We have a rental on the same property we live on with our children. Obviously we were concerned about letting perfect strangers into our home so when we started our rental we put certain requirements in place including a profile photo and 5 questions about purpose of travel such as who will stay and if they read and agreed to the house rules. Some people are very thourough while some aren't at all, but I look at the answers if there are any, photos, etc and usually have been comfortable with the reservations so sometimes I let the lack of answers slide.
I just got a reservations a day or two ago for the 23 to 24th. The person answered zero of my questions, their name is in characters I have no idea how to read, and their profile photo is a black background with the word "**bleep**". I find these extremely unsettling and also disrespectful to any potential hosts.
My first impression: very bad. I messaged the guest with the pre booking questions again and have not gotten any answers. I got in touch with AirBnB support and just got off the phone. They were extemely unhelpful and actually kind of rude, interrupting me multiple times as well as being excessively repetitive saying that per AirBnB policy a reservation cannot be cancelled by them unless check in is within 72 hours.
The dilemma is that 1. We do not permit last minute bookings (two very bad experiences) and 2. We live in Hawaii where people generally plan ahead. If the reservation isn't cancelled until 72 hours prior to arrival then I am almost guaranteed to lose out that night.
I am not even necessarily asking for the reservation to be cancelled, just maybe two of the issues resolved so that I can feel more confident that both the guest and my family will have a good experience.
Also there's no button to flag profile pictures of inanimate objects. I find that rude as far as guests go. My address and whole home are at their fingertips even if they cancel later and they refuse to upload an accurate photo?
I am kind of frustrated...