How to Effectively Screen your Guest

[Andrew2745]

Hello Everyone,

You are all so helpful in the forums when someone posts leaving a question or comment so I figured I'd share some thoughts and provide some value back to the community. I'll try to do this a couple times a week to engage the community.

In the instant booking feature, there's options to require guests to have the following; Government-issued ID required, Host recommendation required and a pre-booking message requirement. Make sure you turn these requirements on as your first line of defense. People who don't have these categories filled out, will send you a "Request to Book" which will allow you more time to figure out if the guest will be a good fit for your property. Don't be afraid to ask the guest to verify their identity with Airbnb if they haven't already. Especially, if they do not have any reviews.

Beware guests that are high maintenance and have patience. There will be times where guests request a lot from you upfront (which isn't always a bad thing), but could be an indicator of what their stay could look like. They can also hurt your reviews leading to further problems. Most guests want somewhere to stay and don't want to be bothered, so have patience and wait for the right guest for your unit.

That's a few of my thoughts, but I'd love to hear your thoughts as well.

Hopefully this provides some value to you!

Best,

Andrew

[Huma0]

@Andrew2745 

I would add to this that, if the guest has reviews, check out the reviews that they have left for previous hosts. These can tell you a lot about whether that guest will be appreciative/glass half full or overly critical/glass half empty. 

I have turned away guests because they complained about stairs/no lift at a listing, even though the listing was clear, or complained about traffic noise or some such thing. Then there they are trying to book the room that is at the top of my tall house and faces a busy road (all clearly stated on the listing). I know this guest is not going to be happy and who knows what else they will find to complain about?

There was even one guest who slammed a host in the review because she said they were promised a 'private beach' and there were other people on the beach. I checked the listing, which clearly showed a public beach, with no mention of a private beach, only a private entrance leading directly onto the beach. Despite the low price and the clear photos, this daft guest saw the word 'private' and took it completely out of context and left who knows what kind of horrible rating for this poor host who otherwise had stellar reviews. She complained about numerous other silly things (steep roads, but it's the Amalfi coast, duh!) and her other reviews were along the same lines (e.g. noisy in Naples).

Had I not bothered to read the reviews she had written, I am sure this guest would have turned out to be a nightmare. I definitely dodged a bullet there.

[Helen744]

@Andrew2745 Interesting points andrew but not applicable as a screening tool when you use Istant book .There is a difference between allowing the system to do your screening and doing it yourself before the guest arrives.We can all ask that Id , government ID be passed not only to Airbnb but to us as hosts . We can say that we need to know who is in our homes at all times both for our safety and theirs. We can ask that Id pics are clear and easy to see and if not then for the guest to forward a pic .We can check reviews or simply send messages via mobile or through the message app after booking confirmation.the message I send on the mobile is generally the same as the one on the app. while people are actually driving or I am out I like them to give me a heads up for arrival . Its often in these 'housekeeping ' tasks where connection with the guest is made. Sometimes this is more difficult than at others.I always try to make sure that my house rules have been read by the guest and only once have I found that they have been blatantly ignored and the guest then lied about it .As I point out the rules are simple but 'make your stay ' easier for all.H

[Jackie374]

I totally agree re ID checks of BOTH people and knowing exactly who's in your home of both people ! Incase of fire or host problems.

[Terry241]

Good afternoon very informative info. Thank you 

I recently received an inquiry from a guest who had no reviews and had been a member since 2018. I explained and answered all her questions and then never heard back. But I also did not receive any AIr B n B notifications about the expiration of the request which normally happens.  Does anyone feel that Airbnb have employees who request stays with difficult questions? 
thanks In advance. Luckily I have not had problems with any guests. 

[Helen744]

@Terry241 Was it an inquiry or a request to book ?Sometimes the guests are sending messages to more than one host and  simply find something else. if you were expecting a reply then send another message to say " please feel free to book ". H

[Marianne596]

I'm rather new. So, why use the instant book if the idea is to screen guests, which is the opposite of instant booking? 

And, it's a no-no to reject too many requests, if I understand correctly. So being patient is also not an uption. 

Without instant booking, you can't screen at all except for the profile picture, which is an invitation for discrimination, which is the opposite of not accepting or rejecting a request based on a photo. 

So, neither option allows you to screen, which is the opposite of the spin put on this, by Airbnb. 

[Huma0]

@Marianne596 

Even if you have instant book turned on, guests can send you enquiries and request bookings. They don't have to instant book and many will chose not to because they have some questions. It's normal. It's also normal for them to then not book. Perhaps they aren't happy with the answers, perhaps they found something else they preferred. Many will never get back to you to tell you.

If it's an enquiry, rather than a booking request, there is no need to decline. You just have to respond to the message within 24 hours to keep your response rate up. 

RE booking requests, yes, it's better not to decline if you can help it. Ask the guest to cancel the booking request. Some guests will do this. But, if you do have to decline, it is better to do that than to accept a guest who is a bad fit or to let the request expire and your response rate go down. Response rate is more important than acceptance rate. Nothing happens if you decline every now and then. It's only a problem if you are constantly declining.

It used to be the case that you could only see the guests' star ratings with IB, but now you can see them for enquiries and booking requests too. Have a look at these, have a look at the guest's reviews and have a look at the reviews the guest has left for others. Check the guest's profile to see if their ID is verified. With IB, turn on all the filters, like verified ID, recommended by hosts etc. but do not rely on them because they are not fail safe. Some hosts will try to find the guest on social media if they can, although this is tricky prior to booking.

The most important thing is to have communication with your guests and ask them questions. Ask them to confirm they have read your house rules. Look for red flags. Don't rely on Airbnb to vet your guests. They don't. That's the whole point of this thread. Hosts have to do the screening themselves.

Personally, I have turned off IB because I was getting too many guests who were a bad fit. The only advantages to IB are that it might push you up the search results (but not necessarily) and you get three penalty free cancellations a year. The advantage is not the filters. You can already see whether a guest has verified ID and good reviews or ratings and make a decision based on that. Otherwise, you are allowing a computer to do it and sometimes the computer gets it wrong, e.g. I have had a guest IB even though Airbnb had not verified her ID. In fact, I found out from Airbnb that they had declined the verification because her ID photos did not match. Still, she was able to IB despite the filter.

[Marianne596]

That's a long *** way of restating what I just said, only with lots of confusing gloss. It penalizes hosts if they want control over their property. It's just plain and simple.  

I have had exactly 2 inquiries since I started, and I book just about every weekend. So, your spin is pretty unrealistic. 

**[Inappropriate content removed in line with the Community Center Guidelines]

[Huma0]

@Marianne596 

So sorry, I was just trying to be helpful. You said you are new and you are asking questions and, judging by those questions, it seems that you don't know that much about how Airbnb's booking process works, so I was trying to explain it to you as clearly as I could. The devil is in the detail, as they say...

You've been booking every weekend? Well, great. Well done. I have been hosting for years, all three listings fully booked except for a period of the pandemic when Airbnb blocked shared listings in the UK. But sure, you must know better.

I'm afraid though that your statements just don't make sense to an experienced host. "It's a no- no to reject too many guests." Erm, not really, as I explained above. "Without instant booking, you can't screen at all." Also not true, as I've explained. "So, why use the instant book if the idea is to screen guests, which is the opposite of instant booking?" Again, as I've explained, it's not about screening guests. The only reasons to use IB are that it pushes you up the search results and you get 3 x penalty free cancellations a year. 

Sorry, perhaps I should have worded it differently to account for different levels of IQ.

[Marie6762]

@Huma0 

Thank you, HumaO.  Your posts always reflect your vast experience, and posts are always so polite, precise and positive (look at me and my snappy alliteration)😊

[Helen744]

@Marianne596 . I always use IB and have to be on the ball to verify guests . I use all the filters as Huma0 has indicated and have a flexible policy on cancellations and a minimum stay that is never one night. One nighters are where many problems lie . Also Airbnb should be filtering anyone under twenty five.If you have an example of why the app is not working , maybe you could share it .Nothing Huma said was confusing to me. The dashboard has many tools , it is seriously important to be familar with all of them .Most of my two or three day guests will book at least two weeks in advance . This leaves heaps of time to do your due diligance . It is work but its also important if you want to be a successful host. Some of us here like to help out the newbies , like yourself , but we are hosts first and foremost . We are all hosts . H

[Helen744]

also Marianne maybe define what type of 'screening ' you would expect to do ? The no faces until after booking is an anti  discrimination tool as I guess you know as you signed up for it?H

[Jen7522]

Hi there.

You mentioned you use IB, but then go on to say you have to be on the ball to verify guests.  What do you mean by that exactly?  If you're using IB, I'm assuming you're going to be penalized if you cancel the booking. So why are you verifying afterwards if you are comfortable using IB? I'm just a bit confused . Thank you in advance for explaining.  I'm new to hosting and just trying to understand the best way to ensure the guests I host are a good fit.

Jen

[Huma0]

@Jen7522 

Just because you use IB, it doesn't mean that you are happy to take any and every guest that comes along. Some hosts use IB because it helps placement in the search results. In highly saturated areas, it can be necessary to have it turned on so you don't get pushed too far down.

There are a few things you can do:

- Turn on the filter that only lets guests with positive reviews IB. The rest then have to send you a request to book.

- Turn on the filter that requires them to have verified ID.

- Turn on the filter (and this you can do with all bookings, not just IB) requiring a profile photo. You will not be able to see the photo until after the booking is confirmed, but the guest will need to upload one before booking.

- Include a 'pre-booking' message with some questions for the guest. It's not actually a 'pre-booking' message as much as a 'booking message', but at least they can see those questions during the booking process.

None of this is fail safe, but it's better than nothing and, even if the guest has already IBed, you can correspond with them and get to know more about them.

As for your question about cancelling IBs, you can cancel three times a year penalty free if you feel uncomfortable with the guest or think they are going to break your house rules. After that, you need to contact Airbnb and ask them if they will cancel penalty free for you. I don't use IB anymore but, when I did, I had no issues doing this with third party bookings, for example. I've also been able to cancel non-responsive guests penalty free.

Or, better still, ask the guests to cancel. It depends on the cancellation policy on the listing but, even if it's strict, if they are still within the 48 hour grace period and the booking is less than two weeks away, they should be able to cancel with a full refund.