fake guest

[Cedric23]

Hi, I can’t find the right answer in the help center. 

The problem here for me is that the guest was not Sergio but his daughter with her boyfriend. So the guest can choose the host but the host cannot choose the guest in that case. 

I had a negative review from Sergio ***. I really don’t understand the reason, all the comments I’ve received until today are positive. 

So my question is : is it possible to erase a negative message done by a guest that was not the guest ?

Thanks a lot,

Cédric

[Marit-Anne0]

You can try.  Third party bookings are not approved by airbnb and those who do not stay may not leave a review.  The best thing in such cases would be to report to airbnb on arrival.  

[Sneha1]

It is against airbnb rules to not be the person booking call airbnb right away they can help

[Luke70]

hi everyone, ive preapproved a guest named Frank who wants to look at the property before he rents it. I have given him the address and invited him to call so I can show him around. The number was blocked and I communicated that. When I looked at his profile, The picture is definitely not a Frank, more like Elle MacPherson. Is this a scammer? Has anyone come across this particular concern where there is doubt as to whether the guest is who they say they are?

[Marit-Anne0]

@Luke70

There is a reason why communicating outside airbnb is not approved - it is a security issue !  It can be a scammer, a burglar, someone looking to do price negotiation - red flags all the way !

[Luke70]

thanks for that, i'm still learning to host and I am dubious about this one. I have faith that generally people's intentions are good but ive definitely learnt a lesson this time. I'll be far more sceptical about such other requests outside of air bnb.

Luke

[Mark436]

Yes, I have had two of those that I know of.  They're basically pirates.  They'll scout ahead months in advance for a small city with a major event (college town for example with big basketball game on schedule for next season).  They know that rooms are going to sell out in hotels and B&B's becasue the city infrastructire is not built to handle an influx of a football stadium crowd.  They rent your place on the cheaps and when the game day approaches they sell it for 3-4 times what they got from you to a panic buyer.   Best to report them,  because they will talk the place up to sell it, then the actual guest turns expecting more than you had actually listed (my case, 2 bathrooms instead of one), and because guests paid exhorbitant price, they're mad at YOU for price gouging, and you'll get a negetive review.   

[Letti0]

@Mark436  How can they leave a review if they are not the actual ones to rent from you? I saw another host stating this happened to her, but they were not able to leave a review. The place was oversold as to the amenities also in her case. 

[Mark436]

Not sure.  Maybe they can't.  I've only busted two of them, and the one that got ugly, I reported to AB&B, they recognized it as a fake profile and yanked her.  The other went off without a hitch, but I'm sure she got fleeced, as it was a zero vacancy weekend in town.  So I was just theorizing that they could leave a bad review, but you make a very good point, I don't think they can if they're not the actual "guest", but they seem to know that they're in on some kind of a nefarious deal, because their stories are loose variations on what the "agent" said in the inquiry, yet with even more glaring descrepencies.  It is still uncomfortable to have someone show up expecting 2 bathrooms, two parking spots, and with two extra guests and wondering how much they actually paid.  Still, it's not cool to have people in your house that haven't gone through verification processes, becasue some of them might be using agents to get around Instant Booking qualifications or to circumvent some review that they got from some disaterous stay with some other poor host.

[Victoria567]

Hi@Luke

Red flag!

Never give your address out or let a stranger look around your place beforehand.......you have photos on your listing?

Could be a burglar sizing up your place and casing the joint.

Could be the start of an identity theft.....email address, home address, phone number?....it’s all there this information you generously gave them.

take care.