A potential guest with no reviews

[Cindy508]

I have a potential guest booked as an instant guest for 3 nights and has been an Airbnb member since 2014 and has no reviews, no pic and no profile. Need help in requesting more info from guest?

[Paul1255]

Hi @Cindy508  I hope you are well!

Have you sent a message to your guest to have a chat about their profile and travel history with Airbnb? If you ask them any genuine guest will be happy to answer your questions.

There could be a perfectly good reason why they have been a member with no reviews (travelled with other people who booked, had an account but never used it til now, etc etc)

You can ask them to upload a profile picture so you can identify them when they check in, I am sure they'd do so!

If you are unsure/uncomfortable with these kind of instant books then modify your settings to only accept instant book guests with previous reviews and profile pictures.

Best wishes

Paul.

[Cindy508]

Thanks Paul for the info....I've only been hosting 4 months with airbnb  so this is helpful information.  Can you give me some examples of profile questions? 

I do like the travel history question as well.  And I will go to my settings and change them; I wasn't aware of that setting.  Good to know.....

Sincerely,

Cindy.

[Paul1255]

Ops my reply went in further down than I intended- I’m on the mobile @Cindy508 ! See

 below 

[Nathan233]

@Cindy508 I would change your settings so a guest requires reviews and ID etc in place before they can instant book.

Guests without an ID or reviews have to send me a request upon which I can then ask them a few questions like 'what brings you to the area?' etc. I always ask that they complete their profile with ID as well before accepting the booking.

I get many requests from first time Airbnb users, the majority have been great.

[Cindy508]

Thanks for the reply Nathan...

very helpful information.

Cindy

[Paul1255]

Hi @Cindy508  I just keep it light and open:

Hi (guest name) thanks so much for booking a stay with me.

I just have a couple of things to ask you about your travel history with Airbnb and your profile:

I see you’ve been a community member since 2014 but it doesn’t look like you have any reviews yet, have you used Airbnb before booking with me? 

I’m happy you’ve chosen me to be your first booking if you haven’t- we all have to start somewhere.

As you may or may not know, Airbnb and the community is built on trust, so I’d really appreciate it if you’d update your profile with a picture so I’ll be able to recognise you when you arrive for your stay!

Really looking forward to hearing back from you and hosting you.

Best wishes 

Cindy 

-end-

Do update your settings, you’ll feel more

comfortable! 

If the guests response or lack of response worries you then get in touch with Airbnb Customer services to seek advice, and let us know what happens- I’m sure you’ll be fine 🙂 

[Cindy508]

Perfect and settings changed!!

Thanks Paul!