, and then find out an hour later that the guest wants to bring a dog to your no-pet-policy place. The guest did not mention she wanted to bring her dog when she requested the reservation. I promptly told her that I was sorry but I did not allow pets, and would she like to change or cancel the reservation. Three days later, and I still have not heard back from her. I am thinking at this point, I am going to get my first really ugly review. Am I over-reacting? She is booked for mid-February....If I cancel, I will get a review saying I cancelled and automatically lose my super-host status.What would you'll do?
13 comments
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Like
Russ
Russa year ago
Tell her the pet won't be allowed in and/or she will lose all of her security deposit. Maybe that will make her cancel?
Reply Like
Deborah
Deboraha year ago
This is the kind of situation where you should call airbnb. Any time a guest gives a clear indication that they intend to do something which is in clear violation of the rules, You can have airbnb cancel their reservation. You should not cancel it yourself due to the penalty. Get airbnb to help by forcing guest to cancel.
Reply Like 2 likes
Peter
Petera year ago
I totally agree with Deborah. Deal with this and contact Airbnb asap so as to avoid the criticism that your tardiness compromised the Guest's ability to find alternative accommodation.
Reply Like
Anita
Anitaa year ago
Thanks Russ, Deborah, and Peter for your help/advice. I called Airbnb. The rep said basically that I should "go with the reservation" because if I cancelled, I would lose my superhost status, and also get hit with that "automated review that I cancelled a reservation". She said there was no way around this. (?!). I explained that since I already could not accommodate this guest's wishes, she was already an unhappy camper, and now when she comes to my "entire" home she will find "everything" wrong with my place. Sigh... To make a long story short the rep offered to call the guest and see if she was unhappy and/or preferred to look for another place to stay--the guest chose to keep her reservation with me (but this could easily be a price issue), and "would look for place to keep her dog". At this point I feel stuck-- I am just praying for things to turn out ok.
Fyi--the airbnb rep also informed me that if the guest breaks the rule, and brings the dog anyway, the security deposit in no way can be kept for that issue--only if there is "damage". Problem is HER dog may not "mark" nor cause damage, but it causes MY dog to mark when I bring him back to my house. Rep had no answer for this. It is frustrating that airbnb works sooo little to help hosts feel "more protected". Sigh......So much for cancelling when red flags go up--you/host, not guest, will be "punished" for it. Sigh...
Thanks again for your guidance...
Reply Like 2 replies•1 like
Peter
Petera year ago
Anita, firstly thanks for the detailed report on how the Airbnb rep handled your situation. I, for one, am not happy with the rep's response. I checked your listing and it states clearly "no pets" under your "House Rules." Instead of helping you, the Host, to enforce that House Rule, the rep instead told you that you would be penalized if you did not allow the Guest to violate that House Rule. In my view, either Airbnb eliminates House Rules as a feature of their listings, or they should help Hosts enforce them. What's the point of having this House Rule feature if Guests can just ignore them knowing that Hosts will be pressured to accept their violation after accepting their booking? It makes House Rules meaningless. Airbnb's policy and reps should not turn the cancellation policy into a weapon Guests can use to coerce Hosts into accepting their breach of the Host's House Rules. I'll bring this to the attention of Airbnb. Hopefully it will lead to some adequate reform.
Gayle
Gaylea year ago
Totally agree. I'd call back and hope that you get a rep who will better help you. Or, email Brian Chesky!
Jojo
Jojoa year ago
This happened to me just yesterday. I accepted a reservation for 4 people, which is my maximum occupancy. After the reservation was confirmed, the guest told me she would have '3 people' and 2 kids. I told her, my maximum is 4. She said the baby is only 4 months. I explained to her that I count every person as a person, including babies and asked her to please cancel since this wouldn't be a good fit. She didn't want to cancel since there will be a charge of $130 if she did so. So I called Airbnb cx, and the rep, Amari, told me to just accept 5 people and charge more. I was quite upset at this time and told me how he, as an airbnb employee, told me to break my own rules. He apologized and then told me to cancel from my end, although I would be charged. I said I didn't want to do that since I don't want to get charged, and also I don't want to get penalized. He finally said he would escalate. And the next CX emailed me and said they could cancel reservations from their end.
Anita, you should call again and ask them to cancel from their end. I wouldn't trust the guest to show up without the dog.
Also, put in your house rules, that any rules that is broken will result in the loss of their damage/security deposit. Airbnb really needs to train their CX appropriately.
Reply Like 1 like
Deborah
Deboraha year ago
I agree with Peter and Jojo, Anita. The response you are getting from Airbnb is totally unacceptable. Ask to speak to that customer service person's supervisor. Keep going up until you get a satisfactory response. Be aware that the poor support you have received is not typical -- there have been many cases like this before and Airbnb sided with host and forced the guest to cancel. It is totally unacceptable that you should be told you have to accept the dog when your rules are clear that pets are not allowed.
In fact, you DO NOT have to accept the dog. If Airbnb won't force the guest to cancel, then tell the guest that you will happy to have her stay but be very clear that the dog will absolutely NOT be permitted upon the premises. Tell her that if she attempts to bring the dog in the police will be called and the dog will be removed from the premises. And keep your word on this, be prepared to be firm. Most likely, if your threat to keep good on this promise to not let the dog in is adequate, guest will be more likely to cancel her own reservation.
For protection for the future in incidents like this, I recommend adding this language to your house rules:
"In the case of significant violation of house rules, the reservation will be immediately terminated, and all fees paid will be forfeited."
Reply Like 1 like
Keith
Keitha year ago
If you get a bad review. Ask Airbnb to remove it. If the reason for the bad review was that the guest didn't read your policies and wants an exception that isn't something Airbnb should support. Since you were clear in your listing and offered the guest an opportunity to cancel you've done the right thing. It may also just work out. They may not bring their dog and may end up very happy.
Reply Like
Anita
Anitaa year ago
Yes, at this point I am indeed going to throw a fit with the airbnb rep if I do get a bad review from this guest....
I have no choice at this point but to go through with this reservation since I acquiesced (based on Airbnb's bad advice) to the guest's "saying" yesterday that she will "maybe keep her dog with the son" she is visiting. It is too late for me to back-track. I worry, but yes, it is possible everything will turn out ok.
Much appreciation to all of you...I will keep you'll posted.
--anita--
Reply Like
Deborah
Deboraha year ago
Anita, I hope everything goes okay.
I see it happening quite a bit that hosts are quite worried about bad reviews. Really we can't be held hostage to the possibility of bad reviews -- letting guests abuse us, because we are afraid of a bad review? Unable to confront a guest who brought over a visitor when we don't allow visitors, because we are afraid of that "bad review"? I suggest to hosts not to be so afraid that you cave. If a guest violates your house rules and then leaves a fictionalized story in a bad review, you can simply respond with the facts. Others reading the account will probably know what actually happened, if they have any sort of BS detector. So, folks dont' be so worried about the retaliatory reviews that you tolerate abuse out of fear!
Reply Like 3 replies•3 likes
Peter
Petera year ago
I agree with you, Deborah. However, in Anita's case, if she cancels, the consequences may be more than simply a bad review. Airbnb will penalize her in her search result ranking made by future Guests. This is because Airbnb wants to make sure that Hosts honor their bookings, so they made sure there's a cost for Hosts in terms of future earnings if they "misbehave." As anyone in tech commerce will tell you, if you don't appear on Page 1 of a search result, you are essentially in Siberia.
Deborah
Deboraha year ago
there is no need for Anita to cancel this reservation. All she needs to do is be very firm that the dog will not be allowed into the property. Airbnb absolutely can't tell hosts that if they do not allow pets and say so clearly, that they then have to allow pets if a guest shows up with one. No. Way.
Peter
Petera year ago
Deborah, your suggestion has merit since it avoids the Host having to cancel and thereby suffer the negative consequences of doing so. But, it also means that by waiting until the Guest arrives to resolve the issue, the Host is unable to find a replacement booking for those dates. Even if the Host has a strict cancellation policy, the most the Host can get after the Guest arrives with the dog, is denied entrance and cancels, is 50%. Wouldn't it be better, financially, for the Host who knows in advance that the Guest is going to violate the no pet policy, to have the reservation removed as soon as possible so that the Host can find a replacement Guest?
Santa Fe International Hostel
Santa Fe International Hostela year ago
If they are cancelled ... there will be NO review ...
Reply Like 1 like
Anita
Anitaa year ago
If a host cancels, there will the "automated" review that saying the host cancelled the guest's reservation. I am not sure how much that hurts in terms of the rankings though...
Thanks again.
--Anita--
Reply Like
Peter
Petera year ago
The following information appears on Airbnb describing what happens when the Host cancels (https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/166). Although it doesn't say anything about search rankings, that's my understanding from talking to Airbnb staff. However, the following excerpt does detail negative consequences to the Host for canceling.
"When a reservation’s status is Canceled, you’ll be recorded as the party responsible for initiating the cancellation in our system. Because host cancellations require additional customer support, and generate additional costs for securing last-minute accommodations, the following actions are applied:
An automatic review appears on your listing, indicating that a reservation was canceled. We encourage you to publicly respond to this automated review to clarify to the community why you needed to cancel.
Your calendar will remain blocked for the dates of the reservation. Our system does this automatically, to prevent another Airbnb guest from booking unavailable dates at your listing.
You may be subject to a cancellation fee, if you cancel more than once in a six-month period. This fee, taken from your next payout, will help offset the cost of securing last-minute accommodations for your guest. The fee will be $50 for each cancellation after one in a six-month period, or $100 for each cancellation after one in a six-month period, made on a reservation that begins in 7 days or less.
If you cancel before a reservation begins, your guest will receive a full refund and you will not receive a payout. If you cancel an active reservation, your cancellation policy will no longer determine your payout, and your guest will be fully refunded for every night that they did not stay in your space. You can make security deposit claims within 48 hours of the original checkout date."
Reply Like
All
Alla year ago
Ask the guest to cancel, and/or contact Airbnb and explain. You won't have to pay anything, since the guest violated your terms.
www.airbnb.com/groups/content/content-106481
Advice needed please
What would you'll do if you accept a reservation, and then find out an hour later that the guest wants to bring a dog to your no-pet-policy place. The guest did not mention she wanted to bring her dog when she requested the reservation. I promptly told her that I was sorry but I did not allow pets, and would she like to change or cancel the reservation. Three days later, and I still have not heard back from her. I am thinking at this point, I am going to get my first really ugly review. Am I over-reacting? She is booked for mid-February....If I cancel, I will get a review saying I cancelled and automatically lose my super-host status.What would you'll do?
13 comments
Following
Like
Russ
Russa year ago
Tell her the pet won't be allowed in and/or she will lose all of her security deposit. Maybe that will make her cancel?
Reply Like
Deborah
Deboraha year ago
This is the kind of situation where you should call airbnb. Any time a guest gives a clear indication that they intend to do something which is in clear violation of the rules, You can have airbnb cancel their reservation. You should not cancel it yourself due to the penalty. Get airbnb to help by forcing guest to cancel.
Reply Like 2 likes
Peter
Petera year ago
I totally agree with Deborah. Deal with this and contact Airbnb asap so as to avoid the criticism that your tardiness compromised the Guest's ability to find alternative accommodation.
Reply Like
Anita
Anitaa year ago
Thanks Russ, Deborah, and Peter for your help/advice. I called Airbnb. The rep said basically that I should "go with the reservation" because if I cancelled, I would lose my superhost status, and also get hit with that "automated review that I cancelled a reservation". She said there was no way around this. (?!). I explained that since I already could not accommodate this guest's wishes, she was already an unhappy camper, and now when she comes to my "entire" home she will find "everything" wrong with my place. Sigh... To make a long story short the rep offered to call the guest and see if she was unhappy and/or preferred to look for another place to stay--the guest chose to keep her reservation with me (but this could easily be a price issue), and "would look for place to keep her dog". At this point I feel stuck-- I am just praying for things to turn out ok.
Fyi--the airbnb rep also informed me that if the guest breaks the rule, and brings the dog anyway, the security deposit in no way can be kept for that issue--only if there is "damage". Problem is HER dog may not "mark" nor cause damage, but it causes MY dog to mark when I bring him back to my house. Rep had no answer for this. It is frustrating that airbnb works sooo little to help hosts feel "more protected". Sigh......So much for cancelling when red flags go up--you/host, not guest, will be "punished" for it. Sigh...
Thanks again for your guidance...
Reply Like 2 replies•1 like
Peter
Petera year ago
Anita, firstly thanks for the detailed report on how the Airbnb rep handled your situation. I, for one, am not happy with the rep's response. I checked your listing and it states clearly "no pets" under your "House Rules." Instead of helping you, the Host, to enforce that House Rule, the rep instead told you that you would be penalized if you did not allow the Guest to violate that House Rule. In my view, either Airbnb eliminates House Rules as a feature of their listings, or they should help Hosts enforce them. What's the point of having this House Rule feature if Guests can just ignore them knowing that Hosts will be pressured to accept their violation after accepting their booking? It makes House Rules meaningless. Airbnb's policy and reps should not turn the cancellation policy into a weapon Guests can use to coerce Hosts into accepting their breach of the Host's House Rules. I'll bring this to the attention of Airbnb. Hopefully it will lead to some adequate reform.
Gayle
Gaylea year ago
Totally agree. I'd call back and hope that you get a rep who will better help you. Or, email Brian Chesky!
Jojo
Jojoa year ago
This happened to me just yesterday. I accepted a reservation for 4 people, which is my maximum occupancy. After the reservation was confirmed, the guest told me she would have '3 people' and 2 kids. I told her, my maximum is 4. She said the baby is only 4 months. I explained to her that I count every person as a person, including babies and asked her to please cancel since this wouldn't be a good fit. She didn't want to cancel since there will be a charge of $130 if she did so. So I called Airbnb cx, and the rep, Amari, told me to just accept 5 people and charge more. I was quite upset at this time and told me how he, as an airbnb employee, told me to break my own rules. He apologized and then told me to cancel from my end, although I would be charged. I said I didn't want to do that since I don't want to get charged, and also I don't want to get penalized. He finally said he would escalate. And the next CX emailed me and said they could cancel reservations from their end.
Anita, you should call again and ask them to cancel from their end. I wouldn't trust the guest to show up without the dog.
Also, put in your house rules, that any rules that is broken will result in the loss of their damage/security deposit. Airbnb really needs to train their CX appropriately.
Reply Like 1 like
Deborah
Deboraha year ago
I agree with Peter and Jojo, Anita. The response you are getting from Airbnb is totally unacceptable. Ask to speak to that customer service person's supervisor. Keep going up until you get a satisfactory response. Be aware that the poor support you have received is not typical -- there have been many cases like this before and Airbnb sided with host and forced the guest to cancel. It is totally unacceptable that you should be told you have to accept the dog when your rules are clear that pets are not allowed.
In fact, you DO NOT have to accept the dog. If Airbnb won't force the guest to cancel, then tell the guest that you will happy to have her stay but be very clear that the dog will absolutely NOT be permitted upon the premises. Tell her that if she attempts to bring the dog in the police will be called and the dog will be removed from the premises. And keep your word on this, be prepared to be firm. Most likely, if your threat to keep good on this promise to not let the dog in is adequate, guest will be more likely to cancel her own reservation.
For protection for the future in incidents like this, I recommend adding this language to your house rules:
"In the case of significant violation of house rules, the reservation will be immediately terminated, and all fees paid will be forfeited."
Reply Like 1 like
Keith
Keitha year ago
If you get a bad review. Ask Airbnb to remove it. If the reason for the bad review was that the guest didn't read your policies and wants an exception that isn't something Airbnb should support. Since you were clear in your listing and offered the guest an opportunity to cancel you've done the right thing. It may also just work out. They may not bring their dog and may end up very happy.
Reply Like
Anita
Anitaa year ago
Yes, at this point I am indeed going to throw a fit with the airbnb rep if I do get a bad review from this guest....
I have no choice at this point but to go through with this reservation since I acquiesced (based on Airbnb's bad advice) to the guest's "saying" yesterday that she will "maybe keep her dog with the son" she is visiting. It is too late for me to back-track. I worry, but yes, it is possible everything will turn out ok.
Much appreciation to all of you...I will keep you'll posted.
--anita--
Reply Like
Deborah
Deboraha year ago
Anita, I hope everything goes okay.
I see it happening quite a bit that hosts are quite worried about bad reviews. Really we can't be held hostage to the possibility of bad reviews -- letting guests abuse us, because we are afraid of a bad review? Unable to confront a guest who brought over a visitor when we don't allow visitors, because we are afraid of that "bad review"? I suggest to hosts not to be so afraid that you cave. If a guest violates your house rules and then leaves a fictionalized story in a bad review, you can simply respond with the facts. Others reading the account will probably know what actually happened, if they have any sort of BS detector. So, folks dont' be so worried about the retaliatory reviews that you tolerate abuse out of fear!
Reply Like 3 replies•3 likes
Peter
Petera year ago
I agree with you, Deborah. However, in Anita's case, if she cancels, the consequences may be more than simply a bad review. Airbnb will penalize her in her search result ranking made by future Guests. This is because Airbnb wants to make sure that Hosts honor their bookings, so they made sure there's a cost for Hosts in terms of future earnings if they "misbehave." As anyone in tech commerce will tell you, if you don't appear on Page 1 of a search result, you are essentially in Siberia.
Deborah
Deboraha year ago
there is no need for Anita to cancel this reservation. All she needs to do is be very firm that the dog will not be allowed into the property. Airbnb absolutely can't tell hosts that if they do not allow pets and say so clearly, that they then have to allow pets if a guest shows up with one. No. Way.
Peter
Petera year ago
Deborah, your suggestion has merit since it avoids the Host having to cancel and thereby suffer the negative consequences of doing so. But, it also means that by waiting until the Guest arrives to resolve the issue, the Host is unable to find a replacement booking for those dates. Even if the Host has a strict cancellation policy, the most the Host can get after the Guest arrives with the dog, is denied entrance and cancels, is 50%. Wouldn't it be better, financially, for the Host who knows in advance that the Guest is going to violate the no pet policy, to have the reservation removed as soon as possible so that the Host can find a replacement Guest?
Santa Fe International Hostel
Santa Fe International Hostela year ago
If they are cancelled ... there will be NO review ...
Reply Like 1 like
Anita
Anitaa year ago
If a host cancels, there will the "automated" review that saying the host cancelled the guest's reservation. I am not sure how much that hurts in terms of the rankings though...
Thanks again.
--Anita--
Reply Like
Peter
Petera year ago
The following information appears on Airbnb describing what happens when the Host cancels (https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/166). Although it doesn't say anything about search rankings, that's my understanding from talking to Airbnb staff. However, the following excerpt does detail negative consequences to the Host for canceling.
"When a reservation’s status is Canceled, you’ll be recorded as the party responsible for initiating the cancellation in our system. Because host cancellations require additional customer support, and generate additional costs for securing last-minute accommodations, the following actions are applied:
An automatic review appears on your listing, indicating that a reservation was canceled. We encourage you to publicly respond to this automated review to clarify to the community why you needed to cancel.
Your calendar will remain blocked for the dates of the reservation. Our system does this automatically, to prevent another Airbnb guest from booking unavailable dates at your listing.
You may be subject to a cancellation fee, if you cancel more than once in a six-month period. This fee, taken from your next payout, will help offset the cost of securing last-minute accommodations for your guest. The fee will be $50 for each cancellation after one in a six-month period, or $100 for each cancellation after one in a six-month period, made on a reservation that begins in 7 days or less.
If you cancel before a reservation begins, your guest will receive a full refund and you will not receive a payout. If you cancel an active reservation, your cancellation policy will no longer determine your payout, and your guest will be fully refunded for every night that they did not stay in your space. You can make security deposit claims within 48 hours of the original checkout date."
Reply Like
All
Alla year ago
Ask the guest to cancel, and/or contact Airbnb and explain. You won't have to pay anything, since the guest violated your terms.