@Elodie449
Should you be suspicious? No, not necessarily. I have hosted lots of new guests and most of them were great. Also, just because you have those requirements for instant book, it doesn't mean that a guest who doesn't have reviews or verified ID can't send you an enquiry or booking request. It doesn't mean they are trying to flout those requirements. They probably don't even know about them.
However, you are right to be cautious when it comes to letting strangers into your home. My advice to you would to be:
- If you don't think it will affect your position in the search results too much, turn off Instant Booking. I would not advise any new host to use this if they can avoid it.
- Ask the guest to get their ID verified by Airbnb, upload a profile photo if they haven't already done so (you can't see this until after they book so you can't tell if they have one or not) and tell you a bit about themselves and the purpose of their visit.
- Ask them to confirm they have read the full listing and house rules. I include an 'Easter egg' question in mine which they need to answer so that I know they are telling the truth about that.
The correspondence with the guest is often more useful in getting a feel for them than the reviews. Often, hosts will leave generic reviews, or not leave a review when there is a problem, so the reviews are sometimes not that useful anyway.
