Suspicious booking

[Caroline1258]

Hi, we would welcome any advice from other hosts as we are relatively new to hosting on Airbnb. We have a large 5 bedroom house and we just got a booking for 1 person for a week. The only message that arrived was just a blank message with a full stop in it. There is no profile picture , just a picture of a flower. The message and booking doesn't appear on my co-host app. It seems a bit odd to us. Has anyone else had something similar? 

[Helen3]

In your situation @Caroline1258  I would message back the guest and ask them to:-

a. change their profile image to one of themselves

b. ask them about plans for their stay and why they chose your place

c. ask them why they are booking a five bedroom house for one person.

If they don't respond or don't give a satisfactory response, then contact Airbnb and ask them to cancel the booking as you feel uncomfortable.

Not sure about co-host issue as I don't use one.

I would always recommend new hosts remove instant book until they become more familiar with how Airbnb works and so you can vet guests individually before accepting bookings to ensure a good fit.

By the way your price is ridiculously cheap. You are letting one person occupy a whole five bedroom house for £59 a night. Please look at pricing for similar properties in your area and adjust your prices upwards. Even for 10 people it's only £134.

[Sarah977]

@Caroline1258  Helen has offered you solid advice. The only thing I would do differently myself is rather than asking why the guest would book a 5 bedroom house for 1 person, that you ask if he entered the correct number of guests on the booking, mentioning that only guests registered on the booking will be allowed to enter the property.  I think this comes across better, as you are making it apparent that the guest may have just made an error in the guest count and reinforced your "no extra guests", rather than putting him on the spot of having to explain why he would book such a large place only for himself, as if you are accusing him of being untruthful.