To Accept or Decline?

[C68]

I have an Airbnb user wanting to book.

She says she is coming from Mississippi to visit her mom in LA because her mom is having surgery.

She said she is coming with a friend.

This person has no prior reviews and the stay falls on the weekend. In the past the only guest issues I have had were with profiles such as this.

I am concerned about accepting someone in this situation. It did not sound right but I could be paranoid. What would you do here?

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@C68 I agree you are being paranoid. It sounds fine to me. Unless your place is massive (Ihaven't looked)

[C68]

Hahah fair enough. Thank you.

[Michael3362]

Sounds fine to me as well. Most of our stays are weekends, and this sounds similar to a request that we would receive. I would ask if this is their first Airbnb stay they've booked. If they say no, then you know they typically won't leave a review for you to check thus not showing how they normally are as guest, which is assuming SOME risk. If they say yes, then I would give them some grace. 

[Debra300]

@C68,

I think the guest's situation sounds fine, as well.  Tell the guest that she will need to complete her account set up if she's not done so already, and her profile picture needs to clearly show her face.  Also,  for security and contact tracing purposes, her friend will need to be included in the reservation, which will require her/him to set up an account.

[C68]

@Debra300 Is that requirement allowed? Sounds good actually. Can hosts require that the 2nd guest be listed on the actual reservation and does the Airbnb system allow this? Thanks to @Michael3362, @pat271, and everyone else helping out. I'm going to tap out of this thread. I've got what I needed. Thank you all! Epic advice.

[Debra300]

@C68,

Under the Guest Requirements section of the Booking Settings tab, you may make the following selections.  The only way to enforce the second guest ID is to tell the booking guest that it's required before you can approve the reservation.

[Pat271]

She sounds fine to me. You could engage her in a couple of more messages if you are still uncomfortable, to try to get a feel about her.  At least half of my guests have been first-timers.  Some of them were my best guests ever.

[Christine615]

Sounds fine to me. I have a minimum 2 day stay and with Covid-19 people aren't congregating long. Most of my summer bookings and several are new to the platform. Ask to talk on the phone (warning Airbnb will delete your number and hers). So ask her to send you her number one number per message. Also ask the name of the other person since most of us only allow people on the reservations to stay in our places.

[Fred13]

Yes you are correct C68, it is paranoia.

All kidding aside, sounds solid, she didn't try to hide anything.

I could see where some hosts want everyone to have an Airbnb account, but I never have.