Help identifying suspicious reservations

[Melissa1583]

Hello,

We are new to renting our home on AirBnB and have have been successfully filling up since day 1 which is great. Recently we had a booking that seems legitimate but also has some red flags we are seeing and wanted to reach out to the airbnb community. Is there a such thing as a scam reservation? Are 30+ reservations something to be concerned over, especially when they have no reviews? The main reason we are concerned is that we have a 60 day reservation booked far out in advance from a profile with no reviews. This booking spans across the busiest time of year in our area so this is a pretty serious booking. What are things I can do to spot a scam reservation, if there is such a thing? Thought? 

[Elaine701]

They've already booked? Did you ask them about the lack of profile or reviews? This is definitely a red flag. Yes, there are some clever scams out there. 

I'd suggest starting a friendly dialogue, ask some questions like, "I was just curious why you have no profile or history, after 30 bookings.. It's always a good idea to fill out your profile so host have a more personal connection. And why no reviews? " 

You might also remind them of key house rules, and make sure they're aware if it.

Keep it all on the Airbnb message system. If you feel uncomfortable, then at least express your discomfort via customer support. No, don't expect any useful help, but get it on the record that you feel uncomfortable with it. Later on, it might make a difference if things go pear shaped. 

Good luck.. Watch your back. 

[Rebecca1458]

We've also recently started hosting, been booking up quickly, and have had some booking requests with red flags. We decided early on that folks would need to either have their identity verified with AirBnB or have at least one review, and they must have a profile photo. You can turn on these restrictions in your listing settings to automatically ensure those folks can't instant book!

If someone attempts to book without any reviews and without being verified, we tell them that for safety reasons we only accept folks with their identity verified and politely ask them to do so before we accept. Also if something feels off overall, we trust our gut and don't accept them.

Ours may attract less scammy requests since our listing is only a room with a max occupancy of three guests (so definitely not big enough to party in), and we don't accept bookings longer than 7 days. But I think having set rules about what you will accept and what you won't when it comes to booking requests is important!