Airbnb guest with good reviews asking if he could pay through paypal

[Clara541]

This guest booked for 7 days, but he brought up if he could potentially book for a month.

He said he had migraine so he is avoiding to see his computer screen, saying he prefers to call. So i called him (or might be because he did not want to leave any conversation history about paying outside of airbnb)

he said he did not have venmo, so he could paypal me once he arrives tomorrow (renting out for one month)

I simply thought he was trying to save some money because he had many good reviews, not trying to scam me or anything. I said maybe we can just use the feature "send or request money" which does not charge any additional fees (if im understanding correctly)

But i thought about it, and i told him we should just leave the existing reservation for now to be safer for both of us, and if he wanted to book longer, we could discuss about it later when this reservation is over.

he has many good reviews, so i think he was not trying to scam me. But is anyone aware of paypal scam? just trying to see if it is a common airbnb scamming tactic, or he is simply wanting to save money.

[Sarah977]

@Clara541  Of course he wanted to discuss it by phone so there wouldn't be any record on the message stream. You think it was just some kind of co-incidence that he wants to discuss paying off-platform and happens to have a migraine? So he's already scamming you.

Look, Clara, Airbnb doesn't own the relationship between hosts and guest after their booking has come to an end. So some hosts will extend a guest's reservation off-platform, but it's extremely foolish to even think about agreeing to do such a thing with a complete stranger, no matter how good their reviews are. There's been many a post here from hosts who've gotten horrid guests who trashed their places who had good reviews. If someone books with you and stays long enough that yu can see they are good people, respectful, clean, honest, and you want to make other arrangements to extend their stay, that's fine. But don't take a chance on someone you've never even met before.

But the main thing I wonder is WHY ARE YOU TAKING BOOKINGS NOW when your city is on lockdown and everyone is supposed to be sheltering in place? This is highly irresponsible of you and actually illegal. If your listying is a separate unit, as opposed o a home share, sign up to host medical personnel and other essential workers. there are plenty who need accomodation.