New host - request to stay from someone with confusing references

[Chris13135]

Hello - I am very new host so nervously getting ready to accept people in to my home for the first time!  I have a had a request for a 2-week stay and all seems legit: this person has recent references, all positive except for one one negative from 2016 (it's bad), but all good since then.  At the same time these references use the person's name, but while most say "he" there are a couple that say "she".    This could be a language issue (or even faulty predictive text), but it would be useful to know if that acts as a red flag to anyone and what you'd recommend.  I'm totally happy to host a she, he, non-binary, T+ etc. so this is just about what to infer from references (there's also that one bad one that seems totally out of sync with more recent).  Thanks in advance for advice!

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Chris13135 I would advise that you message the potential guest and ask about the poor review. That way you can judge by the response if your should accept the reservation.

[Chris13135]

Thanks @Mike-And-Jane0 - the bad one was in 2016 and was more or less just said "terrible guest, my worst on AirBnB", not much detail, so I felt l a bit awkward asking!  Since then at least 5 highly positive.  Maybe an outlier, they had an argument about something etc.?

[Huma0]

@Chris13135 

Perhaps some of these reviews were for a group booking, in which case the hosts might be referring to the guest who booked, rather than your potential guest. This should be indicated under the review if it is the case.

[Chris13135]

Thanks @Huma0 - I think that could be it for the one which said "XXX and her group"  but the other said "very nice girl" and used the name.  The review didn't seem to indicate a group booking in any of them.  I guess not a big deal ...

[Laura2592]

@Chris13135 sometimes guests book a group with one ID. I have noticed this with poor reviews. If its a couple, they may book with the account of the person who has the best feedback. I had that happen recently with a guest who brought a boyfriend who smoked a lot of pot in my house. Her profile showed one positive review. His showed several negative for smoking and not following house rules, as I figured out after the stay doing some digging. 

I would just message and say:

"Thank you so much for your interest in my space. Please verify all the guests who will be staying and add them to your request by having them register with Airbnb. I will be happy to review the request once you have a finalized guest count. Thanks again and have a great day!"

Two weeks is a LONG time to have a poor guest experience. As a new host, concentrate on building up your positive reviews with short stays rather than trying to attract longer stays at first. Lots of poor guests target good hosts and it can really tank your rating. 

[Chris13135]

Thanks @Laura2592 - this is a one person booking (and of course most of the time will be in quarantine!) so hopefully won't apply.  Sorry to hear of your experience!  Thanks for the advice about the stays - at the moment I am only getting long requests - the previous one was for 4 weeks.  With quarantine etc. people aren't coming to London on short holidays ...

[Laura2592]

@Chris13135  I would say something like "Thanks for your interest in booking my space. I look forward to hosting you. I had a few questions. Can you tell me why you are coming to London? What pronoun do  you prefer? I notice that both "he" and "she" are used in your profile. This sometimes happens when a couple books together but I like to make sure I am saying the right thing 🙂 Do you mind verifying that this is a stay just for you? Also, it looks like there is a review from several years ago that was perhaps not a good fit for that host. What can you tell me about that? Thank you again!"

I did a thread on advice for new hosts-- things I wished i knew when I started. I will see if I can find it for you. There was a lot of great input added. 

[Fred13]

@Chris13135 This 'bad' review is where? I can't find it.

If you were to post it here (of course without names), we would gladly analyze it under our fine-tuned psychological microscope; I doubt this poor guest will survive our scrutiny. Trust me,  after we are done with his corpse that guest will never leave another review like that the rest of his unfortunate life! LoL

[Helen350]

LOL to the second paragraph @Fred13 ! Many a true word.......

- Of course you/we can't see the bad review, cos that is attached to @Chris13135 's potential FUTURE guest, whose profile we have no way of accessing......... n'est pas?? 🙂

[Chris13135]

Thanks @Helen350 - somehow my GDPR alarm bell is ringing in terms of sharing the details! Not sure ...

[Anna9170]

@Chris13135  My IB filter has no requirements other than standard airbnb, no reviews from other hosts, no photos, etc. And 98% of my guests are beautiful! Understand that hosts can also be very strange, and they can give a guest a bad rating for strange personal reasons.
As a host, you will still have difficult guests, sooner or later, it is almost impossible to avoid. Very often, it is a couple who book together, and he or she writes, why worry about it.
I absolutely agree with the hosts who answered earlier, it's better to get more positive reviews on short bookings now.

[Chris13135]

Thanks @Anna9170 really appreciate your calm reassurance!  Good point, it's obviously a two way street between guest and host :).  

[Ann72]

@Chris13135  In addition to everything else mentioned above, your rates are modest for your beautiful place, and there's a 20% weekly discount.  The guest or guests might turn out to be lovely, but if they're not, will that discounted rate be enough to make up for difficulties?  Something to consider.

[Helen350]

@Ann72 Many London hosts appear to be reporting a lack of demand in these Covid-y times (in contrast to those of us in rural holiday areas), - So I can see why @Chris13135 would want to kick-start his hosting business with discounts... And of course Airbnb encourage 20% discounts for the first 3 guests.... (Great if one-nighters, not so great if the first  guest is staying a fortnight....)