Guest sent an email about reservation.

[Rasheda3]

Hello all! .I have a guest coming this weekend for 1 night,  no reviews and will be in town for a football game as my home is very close to the sports complex. 

I communicate via the airbnb app about all reservations to protect myself,  but somehow the guest is emailing me saying 4 people will be coming and not just 1. She wants to add on the extra guest and wants to know how to change it. I messaged her through the app and no response yet,  I also called and no answer. I'm a little nervous as she has also asked for an early check in. Any advice on how to proceed? 

[Huma0]

@Anonymous 

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@Anonymous wrote:

@Rasheda3   Uh oh, she's turning you into Airbnb. I guess that means from now on, you're Airbnb.

Literally made my night. Thank you 🙂 🙂

[Sarah977]

 @Rasheda3  I'm inclined to think that this guest was just really clueless on a lot of levels, rather than ill-intentioned. She probably didn't have her notifications turned on, so while she sent you messages when it concerned what she wanted, she likely didn't see the ones you sent her, hence her lack of response. So now she's bamboozled as to why she got cancelled. 

And if she doesn't have any phone but a landline, that didn't help. 

In any case, her closing threat makes it clear that cancelling was the right move. 

I've experienced several guests who weren't answering my messages. Each time it turned out to be quite innocent- they weren't just ignoring me. One had been on a camping trip with no wifi or cell reception, one was at a meditation retreat where they weren't allowed to use any tech devices, and one had had a close family member die and had her phone turned off and her Airbnb bookings were far from her mind.

They all apologized when they finally saw my messages and answered. The one whose family member had died had to cancel, the other two kept their bookings and were great guests.

But there weren't any red flags other than the frustration of them not responding. They all had past reviews, good ones, had communicated really well up to then, and hadn't asked for early check in or anything.

So while this one for you had a lot of red flags, just saying that while we tend to think a guest is just ignoring us if they don't respond, that's not always the case. So if they otherwise were good communicators and have good reviews, and there's no other reason to cancel on them, ask Airbnb to try to contact them- that worked for me and prompted the guests to realize they had a message to answer.

[Rasheda3]

Thank you so much! 

This guest has 0 reviews and the communication was just lackluster.  I just didn't feel comfortable with this guest at all, especially considering I had a bad experience with a previous guest who lacked communication. 

I'm glad I followed my gut and canceled. It's not worth the money

[Huma0]

@Sarah977 

Those are all good points and I've also had guests whose initial communication wasn't that great but they turned out to be okay or even amazing.

However, sometimes that bad communication is coupled with just a bad gut feeling about the guest and the booking. Usually whenever I have ignored that feeling, it's come back to bite me in the backside...

[Colleen253]

@Huma0 Yes! Always trust the gut, never ignore the red flags. The payout is never worth it, and in fact will usually be diminished.

[Huma0]

@Colleen253 

You're so right, it is very, very rarely worth it!

[Rasheda3]

@Colleen253 @Huma0 Agree with both of y'all! Follow your gut. The money is not worth the lack of peace. 

When i turned off instant book, it says I will appear lower in the search results. Is this an issue you 2 have experienced? 

[Huma0]

@Rasheda3 

Sadly, it is an issue I have experienced. I didn't have IB on at first and got plenty of bookings, but then Airbnb really started pushing it to the extent that guests had to un-tick a box to see non IB listings. I don't know if that is still the case or not. Perhaps others can advise.

At the time though it was and I suddenly went from fully booked to nothing. I mean really nothing. I turned on IB to see what would happen and the bookings immediately flooded in again. I've had it on ever since, but I make sure to tick all the extra requirements, which means not all guests can IB with me, for example, the ones with negative reviews. I definitely think that helps.

Still, I would have been very tempted to turn it off by now and see how it goes but 1. bookings have generally been slow since the pandemic and 2. a recent guest really tanked my ratings so I don't want to do anything to push me even further down the searches.

From what I understand from other guests, how much effect IB has on your bookings probably depends on how much competition is in your area. 

[Sarah977]

@Huma0  Judging from the profile photo of that guest Rasheeda cancelled, a middle-aged/older couple, I would guess they are used to hotels and hadn't a clue how Airbnb works or what is expected by way of communication. Or they are just terrible communicators.

I've noticed a general difference in the initial messages I get from experienced Airbnb guests who are middle-aged and older (informative and engaging initial messages)  and experienced younger guests. The younger ones have grown up in a texting age, and they tend to send one-liner messages. And as a young guest enlightened me, they consider texting and messaging to be a form of talking, rather than writing. So they expect to say something, you say something back, they say something, etc. Like a spoken conversation. But they do answer more comprehensively when prompted to do so.

The more mature experienced guests, in terms of age, compose a real message which includes all neccessary info to be easily accepted, with some praise for the listing and reviews, address me by name,  state why they are coming to the area, and are easygoingly friendly ("It's so cold  up here in Toronto, I can't wait to lounge around in shorts and a tank top and read the pile of good books I'm bringing along").

[Huma0]

@Sarah977 

Yes, for sure it happens sometimes.

At the moment, I have two young women staying with me who are friends and have booked a room each. Both of them sent polite messages and it was clear they had read the listing, but neither told me a single thing about themselves nor did they have any information on their profiles. I guess it just hadn't occurred to them that I would want to know.

Anyway, after asking for more info, all went well. The communication was excellent after that and they have turned out to be lovely, considerate and responsible guests and way more tidy than most.

On the other hand, I recently had an enquiry from a girl who had also not told me anything about herself. When I asked her to, she ignored the question and tried to IB which she couldn't because she had a bad review. She had ignored repeated requests for information and only started responding to them after I told her I would not host her. She then tried to book from a fake account. I ended up having to block and report her.

So, the same type of communication problem can be nothing to be concerned about in one case and the first red flag in another.  You have to dig a little to find out which one it is!

[Rasheda3]

Thank you! What were the other red flags? I turned off instant booking. Does it really yield lower search results?

[Sarah977]

@Rasheda3  You mean what were the other red flags for your cancelled booking? 

She communicated poorly from her first message. Good guests you don't have to feel wary about usually send polite and informative first messages, like "Hi Rasheda, found your listing and it looks really nice. My husband and I are coming to attend the game on Saturday night, so hoping to book with you. If it's at all possible, would we be able to check in at 1 instead of your stated check-in time of 3? If not, we'll just find a cafe to hang out in for awhile and do some shopping."

I've had a few one liner first messages like "Arriving at noon", but the guest wasn't a newbie and had several good reviews, so I responded asking a few questions to determine whether they had actually read all the listing info, which ellicited prompt and more informative replies.

The ones I've declined were  from new profiles with really clueless first messages like "So is it really only for one person?" (My listing title includes the words "for solo traveler" and the ad says one guest, one single bed). Or "I have some questions. Could you Whatsapp me at (spelled out number)". Those are guests trying to get you to make a deal off-platform.

Generally I get requests from seasoned travelers with good reviews, so I haven't had to deal with too much cluelessness. I've never had to cancel a booking and I have never used Instant Book. 

When you get used to receiving requests rather than IBs, you  pretty well develop a sense of what kind of person you are dealing with, based on any reviews they have, their messages, and whether they answer your questions appropriately.

The booking I was the most wary about because he'd had an account for many years, but no reviews, his profile said he was a student, his photo was of three guys holding up wine glasses, and his profile write up said he liked a mix of partying and quiet times, ended up to be one of my best guests. Turned out he had never updated his profile and was no longer a student- he managed 10 Dominoes pizza outlets, and had no reviews because he'd never actually had a chance to travel. He was a really sweet guy, so quiet I never heard him come in at night, and he left his room and bathroom so immaculate you couldn't even tell anyone had stayed in there for 4 days but for the used towels hanging neatly on the towel bar. He even made the bed perfectly 🙂

[Rasheda3]

@Sarah977 That's great you had an amazing experience with a guest you were apprehensive about at first. This person just felt shady. I do not believe they are who they say they are. The questions they asked as well as the lack of having their cell phone number. How would I be able to get a hold of them if they only have a landline number out of state?  I just couldn't chance it

[Sarah977]

@Rasheda3  Oh, I agree it was shady and needed to be cancelled. I was just letting you know that every time a guest doesn't answer messages doesn't mean there is cause for concern, because we don't really know why they haven't answered. 

I could have asked that guy who I was a bit wary about more questions that might have set my mind at ease before he arrived, I just didn't. I only have a private room listing in my home for 1 guest, it's not like guests can sneak in more people or throw a party and trash the place, so I don't have to be as cautious as many other hosts.

But your guest had no reviews, none of her few messages were particularly informative or polite, she right away had a demand for an earlier check-in time, and she booked for 1 when she had the intention of arriving with more. And there was no answer when you tried to phone, and I assume no answering machine to leave a message on.  Her lack of response to the increased guest count change was just icing on the cake. 

Even  if it was just a matter of her being clueless, you don't need this type of guest. 

For all you know, it's actually some 19 year old yahoo planning to party it up with his buddies, who used a photo of his parents as a profile picture. 

[Rasheda3]

@Sarah977 

"For all you know, it's actually some 19 year old yahoo planning to party it up with his buddies, who used a photo of his parents as a profile picture."

This is what i believe it to be. Someone pretending and i just can't.  

Do you receive less bookings with turning instant book off? when i did so it says my home will show up lower in the search results.