Are Scammers Inquiring About Long Term Rentals?

[John1574]

I have received some inquiries about long term rentals from parties that have a minimal AirBnB profile with no activity.

My instinct tells me that all is not kosher with these inquiries.

Does anyone have any experience with long term rental inquiries? 

For instance, can you ask for a deposit to secure the booking if the rental dates are many days into the future and to remove that block of time would be risky if there were a cancellation?

Is there a link that someone could send to info that covers this topic?  It is eaiser to pose a question than to search the archieves.

[Paul154]

@John1574, your concerns are valid.

Airbnb is set up very well for short-term, but not so good for long-term.

You can not charge a "real" deposit. 

There is a reason long-term landlords charge first, last and a sizable deposit upfront. 

There also is a reason to run a credit check, employment check and to fill out an extensive application with addresses and phone numbers. 

The worst financial risk is from Airbnb. They may arbitrate against you the host and not pay you anything!  Although unpleasant, that risk is acceptable for a 2 day stay. For a 30 day stay it is unbearable.

[John1574]

Thank you, Paul.

I've received inquiries for visits around 30 days, which to me is "long term" in the AirBnB biz.  Some have no profile picture and none have an airbnb history of rentals or hosting.

I'm curious as to what their game is.  Legitimate members can instant book as the monthly price is discounted by 50%.

I respond to their inquiry but do not accept, pre-approve or decline.  I leave the ball in their court.  I somehow don't feel that they are legitimate inquiries, but I fail to grasps what their game is.

I'm grateful for the chance to learn from experienced hosts and not just from my own mistakes.

Does anyone else have experience with these tye of 30 day inquiries from guests with little to no airbnb history?

[Sarah977]

@John1574   You should always follow your instincts if you feel something is off about an inquiry. But apart from the long term rental issue, you say "legitimate members can instant book". Just because someone is a legitimate member and you have instant book turned on doesn't mean they are comfortable instant booking. Most of my guests don't use the instant book feature even if available- they tell me they want to exchange a message or two with the host to get a feel for who they would be staying with (Airbnb claims all guests prefer instant book, but they're wrong). If a guest's profile is incomplete, and they have no reviews, they may just be new to the platform and not quite understand how it works. If you can see that they joined very recently, that could be the case. If you see that they have been a member for a longer time, yet have no reviews or profile info, that would be a red flag to me. 

But for sure if the inquiry sounds off in some way, I'd never pre-approve it.

Oh, and to tag someone, key in the @ symbol and a box will come up with a list of posters in the thread (I had to learn this, too when new to the forum) and you then click on the one you are addressing. It only shows a max of 5, so if there's a lot of posters in a thread, their name may not come up.

[John1574]

@Sarah977Thanks, that worked!

What a great reply.  Things are more nuanced than might appear.  My first two bookings were by instant-booking, and the first just checked out.  Perfect, so far. They had good profiles and AirBnB history and reviews so I exchanged messages with them and everything proceeded as I had expected.

Perhaps I worngly asssumed that most legit members instant-book since your experience has taught you otherwise.  Thanks so much for sharing that important info with me.

I understand that vetting guests and intreperting available data and info must be a valuable host-skill to develop.  Good instincts also help.

I see that it is vital for hosts to protect themselves by vetting their guests as best they can even if it means fewer bookings.  Thankfully, I am not reliant on income from AirBnbB but can see how this could be problematic to other hosts.  Especially if you are penalised by the company for declining bookings that make your Spidy Sense tingle.

[Sarah977]

@John1574   I have never used Instant Book, because like my guests, I want to get a feel for someone before approving them to stay in my house. I know this results in a poorer search ranking, and less bookings, but like you, I don't rely on airbnb to pay my bills or put food on the table. 

I credit not using Instant Book for me never having had to cancel a booking or decline a booking request, never having had an issue with a guest that couldn't be resolved amicably in the moment, and all my guests have been great and given me lovely reviews and 5 stars. (fingers crossed this continues)

Instant Book seems to work fine for a lot of hosts, and those who depend on the income seem willing to spend time dealing with the issues it can create, but from reading this forum, also seems to lead to issues with guests who haven't bothered to read the listing description, don't know that 3rd party bookings aren't supported, having to cancel bookings one doesn't feel comfortable with, spending time dealing with airbnb to try to resolve issues, etc.

I prefer not to complicate my life- I'm quite busy enough with things not related to hosting.

[John1574]

@Sarah977  Your input is so valuable -- exactly the type of commentary I was hoping to receive.

When getting started I thought it best to try to comply with AirBnB’s suggestions, but now that I’m digging into these forums I feel like I am getting a real education from a host’s perspective.

Thanks for outlining some of the drawbacks to instant-booking.  I will be re-evaluating my approach.

[Katherine54]

Yes, we have had 2  for 30 day stays in the last few weeks.  Both have inquired about internet because they do a lot of video.  I have answered with what I have available and even offered to increase capabilities.  I got no answer back.

[Felicia200]

I’ve received numerous request for 6mth plus and it always leads to can we talk more meaning outside the site. I instantly report. Airbnb does not help host to identify!!

[Robert6261]

We have an high-end unit, 300 plus dollars per night. We routinely get requests for multi-month rentals. Every single person we have dealt with wants to work outside the Airbnb system. They claim that their employer will deposit a check in our bank account and all they need is a routing number and account number. Has anyone fallen for this?

[Alex-And-Dre0]

This is good to know and helped me a lot.

I am getting a lot of inquiries for long term stays at the minute. After the first few i started to see a bit of a pattern with them saying they need to wait for approval from their company. But i continued all communication through the app, my guess is they are waiting for you to say, we can do it offline and when they see you will not they loose interest. Such a waste of my time. 

One person sent me their number three times, even after i said i don't need your number we can message through airbnb. 

[David126]

@Paul154 put it very well, when you say long term do you mean you will have enants not guests?

[John1574]

Thanks, David -- I don't know how to put a tag with a responder's name/link on the forum.

I will review the Community Help guides as well as continuing to use the forum search feature using "long term"  as the search term.  Already I've engaged in some interesting reads.

I'm still familiarizing myself with the site and the features available.  I'll be looking for the "Support Team".

Thanks

John

[Rebecca181]

@John1574 Once the tenant is there at or past 30 days you now have a full-fledged tenant, and your new full-fledged tenant will have full-fledged tenant rights, regardless of whether or not he is there via Airbnb. Meaning, you will have to follow all local / state / federal laws governing your juridstiction if the tenant ends up staying past their Airbnb dates. Meaning, it will take awhile to get him or her out. This is why I don't do long-term rentals via any booking site. If I did, it would be direct only with a Rental Agreement signed, copy of legit ID in my possession, checked references, large deposit up front, etc, etc. But that's just me. I tend to think in terms of 'worst case scenario' and plan for that, as I have had the worst case scenario occur in my life more than once. 

[Rebecca160]

@rebecca You are not showing up in the little pop up window selector. Urgh.

This is the reply that I would have crafted for @John1574 !  I also  do not allow 30 day or longer bookings, just so I can avoid all tenant rights issues. In fact, my max is 14 days and I would extend that only in the case of a known guest (repeat or someone I know working here for fixed term.)