AirBnB sent a warning of suspension

[Aron-And-Collin0]

We have had to decline a few reservations in a row due to new registration to Airbnb with no reviews.  One was a unit that wouldn't work for the guest (we are not pet friendly) and two of them were for the exact number of days(37), dates, unit, and number of guests. These two requests were sent on two consecutive days.  It started to seem like a scam. Because of our policy towards newly registered members with no reviews and the length of these requests, we were not comfortable with them.  Then I get the email:

You declined your last 3 reservation requests. Keep in mind that hosts who decline an excessive number of reservation requests may have their listings suspended and removed from search results. Learn more

Do I need to worry that I am going to be forced to host someone I am not comfortable with just to stay listed?

[Colleen253]

@Aron-And-Collin0 "Do I need to worry that I am going to be forced to host someone I am not comfortable with just to stay listed?"

Airbnb loves to instill fear into hosts, and intimidate them into taking all comers, no matter the cost to the host. The best thing to do with inappropriate requests is direct them to withdraw their request, so you don't have to decline.

[Anonymous]

@Aron-And-Collin0   Airbnb has never clarified at what point a host's Acceptance Rate can trigger a suspension, so as @Colleen253  noted, this is mostly a hollow intimidation tactic. But even the worst case scenario of having your listings suspended is not nearly as bad as the worst case scenario of allowing the wrong people into your home against your better judgment. 

That said, while you had sound reasons to decline these particular guests, I wouldn't recommend declining future bookings solely on the basis of being new/unreviewed profiles. It makes sense to hold these profiles up to higher scrutiny, but a legitimate first-time guest should have some kind of pathway to acceptance - for example, earning your trust with the quality of their correspondence and completing their profile text and verifications. 

[Sarah977]

@Aron-And-Collin0  I agree with Andrew about not simply rejecting guests because they have no reviews. 

Some history of good reviews makes sense if it is an Instant Book, because the host has no opportunity to communicate with the guest before accepting a booking. But with a request, you can dialogue with the guest to get a sense of them, ask questions make sure they have read your listing and house rules, etc.

I really don't understand how hosts expect a guest to ever get accepted and get some reviews, if they think all guests without reviews should be declined. How would it be if guests never booked a new listing with no reviews? There wouldn't be any hosts at all.

[Aron-And-Collin0]

We do host some without reviews, the ones we look at more closely are the ones that were just created and this particular one was for over a month and did not give any expiration for their visit (as we request when they ask to book).  When the request to book is sketchy is when we do not accept.  We have instant book on and when they do not have reviews we need to approve or not.  We frequently do accept them.  Back to topic on the concern of being suspended, please.  There were other reasons (as stated) for them being denied.

[Sarah977]

@Aron-And-Collin0  Yes, it's ridiculous that hosts should get warnings of suspension for declining requests that are inappropriate for some reason. There should be two categories of declines- one for the requests where they are asking for something you clearly don't provide or allow, and another for ones you just don't feel like accepting because you don't like the way they are communicating, or sense that they'll be trouble. The ones where they are asking for an exception to your rules, or just telling you they are bringing their dog when you have a no pets listing, shouldn't be penalized in any way.

The best thing to do with requests you don't want to accept is to try to get them to withdraw the request before the clock runs out and you have to decline.

Make it sound like it's to their advantage. "I'm sorry, but as you can see from the listing, we can only accommodate 4 guests- we aren't set up for 6 and it would void our insurance and fire regulations. I suggest you withdraw this request ASAP so you will be free to find a listing that can accommodate your group."

[Brian2036]

@Aron-And-Collin0 

I agree that the two 37-day requests are suspicious and if they are uncommunicative and unrated I wouldn’t want to host them.

 I don’t accept guests for longer than 28 days because my insurance company won’t allow it.

There are other valid reasons but insurance is always a handy excuse.

We probably need some other passive-agressive excuses on standby for peculiar situations when we want to persuade people to withdraw their requests.

Perhaps something like, “We would like to host you but you should be aware that we are having the house fumigated on (whenever) and you would have to camp out in the backyard for a couple of days. Unfortunately we are unable to offer refunds for any reason.”

Or perhaps, “Our neighbor is a police officer who works nights so we have a strict noise policy during daylight hours.”

And definitely: “Because you have no history with Airbnb we must insist on a higher security deposit and all guests and visitors must present three forms of picture ID before checking in.”

I don’t know if this would result in a complaint to Airbnb, but if they are con artists they would probably just go looking for an easier mark, and CS is so ineffective they probably wouldn’t do anything anyway.