How do you recognize a bad guest at a first glance?

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

Ok, we are all suspicious when we receive an instant booking followed with just one sentence, something like: " Hallo, I will need parking"

I immediately know they didn't read our listing's description , our welcoming message and our house rules  .

But I still give them the benefit of the doubt.

THE BIGGEST RED FLAG for me is when I meet them on arrival and show them arround, explain the keys, heating, A/C, self check out etc.... and see that they don't listen, they just want to know the WIFI password and can't wait to see me leaving. Such guests are careless and disrespectfull and I immediately know they will breake something, forget to lock the doors, will leave a mess etc... And I am always right 😞

What raises your red flags ?

[Huma0]

It's a shame we are now measured on Acceptance Rate as we should be able to decline guests displaying thoses red flags without any penalty. At least with Instant Book, you can cancel reservations (usually) if you're uncomfortable with them, although I always call Airbnb and ask them to do it so that I am sure I'm not going to get penalised.

I had an issue recently with exactly the kind of red flag that @Branka-and-Silvia0 are talking about.

Although I mention it already in my House Rules, my welcome message for IB guests also asks them who they are travelling with (full name), their arrival time and to confirm that they've read the full listing/rules.

Still, I get the kind of guest who instant books with the message "I will arrive at Heathrow International Airport." That's it. The booking says two guests, but he hasn't even said who the other guest is.

I message him back asking him the above questions again. No response. This was back in June. Every now and then, I message him again asking him to respond, but he never does. As four months have passed, I tell him if he does not respond within the next two days I will have to cancel. Still nothing.

I call Airbnb. They try to contact him via email and phone but can't reach him so cancel the reservation. All of a sudden, the guest wakes up, so clearly he is still using the same phone/email. 

What does he do? Does he answer my questions? No. He simply IBs the dates again with the message, "I look forward to staying in your home." I am fed up by this point so I tell him he needs to cancel, which he does, but ten minutes later, I get another booking from China for the same dates and same number of people. Mmm, that's a bit of a coincience. Not.

When I ask the girl who booked if her boyfriend's name is X, she pretends that she just happened to book my listing out of the thousands available in London only minutes after he cancelled and had no idea it was the same one. 

At this point, neither of them have answered my basic questions (other than who are you travelling with, which I only found because they tried to book from two accounts) after who knows how many months and messages and now they're also lying to me. So then I have to get her to cancel as well. I just don't want guests like these. 

All this hassle could have been avoided I guess if had trusted my gut instinct when I saw that first message, "I will arrive at Heathrow International Airport." But, the guest had good reviews and I put it down to maybe a language barrier...

[Sarah977]

@Huma0  There seem to be so many people who have no clue how to communicate effectively, and it's often nothing to do with a language barrier. I usually have at least one or two friends who come to stay each year, and I always go pick them up at the airport, which is a 45 minute drive away. When I ask them for their flight information, they'll write "Arriving @ 3PM Saturday the 9th". No airline, departure point, or flight number mentioned, so if their flight is delayed, I would have no way of looking on the arrivals board to know that, and would just be left waiting for some indeterminate amount of time, instead of seeing that they won't be in for another hour and a half, so I could leave and go do some shopping. I have to email them again to get the full info.

[Cathie19]

I’m the same Sarah. (can’t tag)

Most of my guests fly in. I ask for the city departure/ airline details so I can keep an eye on the arrivals board or use FlightRadar 24 App - that stalks them beautifully.  Especially for the international flights. If they are delayed behind other internationals, I know that will slow down the getting through customs and immigration line, hence the delay to collect the rental vehicle etc etc. however, if I manage to know they are carry on luggage only, that greatly speeds up homestay arrival time.

If I don’t have to be waiting for them till 7am rather then 5 am, or the mid night flights 1-3am, this makes a huge difference to the width of my smile.........  

[Victoria567]

Hi@Huma

Ive experienced all of the above as an Instant Booker, I give them an 8 hour window to respond.

No response= phone call to London and a fuss free cancellation on my behalf from air bnb without financial or other penalties .

I switched to IB with a strict cancellation policy,within weeks of starting 3 seasons ago, after having to deal with loads of time wasters .

I read that other hosts are having problems with IB guests and there are loopholes popping up, which some are taking advantage of.

As an air bnb guest, I use the IB feature.

Soon after I will  message the host via the portal to ask them when is the preferred time ,during their check in window for me to arrive. ( don’t want to interrupt their supper time etc or if they have an appointment etc)

If I have a late flight I use an airport hotel.

Next year will be the first time as a family we are using air bnb for an entire flat.

We will not be using the kitchen except to make a cuppa ,as we will dine out....it IS a family holiday after all.

@Huma0  the language barrier is becoming a problem ,as  that was a cop out by my industrial  scale laundry guests.

The guest who booked had great English, her mum certainly knew the meaning of the word NO.

Amazing when I asked the mum, to “please NO wash clothes under  shower” whilst she was  in the act of doing  so , after the daughter took me up to the shower room to inform me “There is NO hot water”.

I  repeatedly said  to the mum, “ please NO wash clothes under shower”, and asked the daughter to tell her mum to “please to stop and not wash all these clothes under the running shower.”

Language problem= deaf ears.

After the 2 back up tanks of cold water were emptied too, and the daughter came down this time to tell me “NO water”, I went back up and replied, “Now NO water “.

Final straw was the constant hum of hairdriers into the wee hours, to dry this heap of laundry.

Again standard reply of “ Me NO understand English”.

These were one nighters .....thank goodness, and another reason, I do not do, stays longer than 3 nights.

To tell you the truth, if I did not have fridges ,freezers, hard wired smoke alarms etc I would have just gone to the fuse box and totally cut off all the power to my home.

Funny how guests can speak English when they require something and don’t understand English when the host requires something.

It appears we have an emergent language rather than the Queens English we now have Selective English.

This was the turning point whereby I offered paid use of my washing machine and electric drier.

Now if I have any IB that does not answer the questions set within the booking settings of IB, within a set time frame= cancellation.

[Huma0]

@Victoria567This would have driven me mental. I am not sure how you kept your composure!

Yes, I'm sure you're right a lot of times about the language barrier. The guests I mentioned above are educated people with demanding jobs. I am sure they could figure out how to use Google translate if their English wasn't so good (actually, the girlfriend's English was fine, but I couldn't tell with the initial booking from the boyfriend because it was just one sentence).

My two absolute least favourite sets of guests broke lots of house rules, were very demanding and rude and seem to refused to read or listen to any instructions. There was no language barrier in either case. One couple was from the US and the other pair from China, but spoke the best English of any Chinese guests I have hosted, and I have hosted many.

[Victoria567]

@Huma0

It was only one night, ( stiff upper lip now set in concrete😉) it was bearable ,but I’ve learnt a lot from this personal hosting experience ,about being more specific with my house rules.

[Cathie19]

Hi @Victoria0. If you have particular rules being broken, consider getting someone to translate them into the guests language. There can be hard copies of them in the space for use. Get them laminated .  

[Victoria567]

@Cathie0

Thanks for your helpful idea, appreciated.

In this particular booking the daughter spoke perfect English, was even a graduate of Berkeley University, as an overseas student.

It Was, really a  case, of being selective, with English communication, as the daughter was sharing the bedroom and sole use private bathroom, with her mum.

This was only a one night stay, I learnt a lot from this and adjusted my listing accordingly.

The second  case this season, was a couple of girls from Utah,selectively reading the amenities.

Free or for a Fee, ticked, but I have clear reference to the price of this amenity in my listing.

First question on arrival was, can I use the washing machine?.....anyway that was resolved and paid for by air bnb themselves.

These have been 2 bookings, out of 3 short seasons of Instant Booking, that I’ve had guests staying in my home and cause me concern, as everyone I’ve hosted has been lovely.

Most of my guests are Commonwealth or European and I speak fluent Italian and good French and a sprinkling of Germlish as I call it.

All the Germans, Dutch and Scandinavians , I’ve hosted so far, have fabulous English, therefore so far, no communication problems with any of them or any problems with the house rules as they’ve been very considerate.

The ones who Instant Book and then start to change the goal posts AFTER the booking has been made with various additional “ I Need XYZ”,  “I’m allergic to etc etc”....I decline.

[Ma0]

When a guest ask me to change my house rule/s to suite their needs. Then I know that guest will not be happy and so I am.

[Alon28]

So far, communication seems to be the best -- and easiest -- indicator.

- I realize English isn't everyone's first language (my native tongue is Hebrew), but if my listing is in English, and it says on my profile that I speak English and Hebrew - and you send me a message in French or Spanish... well, I know you're not going to win "guest of the month".

- If I send a few questions, and they answer just some of them -- red flag. 

- If you booked 3 months in advance for 3 guests, and 48 hours before your arrival you send me a one liner -- "Hi wanted to ket you know we will be 4 instead of 3 guests" -- I KNOW you're going to be trouble. This happened yesterday 😞

- If you also host sometimes, but you complain about my booking policies because yours are different -- than I know you're going to be trouble. BTW -- this is the same guest as the previous point. I politely asked to amend her booking to reflect the additional guest so they will be charged accordingly. At first she ignored my message. After 8 hours I sent another message, and she replied that she "doesnt understand why I charge extra" because she's also a host and she doesn't charge extra. At that stage I realized I'm pretty much screwed -- if I continue arguing, I'll have a disgruntled guest arriving at my apartment. If I let go, well - I earn less. I figured it's better to earn less this time, and hope for a good review, so I waived the change (but I did update the reservation to make sure it reflects the true number of guests).

And above all -- if you can't be bothered to communicate politely -- you're probably going to be a bad guest. No need for fluffy compliments, just the basic "Hello", "Thank you",  "Please" -- that'll do. That's my BIGGEST red flag.

I wish AirBNB could make "does not communicate well" a valid reason to refuse a guest without affecting your reputation.

[Victoria567]

@Alon0

The “ this accomodation is not a good fit for your requirements” is the one I use.

[Cathie19]

Keep documenting your communication in the Airbnb messages. Happily remind her that our homestay and processes are all different, to suit the many personalities and needs across the Airbnb community platform. I hope you state that as a recognition of her being a fellow host, for this this stay only, you will waive your fee for the fourth person.

I think @Victoria0 is correct on this one...

[Alon28]

Yep, I ALWAYS do 100% of the communication via the Airbnb system - if someone emails me during their stay, or texts me on my phone -- I answer via AirBNB to keep it documented.

[Kate-Mary0]

I'm always anxious when they don't answer my questions, yet they have a long list of their own questions. Here's a blog post that helped me to identify possible troublemakers. https://www.airgms.com/property-management-software/how-to-screen-airbnb-guests/?utm_source=Airbnb%2...

[Jeanne127]

Great article, thanks for sharing!