Can you require guests have at least one review?

Pete69
Level 10
Los Angeles, CA

Can you require guests have at least one review?

Can you require that in order to book, guests must have at least one review, and no negative reviews?

4 Replies 4
Kath9
Level 10
Albany, Australia

@Pete69, yes, for instant book you can set it up so that only guests with previous reviews, recommended by other hosts and no negative reviews can book. Go into your listing > Booking settings > How guests can book > Edit guest requirements.

 

For booking requests, of course you can have a look and decide whether to accept.

:facepalm: For instant book only?!!! So it's catch 22.

I don't understand how Airbnb would even be able to identify a negative review unless a real human is subjectively reading reviews.

@Pete69  I think what is meant by no negative reviews would relate to low star levels, maybe? Or that if a guest were to IB and a host read their reviews and found negative ones they could call Airbnb and present that as a valid reason for cancelling without penalty?

Even if a guest only had one review and it wasn't negative, I wouldn't consider that much to go on. We all know there's a lot of hosts out there who don't leave honest reviews, as well as off-site hosts or property managers who never even meet the guests. As long as the house wasn't trashed, they get a "Nice guests." review.

While I do definitely read guest reviews and have zero qualms about accepting a guest whose good reviews I can tell are honest (home-share hosts who actually write quite a bit about how great the guests were), I've accpeted quite a few guests with no reviews. I go on their communication style, which tells me a lot. They've all turned out to be fine guests. 

 

Pete69
Level 10
Los Angeles, CA

On a side note, anyone have any good language to use to discourage the haphazardly guests?

For example:

"This is an Airbnb home -- Not a hotel"

or

"This is a really quiet neighborhood"