My first reservation request is an odd one. What would you do?

[Stephen1448]

Hi. I'm new at this and listed my place for stays between 30 and 90 days. I received my first reservation (30 days) from a guy in Mexico asking how far the nearest high school is...which didn't exactly create a great first impression. After some back and forth, this is the situation as described: he is half way through a two-year work permit, and he and his wife and daughter started living in Victoria a year ago. They are back in Mexico for the summer but haven't been able to find a long-term rental yet (this is credible, the rental market is brutal) so they want to book for a month while they find a place. He sent me a copy of his work permit but he's only permitted to work with a single company, and it's hours away by ferry. He has 4 positive reviews, including one in Victoria.

What would you do?

Is it possible to speak with the local host who left this guy a review?

Thanks in advance.

[Anonymous]

@Stephen1448  if the previous host has an active listing, you can click  "Contact Host" and write your questions in a fake inquiry, but the host might not appreciate being contacted like that. I suppose you could also check with the employer as a reference.

But if you're only doing stays of 30+ days, you can expect some fairly odd requests. It's a pretty big leap for a guest to book a long term stay in an unreviewed property, and leisure tourists are not in your catchment. 

[Stephen1448]

Andrew, you raise some very good points, thanks for your thoughts.

[Michael5047]

@Stephen1448 

If he has 5 star reviews, not from the same host in a short period of time I wouldn't worry about it and accept the request.

[Stephen1448]

Thanks for replying. The odd thing is that there's no average score for him. There are 4 reviews with brief, positive comments from each host, but no scores. Three of the four reviews are from the past 4 months. Are numeric scores not assigned under a certain number of reviews? 

[M199]

@Stephen1448 

Does your commercial insurance cover this type of situation? You are getting into longterm rentals.  There's lots of threads here you may want to search😉

[Stephen1448]

Great point, fortunately the policy covers long-term tenancies.

[Debra300]

@Stephen1448,

I have two spaces in Atlanta that rent usually for long-term, frequently guests are relocating and stay while searching for a permanent space.  We recently had guests that stayed in our apartment while they were searching for a new home, and just checked last week after closing on their new home.

Contact the previous hosts if you feel it's necessary.  You may need to install AirReview to see more review details.