Accepting booking requests

[Helen807]

Hi All,

I am hoping to get a little bit of advice... I am new to Airbnb (as a host) and not sure about some things. I thought I was on Instant booking (only guests with good reviews) but it seems I am not. I have just had a request to book and as it was last night I had a message from Airbnb saying I only have 15 hours left to accept or decline or they will block out that weekend. Anyway, I felt a little pressured so I accepted. The person has only joined airbnb this month, has no pic and only a mobile number, no other id. I feel a little uneasy about this. Should I? Or does this happen a lot? She has sent a brief message saying she loves where I live. I have replied saying i look forward to hosting her. I have since realised there is a big festival in my town that weekend and it's quite a 'party' weekend. Should I message her more and ask for id? Or try and get a bit more info? I don't know if I am worrying unnecessarily.. I know it's too late to really do much about it now but any advice would be very gratefully received. Thanks, Helen

[Jim472]

Welcome to the double edged sword. I've posted my absolute fury at the system in place but the bottom line is even if guests don't have photos, government id, or previous reviews they're still allowed to "request" booking. It doesn't matter if those are "requirements" for guests, they can still "request", I put it in quotes because it's not really a request. We hosts are forced to either "Accept" and get a possible nightmare booking, "Decline" and take a hit on out acceptance rate ( <88% = bad), or ignore and have dates blocked and take a hit on your response rate.

From what I've read the ignore option is the worst, followed by the "Decline", leaving "Accept" which takes away all semblance of the word request.

I always try to message them back immediately and say thank you for your interest, bla bla bla, but we require more stringent requirements and I see you don't have any reviews so I won't be able to host you. If I start a dialog and they seem genuinely nice I might accept but if not I hope they'll remove their request and look elsewhere. I try to run out the clock after the first reply and just accept towards the end.

I have had good luck and bad with customer service too. If I have to "Accept" a booking I feel uneasy with I try to contact CS and explain that in my listing I require Photo/ID/Reviews and the guest doesn't have them. I've had one CS cancel for me and two not. You don't take a hit if CS does it for you.

Good Luck

[Anonymous]

Actually it's been several months since "Acceptance Rate" - or indeed any of the "Basic Requirements" - has appeared in my Dashboard. I assumed that they had quietly removed this after many complaints (including one from myself) that it was unfair to penalize hosts for declining inappropriate requests. (See here: https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Host-Voice/Stop-penalizing-hosts-who-decline-inappropriate-reque... )

Airbnb seems to have removed the Basic Requirements tab altogether, but I'm not sure this change has rolled out to all users. Is it still showing up for you?

[Helen807]

@Anonymous it says on my page basic requirements are phone and email - my guest only has a phone number. I guess an email address isn't exactly  great security but how has she been able to set up an account without that?

[Sarah977]

@Helen807  I read a post here the other day where a host said they called Airbnb about that, and the CS rep's answer was something along the lines of "Oh, we don't require that anymore." even though their TOS says that's a requirement. It seems guests can have accounts now with zero information. I guess all Airbnb is concerened with is whether the credit card on file is valid and chargeable so they can collect their booking fees.

[Helen807]

@Sarah977 It seems crazy to me that anyone can sign up with no info/effort and be able to stay in your home. I'm kicking myself I didn't look at her profile and get into a conversation with her before deciding to accept/decline. Hey ho. It's all a learning curve. I'm hoping I don't regret it! All my other guests that have booked seem lovely and understand how Airbnb relies on trust. I really hope she replies tonight and I can stop worrying!

[Katerina108]

Hi Helen,

When first starting out to host it can be quite a difficult process navigating your way through the system...! I know. I’ve made my share or mistakes. What I’ve learnt is that you should never feel pressured to take a booking if you don’t feel comfortable. Even if it’s a request to book immediately (i.e. 24 hours to accept), don’t feel you have to take the booking. You must feel comfortable with who you’re letting into your home. (When declining you can state your reasons). 

Airbnb have recently changed their photo policy (I’m guessing guests have complained about being discriminated against) so you can’t see the photo when a request is made. However, if you go into booking requirement settings you can set it so you require guests to have a photo, though you won’t see this until the booking is confirmed. Annoying, I know!! But it’s better than nothing...

As far as deciding whether to accept a booking or not, engage with the guest immediately if they haven’t offered anything about themselves. Ask about them and the people who will be coming with them. More often than not potential guests are very open to giving details and you can very quickly gauge what they are like through their communication. I have a set response for any potential guests who wants to book but is new to Airbnb and doesn’t have any reviews:

“Thanks for your request to book. As you're  new to the Airbnb community and don't have any reviews yet, we'd love to know a little bit more about yourself and who else will be coming for the weekend. We rely very much on reviews and guests telling us a bit about themselves so we know who will be staying in our home (in much the same way as guests look at photos of our home to know what they are getting!).”

If there is a 24hr time limit on the booking request then I let them know it and ask them to get back to me ASAP because of the time limit, otherwise I’ll have to decline. More often than not I find people extremely obliging. 

Though if you don’t feel comfortable after all  then don’t accept. I do this. If I get a funny feeling about a guest then I try to put them off the place and say I don’t feel our house is suitable for them. It’s simply not worth stressing and worrying over and definitely not worth feeling like you have to accept a dodgy booking. It would be far worse to come back to your property to find it trashed!

I know this doesn’t help with the booking you’ve just accepted but you have every right to ask her further questions. And explain that you’re also new to hosting and would like a little reassurance. If you’re open and honest it is often reciprocated 🙂

With very best wishes,

Katerina

[Valerie192]

Hi @Katerina108  I really like the phrasing you use here. I am going to copy it in the future for guests with no reviews. Thanks for sharing these best practices!

[Cynthia475]

I think that it is a good sign that she at least sent a short message with her booking request.  To ease your nerves I would reach out to her again and ask some basic questions as @Katerina108 suggested.  Both of you are new to the system so she did not give you all of the basic information hosts like to see and you accepted without doing the proper vetting.  It is just a learning curve.

I would start the conversation with the "attitude" that the guest would appreciate the extra communication because they are new at this too so maybe they are equally nervous with renting.

[Helen807]

Thanks so much for your responses! Hugely appreciated. I have sent her a message asking for a little more info so I am hoping she gets back to me and my mind is eased. Next time this happens I'll make sure to ask the questions before accepting! Helen xx

[Mike1034]

@Helen807When you have Instant Booking on, it does not mean that you will not receive booking request for those guests with no reviews. But those booking requests will need you to accept before they are booked.

For requests coming from guests with no reviews, as mentioned by other hosts, you ask questions before you accept or decline. But in your case, you still can ask questions below

(1) Full legal names of all the guests

(2) Where the guests are from

(3) If they don't have government ID, you ask them to show you at checkin time

(4) What is the purpose of their trip?

(5) Have they read and agree the house rules? Especially the no party rules because you have an entire place to rent

If they don't answer your questions in time or you don't feel comfortable with their answers, you can cancel their booking penalty free. That is per Airbnb rules for instant booking. But check with Airbnb support to verify this.

[Sarah977]

@Helen807  You've gotten really good advice from other hosts as far as how to deal with Requests and what questions to ask to set your mind at ease.

 Other things- just because a guest chooses to send a Request, rather than IB, doesn't mean they necessarily didn't meet your requirements, are new to the platform, or that it's a red flag. Some guests, especially single female travelers, may not feel comfortable booking a place until they've had some interaction with the host to get a sense of whether they'd feel safe there and some guests just want a bit more information, i.e. how close you are to somewhere they want to visit. Also, when you are a new host without a string of rave reviews yet, discerning guests may be wary and want to get more of a feel for you and your place, as there is not much for them to go on. 

And READ REVIEWS BEFORE ACCEPTING. When you get a Request, click on the circle with the letter in it to the left of your message stream with the guest. That will take you to their profile page. Their photo won't be visible before a booking is confirmed, but you can read their profile write-up and their reviews there, if they indeed have any.

I don't use IB, all my bookings come in the form of Requests. I recently got a request from a guy who only said "I'll be arriving around noon." in his initial message. So I looked at his profile page and he had 2 reviews, both good. I then messaged him back, asking the questions I needed to, to make sure he'd thoroughly read the listing description, etc. He messaged back right away, giving much more info about his trip and answering my questions and he turned out to be a charming guest.

[Helen807]

Thanks everyone, really great advice which I will most certainly be following from now. I messaged my guest yesterday, politely asking where they were coming from and if they were visiting for the festival and I have not had a response so am still very uneasy. I think I will give AirBnb a call and see if they will take pity on a naive first time host...Helen xx

[Anonymous]

@Helen807  I second all of the advice above, and I would just add that party tourists don't have to be a problem. We get a lot of those here in Berlin - we make it clear that we want them to have a blast but the party stays out of the house. Primarily that means setting a strict rule against any additional/unregistered guests and making it clear that you'll enforce it.

Your listing says you live 5 minutes away; I don't recommend saying that in your public listing, as it advertises that the entrance is unsupervised and guests can easily sneak people in. 

[Gordon0]

@Helen807 - One thing to note is you cannot (in the UK) demand to see government ID on check in as @Mike1034 says (as you know, it is not mandatory for us to carry it anyway). It'll also rattle your would-be guest. Likewise, you cannot cancel 'penalty-free' if the guest doesn't want to answer some pretty intrusive questions (if asked in the way they come across from @Mike1034). 

I've had 250+ guests stay and I can (easily) count on one hand the few I wouldn't welcome back. That said, I was equally nervous in the early days and often expected to be murdered in my bed on a weekly basis. 

You have a cute listing and you want to protect it, clearly. And as time goes by you'll become a pro at weeding out the (statistically low numbers of) ropey guests.

My advice to new hosts is to get the conversation started ASAP to get a feel for would-be guests. Likewise, go through the Whistable 'calendar' and mark out (and up) any key dates now. 

Let us know how it goes!