Renting from new host jitters

[Deryl3]

Planning a trip to London and found awesome deals that are too good to be true.

These are new hosts and as such dont have any reviews.

Most travel sites say not to rent from hosts that dont have atleast 2 reviews.

Any advice from folks that have been in similar situations.

[Sarah977]

@Deryl3  All hosts, just like all guests, start out their accounts with no reviews. So if no one takes a chance on a new host or a new guest, there wouldn't be any booking platform at all.

As long as you found this listing on the official Airbnb site, not some other place, why not just send the host a message to get a feel for him/her. As a host I've accepted lots of new guests with no reviews- my criteria is that they communicate well and in a timely fashion, and that it's obvious that they have throroughly read the listing description and understand what they are booking.

Some new hosts are unaware that a 20% discount has been applied to their first 3 bookings (they can opt not to have this, but not if they aren't aware), they may think that they should follow Airbnb's price tips, which are absurdly low, or they may have smart pricing on by default, which could set a lower price than what they would like. And many new hosts are willing to book out for a cheap price until they get the first few reviews. So any of those things could lead to what seems like an unbelievably great price.

Communicate with the host by sending an Inquiry, introduce yourself, say why you are travelling to their area, ask a question if you have one that's not answered by reading the listing description, and you may get a lovely response that sets your mind at ease.

But if you found this place somewhere other than on the official Airbnb site, it could be a scam.

[Deryl3]

Great advice.

Thanks Sarah

[Rachel0]

@Deryl3Everything @Sarah977 has said is good advice.  However, you do not have any reviews either which might deter some hosts from accepting you.  There is nothing you can do about that at the moment but what you should do, before sending any reservation requests, is fill out your profile with some details about what you do, your interests etc.  Hosts like to know something about potential guests as they are very often sharing their own homes with them.

[Deryl3]

thanks rachel. Will do.

[David3267]

everyone has to start sometime!

[Deryl3]

Well folks..just an update..I am so glad I didnt just go ahead and book...I sent a message to the host asking for some details. Mind you, this was a listing on the AirBNB site and not some 3rd party website.
First I got an email saying my offer was declined even though I never booked anything. Only sent a message.
Just a few minutes ago I got this....

We’re reaching out because you were recently in contact with an account that was removed for violating the Airbnb Terms of Service.

Airbnb will never ask you to verify a listing or pay for anything outside of our site, through email, or through a third-party booker. If you sent money outside of Airbnb, you may have paid for a fraudulent reservation. Let us know what happened, and we’ll recommend next steps.

If someone asked you to communicate directly by email or through Facebook, or copy and paste a URL (http://www...) into a new browser window, or otherwise pay or communicate outside of the Airbnb website or app, we ask that you stop communication with them immediately.

If you did share personal information, like a password, please update your password immediately. If you use that same password for any other accounts (like your email), we recommend changing your password there too.

Visit our Help Center for more information about recognizing scamsand keeping your account secure. You can always report a profile or listing directly through the Airbnb website or app.

Thanks,
The Airbnb Trust & Safety team
I guess not everything on the airbnb site has been vetted.