Questionable stay requests

[Andrew1958]

Hello All, 

Andy here!  Hope you all are doing as well as to be expected this all this craziness.   I am a fairly new, August will be a year, AirBnB host here in Miami-Dade County in South Florida, USA.    My topic is concerning a lot of questionable stay requests I’ve been receiving.   Since April 27th I have gotten and declined 13 stays requests.   The state of Florida and Miami-Dade county are still under lodging restrictions that prohibit short term vacation rentals to any thing other than travel for essential work/workers or folks that are displaced due to COVID-19 issues or travel restrictions.    Of the 13 only about 3 have actually replied to my standard response I developed that asks questions to ensure they meet they the requirements of who we are allowed to rent a room.   Miami-Dade county requires your home/listing to be registered with the county and for short term stay taxes paid to the county, which thankfully they are set up to allow AirBnB to collect and pay the taxes for your listings.    Also, the majority of the profiles are of accounts just recently opened, most just this month.   Some of them don’t even have the place they are from, let alone have they  provided identification and contact information to AirBnB.   Our state and county has not opened to tourism as of yet and do not plan to in the short term future.   I have reported the more suspect profiles to AirBnB.  

So, that’s the background.   Is anyone else seeing this kind of activity.   The stay requests are not for the future.   They are usually for that night or a couple of days later.     It’s just really strange, especially when the ones that actually have info in their profile are from Miami or at least are in Florida.  

I would appreciate any input from other hosts that are seeing the same thing.   I fully understand that many folks are stuck in apartments or high rises with no green space, pool, etc to enjoy to ease the tension of all this, but I don’t want to risk the county pulling our Certificate of Use permit for our home.  
Thanks in advance 

Andy and Angie 

[Sally221]

Here's my thought, these are folk who don't think the rules apply to them, right? That's their attitude, do you want them bringing that into your place? On top of possible covid exposure & perhaps a hassle with the authorities? Don't invite trouble into your home, if a person is on a legitimate errand they can let you know, money may be tight but a bad guest is never ever worth it. Stay well.

[Sally221]

And yes, lots of people are seeing stuff like this, trying times bring out both the saints and the sinners.

[Michael4538]

Andrew1958: I am also in Florida (new host), but am having trouble finding any specifics for Hillsborough County/Tampa... other than general "don't accept guests from hot spots". And here I have an automated reservation from a gentleman from Washington DC/Dubai. Mobile platform says he just joined May 2020, and then desktop browser details something different. I swore I had the full ID & recommendations etc for auto book, yet he has no recommendations. I have trouble between platforms on where to find stuff and how things work. Air B&B software is put together like a tinker toy, all over the place!  Any thoughts on sharing your questions and default replies? Many thanks

[Andrew1958]

@Michael4538 It does seem the auto book goes through without the guest having all the stuff confirmed, it’s frustrating.  For now I have turned off the auto book feature and evaluate each request before accepting the reservation.    It counts against you to cancel reservations but not if you decline a request.   Most time I simply reply wi don’t accept guests that do not have basic demographic data completed in their profile.   We use to operate with auto book because we get a lot of last minute bookings in and out of the Keys, it’s a good chunk of our traffic.    As far as the website, I literally do it all off the app on the phone and don’t have issues finding things, although sometimes I admit I struggle finding stuff twice in a row without a search.     Just FYI, the random ‘no profile’ data requests are pretty much stopped

and we have legit confirmations.   9 nights over the next four months is a start.   And I see my view count rising everyday.    So things are coming back for business.  

[Sarah977]

@Andrew1958  It does count against you to decline requests-it lowers your Acceptance rate. However, if it's an Inquiry, you don't even have to decline- just messaging back fulfills the requirements, not necessary to either pre-approve or decline, so best not to waste declines on Inquiries at all.

[Charles224]

@Sarah977 I think declining requests does not affect acceptance rates.

In my example I am 'Instant Book', and I have had a few left-of-centre requests which I have declined, with no impact to Superhost.. I think that not-messaging gets you a negative 'gong'.

Cheers, Charles

[Sarah977]

@Charles224  Acceptance rating is not counted for Superhost, though. That's why declines wouldn't have affected your Superhost status. Response rate is one of the criteria.