Air BnB

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I’ve never used Air BnB before and I my first experience has been frustrating.

First one replied unavailable but it’s showing on other sites and still comes up on Air BnB for the dates we want. Second was sending messages back and forth re who were we the fact the hadn’t used Air BnB before etc, took hours to reply then the request timed out and the dates are now not available. The third I booked immediately with no correspondence but it’s not ideal so tried to book a nicer one. And that one hasn’t responded. Is is normal to be ghosted ie to the second one. Is this all because we don’t normally use Air BnB? Fed up with it...

And the last one has responded that the dates are unavailable. Is this normal, bad luck or because we’re air bnb virgins?

The next one I messaged has at least said you have no info. So after replying in detail about us I wonder if she will accept our booking...

The lack of reviews will put some hosts off especially if you're staying in their home rather than a self contained property. Assuming you're staying in their home think about what info you
Would want if you were going to host a stranger in your home and start with that.

I used to be a host and never took anyone without reviews as had a really bad experience the first time I did… sorry realise that’s tough for genuine people but think you just happened to pick airbnbs like mine, lots do take people with no reviews.

Have you uploaded your ID? If you don't have any feedback from previous stays that might help. Sometimes when people have behaved badly they re-register with a new account so no history can make hosts jumpy.

So, with Airbnb the travellers are expected to have reviews? Sounds a bit like China monitoring its people

Try booking.com

I have been using Air BnB for years as a guest and owner and I have never had any issues. I have 2 weekend breaks and a 10 day holiday booked this year and it’s been easy to book.
I am fully registered on there though so I suppose it’s easy to owners to see that I’m a regular with no bad reviews etc

Use VRBO - quite often the properties are on both sites and it's a lot more straightforward for booking.

If you’re going for listings of houses managed by the owners yes it’s common that they don’t accept you if you don’t have ratings, they need to make sure you’re legitimate and are not going to misbehave
There are lots of properties managed by companies, they are less likely to care about your ratings - we once stayed in a lovely independent hotel that used air bnb to advertise…
If you’re having issues being new to the site, go for the ones managed by companies until you get your ratings up
Remember air bnb started as a way to travel for cheap staying at peoples houses, spare rooms or when they were out for the weekend, so of course they want to check who goes into their house

I uploaded my drivers license yesterday as it requested that. I’ve tried vrbo and booking.com but they don’t have anything close to where we have relatives staying, in an air bnb....
One of the ones that said it was unavailable keeps popping up on other sites, I did ask him why but our dates go into September and he said it’s only available July and August.
With the most recent one I’ve requested I’ve directed her to my public professional FB page and company website showing photos of both my husband and I. So we’ll see if she approves.

@topcat2014

So, with Airbnb the travellers are expected to have reviews? Sounds a bit like China monitoring its people

Yes because traditional Airbnb is paying to stay in a room in someone's home. It's quite reasonable to check reviews, they go both ways.

We would normally stay in a hotel abroad it’s only because we have relatives nearby who we want to stay near to I’m using air bnb. When booking holiday homes in the uk I’ve always used companies. The one that ghosted me has pissed me off the most as I was totally transparent with my replies to him and ignoring me is just rude IMO.

Unfortunately with Airbnb you aren't dealing with professional hosts. If someone doesn't respond within 24-48 hrs, it's not a property I'd have confidence staying at. I think some of the time some of the places don't even exist or are only on to be rented out when owners on holiday.
There's no point taking it personally though.

I very very clearly stated on my rules I didn’t take anyone with reviews and to be honest stopped replying to the multiple messages from people without asking to stay as I figured if they can’t even read the rules I don’t want them staying!

None of them state they don’t rent to people with no reviews. The one who ghosted me did have a long list of rules so maybe we dodged a bullet, keep windows closed at night, make sure you’ve dried off from the pool before entering the house etc etc.I know they don’t know but we are a considerate family and would do these things anyway. I’m surprised it’s been so hard,

I'd advise picking superhost properties only. One of the criteria is response time. Some hosts are shit at replying but they won't ever get superhost.

And we have confirmation! Hopefully she won’t cancel at the last minute and we will have a lovely relaxing family holiday. Our first since oct 2019. Thanks for all your responses I was totally tearing my hair out