This is a post I originally posted on another forum, which I am reposting here to start a new discussion on it.
"I got an inquiry today from a guest who has no photo or verifications. What should I do?"
This is a VERY common question that new hosts have, about what to do when they get an inquiry from a guest who has not completed their profile. It is an EXTREMELY common question, which has, historically, been asked about every couple days on the soon-to-be-former New Hosts Forum. WHich is part of why, in another post (here: https://community.airbnb.com/t5/The-Living-Room/New-Hosts-Forum-veterans-and-others-discussion-about... ) I refer to New Hosts Forum regulars as "veterans"!! Yes, these patient souls on the old forums were busy day after day after day, answering the same question over and over and over, owing to a nonfunctional search function, so that newbies couldn't look up the same question that had just been asked 2 days prior, and 3 days prior to that, and then the day before that, etc for about 2 full years back.
I am hoping that the frequency of this query will be lessened by the fact that these new groups have a working search function. ( I just tested the search function and found it to work) SO.... on the inquiry, guest has either no photo,or they have no verifications, or only scant verifications. Their whole profile may be blank -- we do get some of those -- the blank cartoon profile who wants to stay at your house, who may send you a very short message which reflects, in its own concerning way, the staggering lack of info on the profile. The guest may say, "Hi, I'm Mike. I want to stay at your house. Do you have it available?"
So my question for you as new hosts is...what do you do when you get such an inquiry? You may think that actually YOU should be asking ME and other experienced hosts this question. BUt there is a reason that I am asking YOU this question, as a new-ish host. Why is that? IT's because I think it will be helpful for you in many questions that have to do with your entire guest screening process, that you need to think about developing your guest screening process. The question "what do I do with this inquiry" indicates that you haven't yet set up a screening process or strategy or system. You may have been assuming that Airbnb will do all your screening for you, and present you with nice little people all tied up in neat red bows, all guaranteed to be perfect guests. That would be great, but that isn't how the system works.
WHen you start doing hosting, you are actually setting up a property rental business, a small business. If you have never been in this business before, there are a lot of things to learn from someone who has. Having a business where you are bringing people into your home to live with you is a very intimate, relational, intriguing type of business, and while it can seem easy when you hear the stories of the fantastic guests and all going well, it is not an easy business when things go wrong. Because in that case, you have something going wrong WHERE YOU LIVE, and to say that this can be difficult or challenging is a considerable understatement at times. I know people who have had to move out of their own home when "things went bad" with a renter there. For things to get so VERY bad is quite rare, but milder problems are not too uncommon.
So, the point I'm getting at, is that the question "What do I do when the guests' profile isnt complete?" actually suggests a more important question behind the question, which is "How do I screen guests?"
Profile "Verifications" are nice but they are no guarantee that a guest will be a good one. They may guarantee that the guest's name is what the guest says his name is, or the guest's phone number is what she said her phone number is. Now stop and think how knowing that the phone number is correct, is going to help ensure that your guest doesn't leave dirty dishes in the sink, doesn't violate your house rules and smoke in your house, doesn't say she is bringing 2 people and then end up with 20 people in your no-partying, max #guests = 4 house partying just a short while after you check her in and she says, "You won't have any problems with me, I'll follow all your rules." People say that Verified ID helps with "security" , and this is true, but we dont actually have too many guests burglarizing homes, trashing the hosts' property, or committing other high crimes. More often, the "crimes" hosts see are of a more petty stature, such as -- the guest who keeps "forgetting" to clean out the tub after bathing, the guest who thinks that it is THEIR rules and not the hosts' rules which should apply in the hosts' home, or the guest who "sneaks in" a "friend" overnight, when you dont allow guests to have visitors.
The point being, in your screening process you need to think about what kind of person you want, what kind of problem behavior you want to avoid, and figure out questions that will help you discern what you might expect from any given guest. Verifications are a starting point, but are no guarantee of good behavior.
To have an effective screening process, you need to first determine what kind of guest or behavior you want or dont' want, and come up with the right questions to discern what you need to know. And now, having said all this -- maybe you feel confident enough to be able to answer your own question -- "What do i do if the guest doesn't have a complete profile?" Answer --- You ask the guest to complete their profile. Or, you let the blank cartoon figure named Mike book your place, based on his 15 word inquiry. Your screening process, your choice.
ANy other ideas/reflections on this topic?
