@Christie155 While it is known that partiers will often target new listings, assuming the host is green and they'll be able to get away with things, no, this isn't the normal thing just because you are new.
Most hosts start out hosting assuming that they'll get nice guests who will care for the property as you would, appreciating all you've put into it.
So the first thing you have to do is adjust your attitude and realize that these are complete strangers you know nothing about, someone who just clicked a few buttons online and boom, they have a booking.
To me, ratings are not nearly as telling as written reviews and the way the guest communicates with you via messaging.
Hosts who don't use Instant Book, and require all guests to send requests for the host to approve, aren't even privy to the star ratings- we can't see them.
When you read written reviews, there are things to look for and sometimes coded phrases that hosts use. A review that says " Guests were okay", means they weren't- the host had nothing good to say, or they would have, but for some reason didn't want to be more detailed.
You can also dismiss generic reviews which tell you nothing, like "Nice guests". Those are usually written by property managers who may never actually meet the guests, and as long as they didn't burn the place down, they are all reviewed as "Nice guests".
It is crucial that you communicate with guests when they book, make sure they have thoroughly read everything on your listing, are aware of the house rules, have entered the correct amount of guests who will be coming, and are clear that unregistered guests will not be admitted and that ignoring this will lead to eviction.
If you get a sense of something off, trust your instinct- it will almost always be correct.
And you have to be prepared to act if guests behave badly. It's your home, not theirs.
Don't furnish with high end stuff- guests are hard on things. Don't buy "sets" of dishes or bedding that will be useless if someone breaks a piece or ruins it. Stick to dishes you can buy by the piece, like Ikea dishware, or maybe multi-colored dishes where if a guest breaks a green bowl, you could replace it with a blue one.
Have washable slipcovers on upholstered furniture.
Become a reader of this forum and learn from other hosts'experience. Use the search function to look for specific topics, like red flags in guest messages, so you can vet guests better.
Things like a parent letting their child draw all over everything is hard to prevent ahead of time, that's just total disrespect. But there might have been some red flags in her messages that you weren't attuned to, maybe. Or maybe not.
