A tale of 3 Lauras

[Laura2592]

Laura #1 from Baltimore contacted me  on Christmas Day via inquiry asking of her family of 4 plus large dog would "really" not be able to book due to my capacity limits.  First of all, I had no less than 4 inquiries in Christmas Day when I was traveling from house to house of my husband's  cranky relatives and exhausted. I had to respond to all. Super irritating. (I did get 2 bookings but only 1 sent a question. I suspect the other 3 were simply fantasizing about being away from family). Second, capacity is as stated.  But because it was Christmas I said I would check with the cleaning crew to see if they would entertain the request for 4 plus dog for an additional fee. And I warned it might take a few days to respond as my cleaning person is traveling too. Guest had 10 good reviews so I was willing to check. 

Second Laura from DC books the same weekend 1st Laura asked about the next day. 6 5 star reviews.  Says she and her partner are celebrating a 20th anniversary with a dog. Instant book. Read the rules and sent the Easter egg. 

Confused and pretty sure ite the first Laura (because how many Laura's are involved in wanting this single weekend?) I finally get an email with fee from my cleaning person for  Laura #1.  I send it to her and ask if she decided to book without the kids. No she says, thats not me. I'll look at other weekends.  So far she's not booked anything 

Third Laura, me, is very confused. 

[Huma0]

@Laura2592 

Is there anything in the messages or on the profiles to suggest this might be the same person? Are there similarities in the wording at all or even something in the reviews to suggest it might be the same Laura?

I had a recent experience where a guest tried to book again using a different profile after I had already turned her away the first time. It didn't register immediately, but as soon as I looked back over the messages and again at the profile info, it was obviously the same girl.

On the other hand, could just be a coincidence. One morning, I got three requests for the same room for the same exact dates and in quick succession. One was definitely suspect (scam), one seemed like the same person trying again from a different account and the other I wasn't sure about.

I reported it to Airbnb who, after a few minutes of investigation, confirmed the first and second were scams but said the third was fine and unrelated.

[Laura2592]

@Huma0 I'll have to go through the messages more carefully. Honestly I've still been recovering from a whirlwind Christmas trip and not fully caught up on everything happening. They are in 2 different cities, same name, both bringing a dog. Could just be a crazy coincidence. 

[Helen744]

@Helen744 Hi Laura  I once had three Karens all wanting around the same times and making enquiries I am still not sure if they were all the same person but only one ever turned up

[Mark116]

@Laura2592  Your cottage is clearly some kind of vortex/gateway to other dimensions, and this is what causes people's brains to short circuit when they come in contact with your listing.

I've only had 1 person try to book under different names, but they were sending inquiries, thank goodness, and thank goodness I started out all the messages with Hello XX, so I could track that it was the same person [not too smart they were only changing the profile name], but they did it 3 times.  And this was well before covid so no excuse to act nutty at that time.

[Laura2592]

@Mark116 'Laura' isnt exactly unique as names go, but really, I've never had 2 people with the same name try to book the same weekend unless it was two profiles for the same person.  I  have had people in my Etsy shop pull this sort of thing if I've had to refuse service due to some previous issue (rare) and they insist on continuing to follow me instead of the millions of other places they could shop. But this is just super weird especially as it's also my name. 

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Laura2592 

Just curious... do you also have a dog ? 🙂

[Laura2592]

@Branka-and-Silvia0  but of course I do. 

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

😄  😄 😄

[Lawrene0]

Ooo, @Laura2592 , the weirdness of 2022 for you will be all your guests will be called Laura. Love it!

[Laura2592]

@Lawrene0 there's a woman with my same first and last name and my same BIRTHDAY (albeit many years earlier) in Roswell NM. If I was an alien conspiracy theorist I would have a field day with this. 

[M199]

@Laura2592 

Just to add to the "sometimes kife works in mysterious ways"

Early in 2021, I got a booking from "Cassie", in June, "Cassie" had to cancel.  Not more than 1/2 hour later  I got a booking request from "Cassidy".

It took some profile searching to figure out they were 2 different people, 2 different cities, and 2 different phone numbers.

How close are Cassie and Cassidy, who's nickname it "Cass"😏