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Required Field
You came here because you want to review us. We respect your views, your insights and we are committed to always improving. Please share if we were remarkable and if so why.
Required Field
Instant Booking is one of the features hosts don’t really have an option with. Airbnb gives you another option where guests can first discuss a booking. But still, you cannot decline if you don’t have a very good reason. And guests don’t like being rejected when your calendar shows availability. And if we cancel the hosts will never keep their status as a SuperHost (see more).
Instant book has two possible aspects:
Let’s get to the details:
Read Why Are You Not Keeping Us Informed On The Pipeline Of Bookings?
What the above means is that everything works extremely well if the agent can ensure 100% calendar integrity. As agents or hosts, we cannot do our business best without instant booking.
Here’s a typical email from a worried owner.
Just one question. With instant booking, how do we vet the client?
I would first like to find out who they are etc. I have heard nightmare stories of houses being let and then the owners not being able to get the short term tenants out again.
Can I opt out of the Instant Booking option?
Guests who can book instantly must:
Guest Requirements
If you turn on this requirement, you’ll be able to see guests’ profile photos after a booking is confirmed, but not before. It’s turned on.
Require guests to submit government ID to Airbnb in order to Instant Book. If they don’t meet this requirement, they will send a request instead.
You can decide to restrict guests with children from booking if there are features that are dangerous for children or there’s a risk of property damage. Learn more
You can limit guests from bringing pets, but you must reasonably accommodate guests that might bring an assistant animal. Learn more
Win Unhassles Airbnb eBook & Plus Advice Worth R10000
This is not the question you should ask CapeHolidays. We suggest you read what our guests and owner have to say about us.
The short answer: NO!
This is a common concern for new owners. As we implement our trust-building phase we use competitive rates to attract reluctant guests to stay and get reviews at the new accommodation.
The Consequences of AirBnB’s Commoditization On Rates
It’s only after new owners become familiar with the painful reality and impact of AirBnB’s commoditization of the short term accommodation market, that they change their mind about our rate setting philosophy.
After this introduction let me address the concern about low rates equaling bad guests.
When we talk about low rates to buy trust we are talking about competitive rates only and not Rock-bottom rates.
As you know, we don’t have the accommodation seeker’s trust yet, and we must use our only effective driver, namely rates, to overcome resistance to book.
The guests who book initially are the same guest who may pay premium rate tomorrow. But with no reviews (trust) forget it.
Only a remarkable holiday home at a bargain will do.
In the market we operate, guests are not poor.
Let me make a statement based on experience.
Even if the rates are competitive you still get great guests.
Now let me share why I say this:
The real risk is not bad guests but rather uneducated guests. With today’s social media profiles guests cannot hide any longer.
We started our business in 2009. This was before social media. And many people left homes untidy as there was no recourse. Even owners got away with shoddy offerings.
Today Your Social Profile Is A Valuable Asset.
When a guest book and stay they review us. And these positive reviews made us SuperHosts. Trust! As guests depart we review them. And they establish trusting profile overtime. Today we all know the consequences of a bad review for both parties.
Let me repeat: Even if the rate is competitive no guests will risk getting a bad review knowing other hosts will not approve them with a bad previous review.
The only risk for us is first time users on Airbnb. Unfortunately, they are not familiar with the implications of getting a bad review and how it impacts their future ability to use Airbnb. And some of them, ignorantly, will not leave the property in the same clean state they received it.
When they get hit with a bad review they never again treat any Airbnb place poorly. And if they do they get blocked.
Our challenge is to make it as difficult for new guests to book without first qualifying (See Forbes article above) them and then we educate them on what we expect.
To answer the question: No. Competitive rates are not the cause of bad guests. Bad guests are mostly new guests unfamiliar with their responsibility.
Load-shedding affects us all negatively. And Airbnb guests are frustrated. Obviously we can see load-shedding as a curse or we can do better than our Airbnb host next door in making guests happier than they ever expected.
Unfortunately, the load-shedding curse has consequences; if you are not interested in fixing the issues it will negatively affect your income. It may even cause your house to burn down. And we had such a close encounter yesterday. Luck was on our side.
“When the power came back on, after load-shedding, there was a power surge that sparked an electrical fire in the main bedroom. Thanks to the quick responses from Security and the fire department the house is ok. The main bedroom has water and smoke damage as the carpet caught alight. Beyond that, all seems OK”.
Even though this could have been a major disaster; quick action by many roleplayers prevented a calamity. And it was great to get the owner sharing the following with us:
Elmarie,
Thank goodness I have the best team ever, I appreciate all you are doing to get us back in business.It was quite a shock to read what happened. I had no idea about Surge adapters and will now investigate what they are and if I need them anywhere else.
Instant Booking is one of the features hosts don’t really have an option with. Airbnb gives you another option where guests can first discuss a booking. But still, you cannot decline if you don’t have a very good reason. And guests don’t like being rejected when your calendar shows availability. And if we cancel the hosts will never keep their status as a SuperHost (see more).
Instant book has two possible aspects:
Let’s get to the details:
Read Why Are You Not Keeping Us Informed On The Pipeline Of Bookings?
What the above means is that everything works extremely well if the agent can ensure 100% calendar integrity. As agents or hosts, we cannot do our business best without instant booking.
Here’s a typical email from a worried owner.
Just one question. With instant booking, how do we vet the client?
I would first like to find out who they are etc. I have heard nightmare stories of houses being let and then the owners not being able to get the short term tenants out again.
Can I opt out of the Instant Booking option?
Guests who can book instantly must:
Guest Requirements
If you turn on this requirement, you’ll be able to see guests’ profile photos after a booking is confirmed, but not before. It’s turned on.
Require guests to submit government ID to Airbnb in order to Instant Book. If they don’t meet this requirement, they will send a request instead.
You can decide to restrict guests with children from booking if there are features that are dangerous for children or there’s a risk of property damage. Learn more
You can limit guests from bringing pets, but you must reasonably accommodate guests that might bring an assistant animal. Learn more
Win Unhassles Airbnb eBook & Plus Advice Worth R10000
New Airbnb owners should be aware of the hosting risks of Airbnb and do something to limit it.
NOTE: In general, you may never even encounter any of these issues. Reading about these risks may scare many owners. If that is the case then you make take this as an absolute. It’s not. The risks are very low.
Let’s consider a list of risks of hosting Airbnb guests and solutions here:
Win Unhassles Airbnb eBook & Plus Advice Worth R10000
The short answer: NO!
This is a common concern for new owners. As we implement our trust-building phase we use competitive rates to attract reluctant guests to stay and get reviews at the new accommodation.
The Consequences of AirBnB’s Commoditization On Rates
It’s only after new owners become familiar with the painful reality and impact of AirBnB’s commoditization of the short term accommodation market, that they change their mind about our rate setting philosophy.
After this introduction let me address the concern about low rates equaling bad guests.
When we talk about low rates to buy trust we are talking about competitive rates only and not Rock-bottom rates.
As you know, we don’t have the accommodation seeker’s trust yet, and we must use our only effective driver, namely rates, to overcome resistance to book.
The guests who book initially are the same guest who may pay premium rate tomorrow. But with no reviews (trust) forget it.
Only a remarkable holiday home at a bargain will do.
In the market we operate, guests are not poor.
Let me make a statement based on experience.
Even if the rates are competitive you still get great guests.
Now let me share why I say this:
The real risk is not bad guests but rather uneducated guests. With today’s social media profiles guests cannot hide any longer.
We started our business in 2009. This was before social media. And many people left homes untidy as there was no recourse. Even owners got away with shoddy offerings.
Today Your Social Profile Is A Valuable Asset.
When a guest book and stay they review us. And these positive reviews made us SuperHosts. Trust! As guests depart we review them. And they establish trusting profile overtime. Today we all know the consequences of a bad review for both parties.
Let me repeat: Even if the rate is competitive no guests will risk getting a bad review knowing other hosts will not approve them with a bad previous review.
The only risk for us is first time users on Airbnb. Unfortunately, they are not familiar with the implications of getting a bad review and how it impacts their future ability to use Airbnb. And some of them, ignorantly, will not leave the property in the same clean state they received it.
When they get hit with a bad review they never again treat any Airbnb place poorly. And if they do they get blocked.
Our challenge is to make it as difficult for new guests to book without first qualifying (See Forbes article above) them and then we educate them on what we expect.
To answer the question: No. Competitive rates are not the cause of bad guests. Bad guests are mostly new guests unfamiliar with their responsibility.
Underestimate The Ingenuity of Complete Fools.
Instant Booking is one of the features hosts don’t really have an option with. Airbnb gives you another option where guests can first discuss a booking. But still, you cannot decline if you don’t have a very good reason. And guests don’t like being rejected when your calendar shows availability. And if we cancel the hosts will never keep their status as a SuperHost (see more).
Instant book has two possible aspects:
Let’s get to the details:
Read Why Are You Not Keeping Us Informed On The Pipeline Of Bookings?
What the above means is that everything works extremely well if the agent can ensure 100% calendar integrity. As agents or hosts, we cannot do our business best without instant booking.
Here’s a typical email from a worried owner.
Just one question. With instant booking, how do we vet the client?
I would first like to find out who they are etc. I have heard nightmare stories of houses being let and then the owners not being able to get the short term tenants out again.
Can I opt out of the Instant Booking option?
Guests who can book instantly must:
Guest Requirements
If you turn on this requirement, you’ll be able to see guests’ profile photos after a booking is confirmed, but not before. It’s turned on.
Require guests to submit government ID to Airbnb in order to Instant Book. If they don’t meet this requirement, they will send a request instead.
You can decide to restrict guests with children from booking if there are features that are dangerous for children or there’s a risk of property damage. Learn more
You can limit guests from bringing pets, but you must reasonably accommodate guests that might bring an assistant animal. Learn more
Win Unhassles Airbnb eBook & Plus Advice Worth R10000
A few owners only want occasional bookings and not interested in maximising income.
Yes. We can assist you.
Some Cape Town Accommodation owners only want to get one, two or three bookings during the year. And nothing more.
We just need to agree to a different T&Cs (see it here) for your specific needs.
These owners either;
These owners keep the home for their own use or no use during the year and make certain dates exclusively available to CapeHolidays. Agency.CapeHolidays.info are 100% responsible for bookings during this time and the owner will honour all bookings during the agreed availability period. See the consequences and responsibilities for Instant Bookings.
Owners who don’t live in their homes during the year may want the management of their accommodation while they are not here; our T&Cs do not provide for this function. And these owners will need to discuss their needs with us clearly to understand their needs and agree on the management fee to oversee the home during the empty time.
Can You Assist if I only want occasional bookings? Read this FAQ.
Underestimate The Ingenuity of Complete Fools.
Instant Booking is one of the features hosts don’t really have an option with. Airbnb gives you another option where guests can first discuss a booking. But still, you cannot decline if you don’t have a very good reason. And guests don’t like being rejected when your calendar shows availability. And if we cancel the hosts will never keep their status as a SuperHost (see more).
Instant book has two possible aspects:
Let’s get to the details:
Read Why Are You Not Keeping Us Informed On The Pipeline Of Bookings?
What the above means is that everything works extremely well if the agent can ensure 100% calendar integrity. As agents or hosts, we cannot do our business best without instant booking.
Here’s a typical email from a worried owner.
Just one question. With instant booking, how do we vet the client?
I would first like to find out who they are etc. I have heard nightmare stories of houses being let and then the owners not being able to get the short term tenants out again.
Can I opt out of the Instant Booking option?
Guests who can book instantly must:
Guest Requirements
If you turn on this requirement, you’ll be able to see guests’ profile photos after a booking is confirmed, but not before. It’s turned on.
Require guests to submit government ID to Airbnb in order to Instant Book. If they don’t meet this requirement, they will send a request instead.
You can decide to restrict guests with children from booking if there are features that are dangerous for children or there’s a risk of property damage. Learn more
You can limit guests from bringing pets, but you must reasonably accommodate guests that might bring an assistant animal. Learn more
Win Unhassles Airbnb eBook & Plus Advice Worth R10000
If the owner ensures the calendar is always correct there is no reasonable-justification, for the owner, to cancel; other than for extenuating circumstance (Acts of God).
Therefore clause 3.3 in our T&CS should never be an issue. This clause, however, will ensure owners who may not have the best intentions stay honest. And is that not one reason for an agreement; to keep the bad guys honest?
The quick answer is you can not cancel any booking. And not reporting unavailability to us for whatever reason has serious consequences.
Here’s the long version:
Risk. As you know all businesses have some risk. Even though these risks have an extremely low probability please take note.
One of the risks is what’s called Instant Bookings. Instant bookings increase the chance for bookings.
When guests meet set criteria they can instant-book. And we cannot cancel as we will face severe penalties. Not only is there a cost involved but we can easily lose our SuperHost status.
When an owner agrees to our terms and conditions we share this risk and must limit it.
We, therefore, must indicate to owners, who may not take this seriously, the risk and consequences.
Let me quote the Terms and Conditions:
3.3 If the OWNER cancels or cannot host as agreed, a confirmed booking, a penalty of US$1500 will be paid by the OWNER to the AGENT and the OWNER will be kept liable for any additional losses incurred by the guest who made the booking and any losses occurred by the AGENT, excluding ‘Acts of God’.
The loss, when the owner rejects a confirmed booking, is not measured only in monetary terms. No. The cost to lose our SuperHost status is not quantifiable.
Booking.Com makes it more difficult.
Booking.com says that if you cancel a confirmed booking, you must find alternative accommodation for the guests. If you cannot they will find similar accommodation, and if the rates are higher then you will be liable to pay the cost to relocate the guest.
Therefore, we, explicitly, share with the owner the risks and consequences of rejecting a confirmed booking.
How often does this happen?
Well, infrequently, but we have had one or two peak only owners who have asked us to market and then remove their homes from the market, without notifying us when it happens. In these cases, we accidentally learned about it. Next time we may not be that lucky.
The risks are low as long as owners inform us of changes well in advance.
Win Unhassles Airbnb eBook & Plus Advice Worth R10000
New Airbnb owners should be aware of the hosting risks of Airbnb and do something to limit it.
NOTE: In general, you may never even encounter any of these issues. Reading about these risks may scare many owners. If that is the case then you make take this as an absolute. It’s not. The risks are very low.
Let’s consider a list of risks of hosting Airbnb guests and solutions here:
Win Unhassles Airbnb eBook & Plus Advice Worth R10000
This is not the question you should ask CapeHolidays. We suggest you read what our guests and owner have to say about us.
Instant Booking is one of the features hosts don’t really have an option with. Airbnb gives you another option where guests can first discuss a booking. But still, you cannot decline if you don’t have a very good reason. And guests don’t like being rejected when your calendar shows availability. And if we cancel the hosts will never keep their status as a SuperHost (see more).
Instant book has two possible aspects:
Let’s get to the details:
Read Why Are You Not Keeping Us Informed On The Pipeline Of Bookings?
What the above means is that everything works extremely well if the agent can ensure 100% calendar integrity. As agents or hosts, we cannot do our business best without instant booking.
Here’s a typical email from a worried owner.
Just one question. With instant booking, how do we vet the client?
I would first like to find out who they are etc. I have heard nightmare stories of houses being let and then the owners not being able to get the short term tenants out again.
Can I opt out of the Instant Booking option?
Guests who can book instantly must:
Guest Requirements
If you turn on this requirement, you’ll be able to see guests’ profile photos after a booking is confirmed, but not before. It’s turned on.
Require guests to submit government ID to Airbnb in order to Instant Book. If they don’t meet this requirement, they will send a request instead.
You can decide to restrict guests with children from booking if there are features that are dangerous for children or there’s a risk of property damage. Learn more
You can limit guests from bringing pets, but you must reasonably accommodate guests that might bring an assistant animal. Learn more
Win Unhassles Airbnb eBook & Plus Advice Worth R10000
If the owner ensures the calendar is always correct there is no reasonable-justification, for the owner, to cancel; other than for extenuating circumstance (Acts of God).
Therefore clause 3.3 in our T&CS should never be an issue. This clause, however, will ensure owners who may not have the best intentions stay honest. And is that not one reason for an agreement; to keep the bad guys honest?
The quick answer is you can not cancel any booking. And not reporting unavailability to us for whatever reason has serious consequences.
Here’s the long version:
Risk. As you know all businesses have some risk. Even though these risks have an extremely low probability please take note.
One of the risks is what’s called Instant Bookings. Instant bookings increase the chance for bookings.
When guests meet set criteria they can instant-book. And we cannot cancel as we will face severe penalties. Not only is there a cost involved but we can easily lose our SuperHost status.
When an owner agrees to our terms and conditions we share this risk and must limit it.
We, therefore, must indicate to owners, who may not take this seriously, the risk and consequences.
Let me quote the Terms and Conditions:
3.3 If the OWNER cancels or cannot host as agreed, a confirmed booking, a penalty of US$1500 will be paid by the OWNER to the AGENT and the OWNER will be kept liable for any additional losses incurred by the guest who made the booking and any losses occurred by the AGENT, excluding ‘Acts of God’.
The loss, when the owner rejects a confirmed booking, is not measured only in monetary terms. No. The cost to lose our SuperHost status is not quantifiable.
Booking.Com makes it more difficult.
Booking.com says that if you cancel a confirmed booking, you must find alternative accommodation for the guests. If you cannot they will find similar accommodation, and if the rates are higher then you will be liable to pay the cost to relocate the guest.
Therefore, we, explicitly, share with the owner the risks and consequences of rejecting a confirmed booking.
How often does this happen?
Well, infrequently, but we have had one or two peak only owners who have asked us to market and then remove their homes from the market, without notifying us when it happens. In these cases, we accidentally learned about it. Next time we may not be that lucky.
The risks are low as long as owners inform us of changes well in advance.
Win Unhassles Airbnb eBook & Plus Advice Worth R10000
New Airbnb owners should be aware of the hosting risks of Airbnb and do something to limit it.
NOTE: In general, you may never even encounter any of these issues. Reading about these risks may scare many owners. If that is the case then you make take this as an absolute. It’s not. The risks are very low.
Let’s consider a list of risks of hosting Airbnb guests and solutions here:
Win Unhassles Airbnb eBook & Plus Advice Worth R10000
This is not the question you should ask CapeHolidays. We suggest you read what our guests and owner have to say about us.
Instant Booking is one of the features hosts don’t really have an option with. Airbnb gives you another option where guests can first discuss a booking. But still, you cannot decline if you don’t have a very good reason. And guests don’t like being rejected when your calendar shows availability. And if we cancel the hosts will never keep their status as a SuperHost (see more).
Instant book has two possible aspects:
Let’s get to the details:
Read Why Are You Not Keeping Us Informed On The Pipeline Of Bookings?
What the above means is that everything works extremely well if the agent can ensure 100% calendar integrity. As agents or hosts, we cannot do our business best without instant booking.
Here’s a typical email from a worried owner.
Just one question. With instant booking, how do we vet the client?
I would first like to find out who they are etc. I have heard nightmare stories of houses being let and then the owners not being able to get the short term tenants out again.
Can I opt out of the Instant Booking option?
Guests who can book instantly must:
Guest Requirements
If you turn on this requirement, you’ll be able to see guests’ profile photos after a booking is confirmed, but not before. It’s turned on.
Require guests to submit government ID to Airbnb in order to Instant Book. If they don’t meet this requirement, they will send a request instead.
You can decide to restrict guests with children from booking if there are features that are dangerous for children or there’s a risk of property damage. Learn more
You can limit guests from bringing pets, but you must reasonably accommodate guests that might bring an assistant animal. Learn more
Win Unhassles Airbnb eBook & Plus Advice Worth R10000
If the owner ensures the calendar is always correct there is no reasonable-justification, for the owner, to cancel; other than for extenuating circumstance (Acts of God).
Therefore clause 3.3 in our T&CS should never be an issue. This clause, however, will ensure owners who may not have the best intentions stay honest. And is that not one reason for an agreement; to keep the bad guys honest?
The quick answer is you can not cancel any booking. And not reporting unavailability to us for whatever reason has serious consequences.
Here’s the long version:
Risk. As you know all businesses have some risk. Even though these risks have an extremely low probability please take note.
One of the risks is what’s called Instant Bookings. Instant bookings increase the chance for bookings.
When guests meet set criteria they can instant-book. And we cannot cancel as we will face severe penalties. Not only is there a cost involved but we can easily lose our SuperHost status.
When an owner agrees to our terms and conditions we share this risk and must limit it.
We, therefore, must indicate to owners, who may not take this seriously, the risk and consequences.
Let me quote the Terms and Conditions:
3.3 If the OWNER cancels or cannot host as agreed, a confirmed booking, a penalty of US$1500 will be paid by the OWNER to the AGENT and the OWNER will be kept liable for any additional losses incurred by the guest who made the booking and any losses occurred by the AGENT, excluding ‘Acts of God’.
The loss, when the owner rejects a confirmed booking, is not measured only in monetary terms. No. The cost to lose our SuperHost status is not quantifiable.
Booking.Com makes it more difficult.
Booking.com says that if you cancel a confirmed booking, you must find alternative accommodation for the guests. If you cannot they will find similar accommodation, and if the rates are higher then you will be liable to pay the cost to relocate the guest.
Therefore, we, explicitly, share with the owner the risks and consequences of rejecting a confirmed booking.
How often does this happen?
Well, infrequently, but we have had one or two peak only owners who have asked us to market and then remove their homes from the market, without notifying us when it happens. In these cases, we accidentally learned about it. Next time we may not be that lucky.
The risks are low as long as owners inform us of changes well in advance.
Win Unhassles Airbnb eBook & Plus Advice Worth R10000
New Airbnb owners should be aware of the hosting risks of Airbnb and do something to limit it.
NOTE: In general, you may never even encounter any of these issues. Reading about these risks may scare many owners. If that is the case then you make take this as an absolute. It’s not. The risks are very low.
Let’s consider a list of risks of hosting Airbnb guests and solutions here:
Win Unhassles Airbnb eBook & Plus Advice Worth R10000
This is not the question you should ask CapeHolidays. We suggest you read what our guests and owner have to say about us.