Should I be worried?

[Sue794]

I recently put my hobbit house on airbnb...the first person to respond doesn't have any reviews and I didn't accept a pre-approval, it seems to have been an automtic response.  I was offering a 20% discount for the first 3 weeks and he was the first.  Should I be worried?

[Emiel1]

@Sue794 

Worried about what ?

BTW your special offer is :

20% discount to the first 3 guests who book a trip between now and Aug 11

Best regards,

Emiel

[Sarah977]

The guest would have Instant Booked, which is why you didn't receive a Booking Request to accept or an Inquiry to pre-approve (these 2 things are different).

Communicate with the guest through  Airbnb messaging. Ensure that they have thoroughly read the listing description and House Rules and are willing to abide by the rules. Get a feel for the person by how they communicate. If you don't get any response, or something that you don't feel okay about, you could contact Airbnb to cancel the reservation, saying you don't feel comfortable with it.

If you are going to use Instant Book (which is probably on by default, but you can turn it off), make sure to check all the settings for IB that you want- profile photo, Govt. ID, and you can also set it so only those with recommendations from other hosts can IB.

I think it's actually better to not use IB as a new host, until you get the hang of vetting guests, but that's your call.