Appointments to preview property

[Janet388]

I am new to hosting and I had a person request to see the property.  My rental is a minimum of 30 days and they were interested in 2 months.  I made the appointment and messaged the night before to confirm the appointment for the next day.  They replied to my message the next morning saying they were not coming and they had found another place closer to work.     I wonder if he would have bothered to tell me if I had not sent message to confirm.   Is this common ? any suggestions ?

[Linda108]

@Janet388  Air BNB system does not share the address of any listing until there is a confirmed booking as a safety measure.  Even though it is understandable that a potential guest wants to "preview", it is best for your listing description and pictures provide sufficient information for the guest to be able to make a decision.  In your case, you provided the address to a stranger along with information about your home.  Many potential guests will contact many hosts during their decision making process.  

If you are only renting long term and are new, please be sure to familiarize yourself with the articles in the Help Center about long term hosting.  The Air BNB payout and cancellation policies are different from short term.  Welcome to hosting!!

[Matthew285]

@Janet388 you are in slightly different situation than most since you only do long term stays, but the normal advice to Airbnb hosts is to avoid guest "previews" of your listing.

It isn't just that it is against the rules (which it totally is).

It is also just a bad idea for you.

Based on stories from experienced hosts, the more experienced the host, the more they are against letting guests "Preview" the listing.

They have said:

1. "Preview" guests often just want to meet you to ask for a discount, or to propose paying outside the AirBnB system. Both bad for you.
2. "Preview" guests are often the worst kind of picky, hard to satisfy guests.
3. "Preview" guests might be criminals just wanting to case your property before robbing it.
4. It is huge waste of your time. Often hosts will wait hours for late "Preview" guests who just ask for a discount and then never book. Or never show up.
5. What exactly are they going to learn from looking at the listing that your many lovely pictures don't already show?

If they want to learn something more, why don't they just ask you?

If they want to see the neighborhood, they can see the neighborhood without coming inside your property.

Don't do it.

Tell them "If there is anything more you need to know about the listing, I am happy to answer all your questions. If you want to look at the neighborhood, our closest intersection is (street & street). We do not allow unbooked guests inside the property."

(You fell victim to reason #4.)

[Janet388 · Accepted solution]

Thank you so much for your response...won't do that again.  

[Vanessa-and-Kurt0]

@Matthew285, Can you share where preview is in AirBnB rules? I can't find anything specific to previewing-just not renting outside the platform.