Do fake guests/bookings exist?

[Gary782]

hello all,

We recently put our home onAirbnb and within a few days received a booking for 5 days, great I hear you say... However, I was concerned when I noticed the guest had only just joined Airbnb this month and hence had no reviews or prior bookings.

Fortunately I was able to cancel the booking without incurring any penalty but I feel I have let the guest down (I cancelled the same day).

Is there any Airbnb scams going around whereby a guest can avoid paying for a booking?

[Marit-Anne0]

@Gary782   If there is a booking with a booking number, it is a confirmed booking paid for through airbnb, possibly paid in full.  I do not think such booking can be considered fake.

On the other hand, there are guests out there who deliberately pick new hosts as they know such hosts are desperate for guests and reviews and more likely to accept a newbie.  Many experienced hosts use the setting in their booking criteria to only allow fully verified guests and with a good review history to instant book their listings.  Your guest with a sparse profile and no reviews may have had a hard time finding anything at all to book and hit the jackpot with your place.  

Bargain hunters might also look out for new hosts as new hosts often underprice their listings to get onto the market for those all important reviews.  If the only review on your listing is a cancellation review, it will not be very reassuring and might very well turn away any potential future guests.  Along with a poor host profile, potential future guests are likely to pay a little more and book next door.

[Gary782]

Thank you for the very helpful response. I appreciate your guidance and advice.

[Linda108]

Whether you are a new host, new guest or new contributor to the forum, miscommunication can occur.  You asked a valid question but appeared to the host community per your profile that your own validity was in question.  It was good for you to provide further information and link to your listing, which is quite lovely.

I have many guests new to Air BNB contact me for approval to book. I actually enjoy having the opportunnity to host new guests.  However, I also understand that it is important for the newbie to be instructed about what to expect.  Take a little more time, but it is worth it.  I do not allow Instant booking by those who do not have a positive review which prompts the communication.  Even with that, as a host of a private room in my home, I always confirm that the guest understands that I along with my dog will remain in the home during the visit.  Sometimes guests are confused by the platform.  Good luck and please continue to use the host forum to ask questions.  

[Gary782]

This is a great response and really what I hoped to receive when asking what seemed to be a legitimate question.

I appreciate you taking the time to respond and to see past my somewhat brief profile used for the post

[Sarah977]

@Gary782  I looked at your listing, which looks quite nice. 

I would advise you, though, to change the following wording in the Interaction with Guests section "Guests will have full use of the house and will not be disturbed by the hosts (unless they have questions or require assistance). Hosts available via WhatsApp, Viber, SMS and/or email."

First of all, giving guests the impression that seeing or speaking with the hosts is a "disturbance" is not something you should promote. In order not to have guests who think they can throw a wild party, sneak in extra guests, etc, it's much better for guests to be under the impression that you are just a stone's throw away, could drive by anytime, etc.  Your listing is already for an Entire house- it's not necesssary to keep stressing that fact. "We live very close by, so can be readily available should you need assistance or have any questions" is a better message to put out.

And DO NOT communicate with guests in the ways you have stated. You want to communicate with guests via the Airbnb messaging system as much as possible, especially in a listing where you don't live on-site, so there is a record for Airbnb look at should there be any dispute between you and a guest. Phone calls and texts are okay for a few things, but really risky in a lot of ways. Your guests are complete strangers to you, not your buddies who you text and Whatsapp with. You want to maintain a record of what is discussed between you and the guests, so if things go sideways it's not a matter of I said, he said, no you didn't, yes I did. 

Guest:  "We can't figure out how to turn on the XX and can't find any YY."

Host: "Just push the widget and wait 5 seconds, then turn the knob to the left. The YY is in the second drawer down to the right of the sink."

Guest: "Thanks, very helpful. Got it."

Guest decides to cut their stay short, for reasons having nothing to do with your place or your hosting. Calls Airbnb to demand a refund for unused days, claims that the XX doesn't work and the host was unresponsive and refused to help out.

Would you really want that previous conversation to have happened by phone, or would you want to be able to say to Airbnb "Check my message stream with the guest. His claims are obviously bogus." 

[Gary782]

Sarah, this is excellent information and can only come with experience.  I really appreciate you taking the time to share this wisdom.

I will amend the listing to take account of your advice.

Thanks again.