I am most concerned. There is a marked increase in scam reservation requests. I am regularly getting requests that are very shady – there is no photo, there are no reviews, there are strange questions, the country on their profile vs where they state they come from differs etc. etc. I do not allow instant book, as I want to check each guest first (my AirBnB is inside my home and therefore I am exceptionally cautious). I engage the potential guest with various chit chat and ask if they want breakfast, and expected check-in times, as well as ask them a little about themselves as “I like to get to know my guests a little before they arrive” etc. I do no pre-approvals or instant declines…I give them a chance to respond, and then eventually decline (by giving the potential guest a reason for politeness sake) and give a full reason to Airbnb as well as explicitly state why I declined in order to protect myself if at anytime Airbnb or the guest wishes to complain. As both a host and a guest I have learnt how to ensure my safety as well as suss out the riff raff.
My concern lies in the fact that Airbnb has never come back to me on any of the profiles that really show they are scams (and some profiles are still hanging around!), and secondly, the constant waste of time sorting out these spam and scam requests. I also raise the concern that AirBnB needs to increase the verification process and that the profile needs to have more than just a photo and “telephone number verification”. These types of profiles with minimal verifications need to be checked more closely, and that Airbnb also reviews profiles where there has been no usage. I have no issues with the “email” correspondence via the Airbnb platform being reviewed – I make sure that I do everything via the platform to protect me and them at all times.
Any correspondence with Airbnb yields zero response. And for me to be constantly declining bookings really, really concerns me. I am a SuperHost and wish to maintain such a status. However, I am not going to accept dodgy bookings.
Any ideas or comments??