Guest wants to see the place before comming in

[John7]

I have had several requests for people to see the place before they commit. Air BnB does not allow you to give information about address or telephone number before they receive the money. Is ther a way around this - I have absolutely no intention of short changing Air BNB. I also dont want to lose the potential client.  I would like some advice on how to handle this - Kind regards

John Mills

[Tina1]

John,
I just had this come up last week, with someone interested in a 1 month rental. I think it's a very legitimate question & request to Airbnb, especially for higher priced listings & longer-term rentals.

I agreed to meet my potential guest at a location (I provided him with my listing address) at a specific date & time, via Airbnb email. It worked for me, the tour = rental. He loved the tour of my place and rented it the next day. But, it was more difficult than necessary to communicate on how we could execute this extra/special step (tour of listing prior to rental), through Airbnb email.

My Dad never let me bring up a problem, without potential solutions... So here are some options:

1. Perhaps an Airbnb video tour of our listing could be posted?

2. And/Or Airbnb creates a new option "request in-person tour" (with special criteria and variables we can choose as hosts, maybe:
A. # of days > x
(I'd probably enter 10 days)
&/or
B. total rental price > $x
(I'd enter $5000)
&/or
C. # of reviews is > x (I'd suggest 3, but I think Airbnb should choose this one)

- because I personally don't have a lot of spare time to spend giving tours, unless absolutely necessary & it's financially worth my time.

[Clare0]

Hi John, you should find some helpful info here: www.airbnb.com/help/article/47/what-do-i-do-if-a-guest-wants-to-see-my-place-before-booking

[Fiona-and-Keith-and-Fami0]

Thanks @Clare0 for the reminder! I get this request about once every quarter and had completely forgotten about that Airbnb link & info.

[Giri3]

In places  like  India, the locality and the street are as important as the actual BNB place.  It  is very difficult to commit on a place unless we know which street we are going to  land in. So the information about the place alone is not  enough.

In India, people  cheat a lot.  I have seen many reviews where guests  have  said  that  the place does not look  the photos, the place is dirty, renovation  work was going on, locality was very  squalid and  like.

So unless we know  about the street, it is very difficult to commit for long  periods like  one month.

The BNB  system needs to be  improved at so many levels.

[Keith1]

While I think there is some legitimacy in this request for a longer term booking, good photos, description and guest reviews should mitigate any need for this in nearly all cases.

without exception, every time I've had a request to preview the property before booking it's been someone up to no good.  They're either a scammer of some sort or they're simply looking to book outside the platform to avoid platform fees.   Since platform fees pay for the insurance, this puts the host at risk--you're also at risk of loosing your airbnb account if you do this and they find out.

if someone has this need for a longer booking, you may want to suggest they book for one night and 'try it out' and you can offer to credit the night stay toward their longer term discounted rate.

I had a person supposedly wanting to book for family visiting for a wedding later on.  I suggested this and never heard from him again.   Crisis averted.

[Mandi-S-Just-Business-Ro0]

Prior to AirBnb, my experience has been a 50% no-show rate on appointments. I started asking them to text me prior to departure for the exact address, and that spared me (and my other guests) some of the hassle.

One of the primary reasons that I use AirBnb is to save all of us the time and trouble of appointments, reference checks, ID swaps, collecting money, signing contracts, etc!

It's worth it.

[Carol730]

i'm a 60 year old woman who has never used AirBNB before. I tried to ask to see the property first.  It's in my hometown but I'm moving south and wanted to see what would be available for return trips - for holidays, family get-togethers, etc.  I now understand that this isn't acceptable....and I've now been reported to AirBNB by the owner,  just for ASKING if it was possible. I'm stunned and saddened.  I no longer have any interest in using Air BNB in the future. I guess I understand there could possibly be illegitmate requests, but a simple "no, we don't do things that way" would have been fine.  It was a very unpleasant experience and it's left a bad taste in my mouth. 

[Charles224]

Hi Carol

Hosts can't help but be skeptical.

No photo, a story which may or may not be true, etc.

You have to put yourself out there and be real if you want the hosts to do the same. Just like life in general.

FYI,  I would also have reported your profile, and recommend other hosts to be very wary.

Cheers, Charles

[Oad0]

A small correction. Many hosts post their listings simultaneously on other platforms like booking.com. And while Airbnb does not encourage hosts to go outside its platform, it does not ban or punish one for doing so. Meeting a potential guest, especially a long term is good for both parties. However, we think that hosting outside of a platform, on your own, just to save the commission - is risky. Main risk being the local law, that after 14, or 30 days tecignizes the guest as a tenant, and requires an eviction, getting a court order and then the sheriff... if guest overstay. It happens, according to USA Today. http://usat.ly/1NjA5iA

[Craig355]

Just to clarify, and better understand the risk that you mention (which is a very good point, by the way),  can you clarify in more detail, what the additional risk is going outside the system is? Is it because Airbnb has a guarantee, and the guarantee covers this specific legal issue? Also, with respect to  others, such as Booking.com, do they do the same?

Thank you again for the helpful comment that is quite insightful to a newbie who just hit the 2 month mark. 🙂

[Tommie6]

as true today (2020), as the time of your post.  thank you.

[Anita1]

We are getting more and more requests from supposed "prospective" guests.  It never works out.

Perhaps it has to do with the large number of listings around here but it almost seems like some have nothing better to do than spend a day seeing properties with no regard to the inconvenience of all involved.

There are also scammers who use these showings to scope out places for break-ins because they know its vaccant or enve to figure out how to break in and steal from guests or worst if there is a single woman staying.  This only needs to happen once and you've lost your business.  In some countires you could be found complicit if not implicated.

Many I have met usually want to negotiate the price, arrange different payment arrangements or are just looking to avoid the Airbnb fee.

We have an excellent reputation and do not want to risk our account by working outside the Aribnb process.

Our photos, location and descriptions are very accurate and we have excellent reviews.  

I no longer do showings and instead, as in a previous post, offer that they book for a few days or a week and if they wish to extend, I will honour the original rate through a special offer.

If I get no response, I flag the enquiry as wanting to communicate outside Airbnb.

Before Airbnb allows an enquiry to go through, Airbnb should create a pop-up message
"Meeting or communicating with your host outside Airbnb is not permitted"  Accept?   Yes/No?
If yes, enquiry goes through.

This way all Airbnb hosts play by the same rules and ward of scammers and reduce security risks.

Jacques

[Shann1]

A guest would like to rent my place for 69 days starting on December 8th. She resides in Australia but originally she is from Turkey and she said she stayed in the neighboorhood before. Since she is in Australia now, she wanted her friend from neighborhood to come and see the place to ensure her it will be safe for her and her daughter to stay. I have repeatedly told her that i need to follow airbnb guidelines and a host could only show the place upon final booking. I also mentioned that she could look at 12 pictures, 4 reviews, and if she has more questions, she can ask. 

Since she insisted that her friend would come on the weekend to see the place, I have suggested her to make a 1 day trial booking. Since her case is different, if her friend doesnt like the place, i would offer her friend half refund back or if she/her friend likes to extend it, i can give additional 1 day of stay with 50% discount.  (this was the only solution i could think of ?) And she said it sounds ok. Then what happens? Now she made a 2 night booking for December 8th (5.5 weeks later), but she wants her friend to see the place this weekend. I wrote her:

``Regarding your safety concerns, more photos have been uploaded to the profile. The residence is under camera survelliance. Via your booking and friends in neighborhood, you may also know or learn the location area now. Plus reviews need to wipe out any of your questions. Need to follow the airbnb guidelines, you may cancel the rsvp with full refund upto 5 days prior, or change the date. Thanks for your consideration and understanding. Hope you have a nice time during your stay in istanbul.                                                 PS. Your preferences are totally respected ( i really mean it). when searched there are many (her name) s in facebook and in linkedin same for your work name, fyi 🙂 ''

She has only 2 verifications (email and phone). She has a beach picture on her profile and a tac mahal india picture on her whatsapp. Right from the first message, for her long term stay, upon final confirmation, i emphasized she needs to provide more info to her airbnb profile ( valid id verification, picture, etc.) due to recent attacks and regulations in istanbul. And she agreed. Now she says, i can google her name and her work, and she does not share such information online. When googled or facebooked, there are so many people with the same name, and since she doesnt have picture, i cannot distinguish which one is her. 

On the other hand, 69 days payment would greatly help me at this point.  I am a new host, I have tried to read relavant posts, also wanted to ask your opinion what else i can do at this point. 

[Craig355]

I am also a new host (just passed 2 mos.), but I have the benefit of being a seasoned financial business executive/CPA who has done many cost/benefit analyses. To me, the cost you have expended is already significant. Perhaps, I am lucky that I live in a high demand destination, San Diego, CA, near the beach, (the other side of the equation being that there are a lot of listings nearby).

Being new, and following Airbnb's suggestions for the newbie, I am a value pricing option for guests which, to date, has resulted in a 90+% occupancy rate.  That being said, from my likely unique perspective, this is a classic case of do it now, or move on scenario, due to the high amount of time expended already. Sometimes, it is best to look at each guest on a $/hr. perspective vs. just a rate only one.