Block bad guest

(page 1 )

• Page 1
• Page 2

I would like to have a way to block a bad guest email and/or ip from hitting my website and booking. Some guests I just don't want back. Right now I allow guests to automatically book my condo. Im open to different ways to accomplish this other than sending an email that says I'm sorry my husband booked these dates and I didn't know.

Thanks.

Agreed, this would be a nice feature.  One that AB&B could use as well.  I only do request to book and no instant booking because of this.

I just ran into this and really need this feature.  Airbnb is saying they can't do this since I am API integrated and that I need to do this through my 3rd party app.;

Unfortunately, this isn't really possible.

IP addresses are commonly shared and reassigned regularly, so that, while it is indeed technically possible to block a particular IP address, it wouldn't likely actually block the desired target for very long and would likely block other people you didn't intend to.

It would also be possible to block specific email addresses from making a booking, but of course most people have multiple email addresses and getting a new one is fast and free, so that wouldn't be very effective either.

I’d be happy with blocking email. Would be better than nothing. 

Airbnb can do this if you are not API integrated, so they have a way to do it.  Airbnb support said since I'm API integrated, OR is responsible to present this feature option.  They were a bit shocked when I told them OR doesn't have the option.  Since this is an option for non-API integrated Airbnb hosts and Airbnb is expecting OR to offer this feature, I would assume the code is in the API and OR just needs to code the access and presentation into the OR website.  This would not be at an IP level...it would be at the guest user level.

It can’t be that hard. And I think people are creatures of habit, and just use the same email so it’s at least better than nothing

We have confirmed that Airbnb's API integration includes no support for this feature, so, it is not possible for us to make use of it.

I agree this would be a great feature.  We have low cost, extraordinary properties in in-demand locations, and often sell out.  We like to block guests who leave tepid or vindictive reviews from future booking, on the theory that we really only want to be matched with guests who dig our style, and don't need the anxiety.  Just a "no thank you" button.

It's pretty crazy that a guest can review you poorly, and then still repeatedly book your place during peak season.  Nope, I'll see if someone else wants those dates.

What about VRBO?

No, the Vrbo API doesn't support any such feature either, unfortunately.

What about direct bookings through OR? I have a guest who has broken rules and I do not want returning to our Inns. They booked directly through OR, yet I still can't block them? 

As discussed above, it's not possible to reliably block a guest even from direct bookings, and not possible at all for the channels, so any such "block" function wouldn't work more than half the time.  This would create even more confusion and frustration than the current situation.

We do recommend using a "Bad Guest" tag on their contact info, which would provide some potential for awareness and action if they tried to book again.

While it isn't ideal, I already have Ken's idea implemented. Whenever I have a guest that I'd prefer not to rent to again, I tag them as a "Problem Guest". Then I have a booking trigger that will send me an email if they book again.

I haven't had a problem guest try to book again yet, so don't know if my trigger will actually work. If they do, then I would just cancel the reservation and let them know they're not welcome based on their previous stay.

Most of the time the feeling is mutual so I don't really expect many of them to try booking again. Having a way to point them out if they do is nice, but simply blocking them would be better. That way we don't incur credit card fees that are kept by the merchants. Integration with AirBnb and Vrbo would also be nice because then we wouldn't incur any negative consequences of canceling a reservation, though I would think both would waive this if we show good reason for the cancelation. This would probably be easy as there would be documentation of it from the previous booking via that channel.

I agree.  This is very much needed.  We also have guests who we do not ever wish to have back. 

Ken, 

Before integration I am pretty sure Airbnb had a "block" feature that would prevent a guest from interacting with the host, by messages or otherwise (direct booking).  Are you sure there is no potential integration at this level?  They may say you cannot prevent a direct booking but there may be a way to simply cut the guest off from any interactions.

It seems like a manual option in the guest record then a simple flag for any guest that comes through with same or very similar parameters (i.e. name, email, phone number, address, etc.) would be very simple to implement. Host/owner can determine on their own if they want to force cancel the booking, or not accept. 

I just had a guest via Airbnb inquire if one of my units would accommodate their super-sensitivity to noise, so I looked them up and read their reviews and reviews of them, and found a number of negative ones going both ways on various issues. My passive solution to blocking them without any potentially unpleasant reply from them was to block the dates they inquired about so that if they do go to book, they will find them unavailable.

Nevertheless, I just looked for this because I would also like to make sure that no guests I tag as problem guests can book, either via Airbnb or direct.

It frankly doesn't make sense to me that this can't be done. Via Airbnb, each guest has an ID #, so I can only imagine that's how it's done.

And it does seem that if Airbnb can do it for non-API connected hosts, what can be the difference — since that blocking originates from Airbnb, not OR? Something isn't computing.

Regarding bad guests trying to book direct, 99% of the time they're going to be going by the same names, email addresses and phone numbers, so I can't see how variables in those regards would typically be an issue. It also seems that OR's database software has an ID for each guest to go by in order to block them.

How did you set up your trigger? I don't see any way to base a trigger around the "problem guest" flag, name or any other piece of data. Thanks

**EDIT: Never mind! I found it. 

VPNs can mask IP Addresses. IP address blocking isn't really useful in todays world.

Email addresses can easily be spoofed or you can just get a free one for single use like a hotel booking.

You could block a specific credit card, but it won't stop them from using another credit card and probably won't work on Virtual Credit card numbers offered by most credit card companies.

If you have this problem with specific guests, you can't really stop them if you allow instant book.  

Even if you don't allow instant book, they can just ask a friend to book for them. 

You'll have to have your guest check in with staff and monitor people going in and out of rooms to stop this. Not very useful.

One potential solution would be to use internet connected cameras with facial recognition. Then you can tell the system to text you if the person you don't want on the property is present and found on the cameras. This way you can kick them off the property and log a police report with documented evidence for a trespassing complaint.

WYZE cameras are cheap and they have decent facial recognition. You can get real time alerts when a specific person is seen on your property.  They call this FRIENDLY FACES right now but you can use it to identify people you don't want around as well as long as you've gotten a good picture of the person's face first.  (Social media accounts provide plenty of pictures of people that you can train your AI facial recognition with).