Newbie host: Odd reservation request

[Cindy932]

Hi Airbnb community! I received an instant booking request for tonight from a verified guest "Xu" from China. Their message to me was:

Xu11:54 PM

Hi, I’m Beryl from St. Louis
I’m visiting Milwaukee to enjoy the autumn.
My friends Evan and Anne are coming with me.
We’ll arrive around 8pm and hope to see your house soon!

Xu has 17 reviews, almost all positive, but from all over the world and all are very brief. 

Does this seem like a scam to anyone else, and should I reject the request?

Thanks for any help!

Cindy

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Cindy932 It looks OK to me. The only worry is that if the guest has used a stolen card then payment could be reversed if the card is then reported stolen. That said with a lot of good reviews you should be OK

[Kelly149]

I don't take same day or really even day before arrivals from ABB guests bc it takes abb 24 hours to know if they have a payment problem or not. If you're willing to roll the dice on that piece then the guest themself seems fine. Their intro message is more/better than most I get

[Cindy932]

Kelly: Thanks for this advice. I didn't know the 24hr payment issue, and want to protect my asset.  Thanks again!

[Colleen253]

@Cindy932  Odd the guest profile and the message don’t line up. Have no idea what may be going on there. But if  you are uncomfortable with an IB reservation you can cancel it penalty free.  I do agree with Kelly on why it’s risky to take last minute bookings. You can change your settings to whatever minimum notice you choose, but generally two days is a good bet. 

[Sarah977]

  If it was an Instant Book, that's not a request, it's a confirmed reservation, and you can't decline it, you'd have to cancel it. Two different things. 

There's nothing wrong with asking a guest to clarify why their profile says they are from one place yet they say they are coming from another. Why speculate or ask others something until you first ask the guest themselves?

@Cindy932

@Cindy932

[Cindy932]

Sarah: Thanks for you perspectives. I did respond to the guest and asked for more information, which didn't satisfy me. And while I was waiting for the guest to respond, I reached out to the community to see if this might be a scam. Still not sure, but am OK with declining the booking due to all the inconsistencies with their names/reviews, etc. Thanks for taking the time to help me out, though!

[Cindy932]

Hello. Sorry for the delayed response. I updated my booking to 2 days advance notice. I wasn't aware that there could be a scam issue with IB on same day bookings. I declined this IB. Too many weird things: name on the profile did not match the name the person gave me in the booking info; reviews also mentioned two different names, and all the reviews were very short. Thanks again for your perspectives!

[Ria16]

@Cindy932  It looked ok to me . People  with hard to pronounce names often anglicise them to save embarrassment . Which is why they are sometimes different from their passport  or birth name.
But I’m with you on the no to same day bookings . In fact I’ve now extended to 48 hours because one came in last week at 9pm for the following day (check in 3pm) which resulted in a mad rush . I used to have a cut off time of 1pm which is gone now.