New and Skeptical.

[Alex8846]

Hi All, 

Just listed a spot in San Francisco. I'm getting interest already, faster than I thought I would. Pretty excited. 

Thing is, having never done this before, a bunch of things look more suspicious than they did just two days ago. I'm sure these are mostly just new feelings with new people potentially coming into my space. And I know where to go to report legit suspicions. I just wonder, generally speaking, do you have a line for suspicion? what are flags I might look for that something is in fact not right? 

Are there common scams that get new hosts? are people actually traveling interns, or is this something people say to get discounts. 

I'm talking with all my potential guests, nothing specific from me that stands out. I just want to see if there's some common wisdom out there. 

Any thoughts are appreciated. 

Best

Alex

[Normen0]

@Alex8846  In my experience of 8 years as a host, the majority of people who ask for discounts are trouble. They end up being entitled and disrespectful. With the exception returning guests who I would give a small discount to. 

If you are priced mid range with comparables in your area and have decent weekly/monthly discounts, stick to them.  I assume you did not want the regular income and headaches of some monthly tenants. You’re not over priced, they are reaching above their range.

So for me Flag #1 is the discount asking guest. My response to the monthly discount request is “Hi, thanks for your inquiry. Weekly and monthly discounts are applied when you enter the dates.” End of story.  

#2 - The biggest flag - is anyone who asks you to communicate over Whatsapp. Communicating outside of AIRBNB is a no no. But usually a request on Whatsapp is a scam. 

Also, If you ever get a request to come and see your place instead of going through booking with AIRBNB,  report them. Having said that, you may get a very nice newbie who doesn’t know. Judgement call on that.  Maybe just educate them. 

Yes, there are traveling interns, traveling doctors, nurses, mid-wife placements, student teachers. It’s surprising how many traveling professionals there are.  If you get a good one and they want to come back, there is where you should discount to keep them.  

Good luck! 

[Anonymous]

@Alex8846   Some good advice from @Normen0  there. In a high-demand market like SF, you have plenty of room to be choosy about your guests - certainly no need to lower your price on demand. So I'd flip this around and screen for guests who display some green flags:

-  Their request conveys that they've carefully read the listing, and shows a glimmer of enthusiasm for what's special about it

- They don't request anything outside of the parameters of what you offer (group size, price, date availability, check-in time, etc) and require no exceptions to the house rules

- They have complete profiles with verified ID 

- They answer any follow-up questions promptly with decent communication skills

- The plans they express for their trip seem compatible with the home, location, and length of stay

I would caution against accepting bookings of more than 28 days, unless current regulations require you to do so. Long-term Airbnb guests in California have been known to use the right-of-tenancy laws to squat homes rent-free after their first month, and it's a very long and costly process to legally evict them. Airbnb won't do anything to help you in that situation, so if you want to do long stays, you'd better use an agency that does credit/background checks and takes an actual deposit (Airbnb doesn't).