We have been airbnb/VRBO hosts since November 2014. Yesterday we encountered a strange situation with a guest attempting to book with us via airbnb. I tried to decline them, but the site wouldn’t allow it, showing the dates were blocked (with “pending verification”). I called airbnb and they stated that the guest was still unverified and she needed to submit her online profile (and she has 12 hours to complete this, which ties up my calendar so that no one else can book during this time). Of course, I asked every question you can think of from “how is this possible?” to “how can I decline her now, so my calendar is open again for the next prospective tenant?”. All I got was that they understood that it was frustrating, but that’s the way it is. I had to wait 12 hours for the calendar to be freed up. Then, this morning the guest tried again – same problem all over again! For whatever reason, her profile wasn’t completed (or wasn’t being approved quickly) and our calendar was again tied up for 12 hours! I have had 4 conversations with 4 different airbnb customer service reps since yesterday, to no avail. They simply allow unverified guests who request a reservation before they’re verified, to tie up your calendar, therefore blocking anyone else from those same dates. The crazy thing is that your calendar is tied up, even if you’re just going to decline the guest anyway – you just have to wait to do it ! We haven’t had any trouble with VRBO – in fact, we used to think we’d like airbnb better, but VRBO wins by a landslide! We’ve had better experiences and we’ve gotten several more times the guests via VRBO than airbnb. We are seriously considering dropping airbnb altogether and just working with VRBO!
VRBO has worked much better for me too. I cannot wait until I can completely phase out airbnb. They are such liars and hypocrites.