Guest wants to make "partial payment"

[Graham26]

I have a guest interested in my aprtm for a full month at the month discount.

The guest is new to airbnb and states, "I'm worried about paying the full stay in advance. Is there a way that I could do a partial payment?"

I am also new. I have a flexible cancellation policy, but I also see that this booking might automatically come under the "Long Term" policy as explained at : https://www.airbnb.com.au/home/cancellation_policies#long-term. I say "might" here as I do not know if i can over-ride the "Long Term" policy should I wish to allow the guest to cancel before or after check in with refund. Any advice here would be much appreciated. 

Thank you

[Gerry-And-Rashid0]

It might be ungenerous to call this a scam - however you should question why a long term guest does not want  to commit to paying AirBnB, when there are so many policies in place that protect guests. Let alone protection from their credit card company if they pay that way. You should be concerned about a guest who is looking to make a partial payment.

You could tell the guest to book one month or even two weeks and if they like it they can then book the remainder and pay upfront.

Don't get taken in...

[Monica4]

@Graham26  I would never accept a guest that makes that kind of a demand. You have protection when your guests pay through Airbnb. Don't try to work around that. And, this may be a sign of a guest that you cause you problems at the very least, and a sign of a scam at the worst.

[Roz4]

I see hosts above me have said dont do it, but Im a bit of a believer in gut instinct. Do you think they are genuine? Depends if you are keen to get the whole month booking or not.  Maybe you can come to an arrangement with them. They pay for the first two weeks now and you block the other 2 weeks from being booked out by others. On day 3 of their stay they know you, know the space etc and undertake to book the remaining 2 weeks. I was new to airbnb once and I didnt altoghther trust it. I didnt know there were safeguards in place for me as a guest, so I can understand their concerns. I know my own calendar could accomdate an arrangment like that because a lot of my bookings are within 1-2 weeks of the guests stay. So I wouldnt stand to lose. Maybe you are in the same boat? Food for thought.

[Roz4]

One more thought about this approach if you took it, would be to offer the discount rate in the SECOND payment. So they pay for the first two weeks at the regular rate and then if they book the second half of the month the discount is applied then. That way you dont get burned. For instance if you offer a 10% discount for 1 month and the month is $1000, the first 2 weeks is $500 and the second two weeks is $400.

[Graham26]

Thanks for the responses so far. 

If a guest books under the "Long Term" policy (ie over 28 days), are they permitted to cancel before or after check in with refund? Or must the booking be under 28 days for a refund to be allowed?