hosting a non verified new user

[Greg-and0]

I have a request from an Airbnb member who has been a member only days, has no photo, 1 verification, and no other information on his profile.  I'm retisant about hosting someone so mysterious.  Any input from the group?  Perhaps I should ask some questions? What questions might I ask?

[Clare0]

HI @Greg-and0 you are entitled to have guests verify their ID.  I only accept verified users.  You can message the guest that he/she needs to complete their profile in order to become verified.  Click on Manage Listing and on the left side you'll see Reservation Requirements.  Click on it and check the box that says "Require Guests to Verify ID".   Good Luck and Happy Hosting!

[Robin4]

@Greg-and0  My oh my, you are so fortunate to live in such a beautiful part of Washington State!

To some of the regular contributors to this section like @Clare0 my responses will have a certain repetetiveness about them but, many of the questions have been brought up before so, I have a little store of answers I can draw on....so, sorry Claire if you have heard it all before.

In this country we have an expression Greg! An unlabelled bottle of wine is called a 'Cleanskin' ....possibly you have the same thing over there. It does not necessarily mean it is going to be a bad wine....it just doesn't have a past!

Greg, you are new to the game and it will take you a while to build up a 'gut feeling' towards some of these requests The only advice I can give you...and other hosts...... As you said, this guest had no previous dealings with Airbnb, and Greg, that would seriously worry me. When a booking request comes through I always check on their 'history'...as it were, to see what possible issues there might have been in the past. I know everyone needs to start from somewhere but, I would be extremely hesitant about taking on a 'cleanskin'!!!

Greg, I have been so fortunate, I have had nothing but wonderful guests but I know my time will come for that little upset......but, it won't come because I haven't done my homework!!

Cheers.....Rob

[Clare0]

@Robin4 @Greg-and0 While I require Verified ID, I don't necessarily decline a guest with no reviews.  So far, knock on wood, my newbie guests have been great.  I had one newbie have a profile pic of a dog...I requested a full pic and he did it.  My last guest didn't have Verified ID and I asked him to complete the verfication, which he did.  I think most newbie guests are just as confused as we are on how to navigate the Airbnb system. 

[Robin4]

@Clare0 .....Claire you are definitely right about new guest confusion. My introduction to Airbnb about 14 months ago was, as a guest, and initiated by my youngest daughter, and she has said, she found it so daunting she would not use Airbnb again.

I did say in previous posts I would be extremely reticent to take on a guest that has not had some sort of a track record with Airbnb, but I am in that exact situation at the moment. A country woman from another state has booked two nights with me at the end of the month and this is her first time using Airbnb!....Now before you accuse me of being all 'p..s and wind', her daughter is a very experienced Airbnb'er and has walked her mother through the process and threatened her with dis-ownership if she stuffs it up!!

So, although this guest is new to the system, she does know 'the lye of the land'...Although to start with she could not understand why I would not take her credit card details, she has now instilled enough confidence in me to 'give her a go'....besides she has her daughter hanging in the wings holding aloft that sword of Damocles’ should the mother attempt anything that would not be regarded as the norm. So.....this may be my first slip-up Claire but as I said before, I have done my homework!

Hope you are handling the cold over there ok Claire....We have just had yet another 'century' day here and I wish I could send you a ray or two of our sunshine! It has been the hottest summer on record in this part of the world. We currently have the 'Tour Down Under' cycling road race here, and these poor buggers have to race in 39c (103f) temperatures....and it doesn't look like getting cooler all week

Thanks for your good advice...cheers....Rob

[Clare0]

@Robin4 Actually I'm in California, not Canada! Hope all goes well with this guest!

[Dave-and-Deb0]

@Clare0 and @Robin4,

Why is it that Airbnb lists everyone by their City and Country except the people from USA?  For all the USA hosts, it lists their City and State!  Everybody, including Clive think @Clare0 is from Canada because she is from Templeton, CA.  I can see where poeple make the mistake.

@Lizzie, why is this different?  Does Airbnb even realize this?  Is it a mistake?

Dave

[Clare0]

@Dave-and-Deb0 I'm just special, that's all!  Love the quote!!

[Lizzie]

Hello @Dave-and-Deb0, 

Good question! In terms of what is displayed under you profile photo (avatar) in the CC, this actually depends on your settings and how much information you want to share - obviously your full address is not advisable due to safety reasons. You will see that some hosts for example, put the full name such as California, United States and some put CA or CA, US!

[Clare0]

Hi @Lizzie, is there a way to communicate privately with you?  Do you have a twitter account so I can DM you?

[Dave-and-Deb0]

Hi @Lizzie,

On my Airbnb and CC profile, it says, "Edmonton, Alberta. Canada" but only displays Edmonton Canada.  So where would I change it to add/remove detail?  I guess I could look around some more.

Cheers

Dave

[Robin4]

@Clare0 Yeah Claire...I know exactly where you are, you are up the coast from Santa Barbara...I hadn't thought I ever put you in Canada but..I am getting old and these slips are happening more and more. I did however put @Greg-and0 in Washington State at the start of this conversation stream, and as I included you in that post, you may have thought my initial comment about his beautiful location was directed at you...That's something else my years of cruising with Holland America Line have taught me Claire...never call and American a Canadian!!! Good luck...cheers....Rob

[Gerry-And-Rashid0]

We started hosting in July last year  - we have accepted both guests who are new to AirBnB and those with reviews. We go on gut feeliing for both types of guests. We have not been wrong so far -all of our guests have been very nice people. We have turned down as many as we have accepted - so if a guest does not feel right for you then you won't feel comfortable with them in your home (whether they have reviews or not).

[Isabelle3]

Same here - I work on feeling - and it seems to work

[Marit-Anne0]

@Greg-and0

I often take newbies, but I have my setting to verified guests only and I ask them for a photo and a description of themselves.  I also ask them to read the listing and itinerary carefully and especially observe the house rules and read the information folder on arrival.  

In some cases I also ask them to read about the airbnb consept so that they know what it is all about.  Sometimes it can be a struggle though as some travellers have a not too good command of the English language and in some cultures they say they understand even if they do not in order not to loose face.  This can result in low rating for arrival because they could not read the directions and got somewhat lost, not making contact if there are things they do not understand etc.