Interesting opening lines from first time guests

[Melodie-And-John0]

I don't know about you but I've been getting lots of really short and somewhat meaningless requests to book by lots of first timer guests.   They immediately set off my spider senses when the profile is incomplete and has zero info about the possible guest.  No one liner gets a confirmation at Bearpath Lodging, this is not a party house, hosts live within!!!!!!    

Heres a couple recent ones, "Hey is this available" from a person that had no reviews and no location and really nothing but her first name, I thanked her for checking with us and asked her my normal barrage of  questions including where are you from (we have a statewide qt on guests from 30+ states right now) and expressed expectations and expected I would hear nothing.  The suite booked nicely from a guest with 25 perfect reviews for her dates 20 minutes later.  About 2 hours later she wrote "I’m from new York Syracuse to be exact do u guys except cash",  my last reply to her was "Hi ________the suite has already been booked I’m sorry, and no we don’t ever except cash payment we only work through Airbnb".  

Another prospect guest named "Angel" wrote, "Hey love , is it possible to see pictures of your hot tub ?"  This is the second person BTW that has wanted to see pictures of 1 person walk in spa tub we include in the listing in the bathroom, IDK why they cant just look at the pic's, its in there!   This Angel  had almost no info in their account info and Love isn't a standard intro in upstate NY (London maybe).  I sent my list of questions and pointed to the pics in the listing and never heard back, that's okay with us, we need more than that or no key code for you!

in the last 3 years, I've become a super sleuth hound dog when it comes to smelling a rat in a request or weeding out scammers and party barge guests.  I know you have had some odd opening requests, what are they and how did they turn out?   Safe hosting Folks!  JR

[Robin4]

@Melodie-And-John0 

Yeah John, they either want to pull out their credit card and stay........ or they want to jerk you around!

I have got pretty good at picking them over the years!

If there is a question attached to their enquiry, you can be sure it is directed to something you do not offer in your listing description! 

Declining is easy.....and I have never been penalised for it!

Cheers.......Rob

[Melodie-And-John0]

@Robin4 m Rob, True, I have declined a fair share of them, mostly by attrition, a few with my decline hammer! 

[Alexandra316]

@Robin4 Can you please please PLEASE repost that list of answers you gave to the guest who asked about your bed, AC, TV, etc?

[Robin4]

@Alexandra316 

Oh Alex, that was a gem wasn't it!

I posted that on another site and I copped a lot of criticism  for being so dismissive of a 'genuine' reservation request! 

I had an ace up my sleeve in that I knew from other hosts that this guest was doing the rounds and had approached many other Aussie hosts with the exact same request. 

I am not in the habit of abusing reservation requests but, I felt this guy, Cliff,  needed to be put back in his box!

So Alex, here it is again for you......

Within 10 minutes I received an email saying.....'Stay not possible'......Mission accomplished!

Cheers......Rob

[Alexandra316]

@Robin4 This is honestly my favourite thing from the board ever. It completely made my day, and I think of it every time I answer a stupid question. 

[Robin4]

@Alexandra316 

There are times when requests are so far out of 'left field' they don't deserve a reasonable response, and Alex, this was my time to say....."Hey, this is my property, I am proud of what I do, and you mate can go and take a running jump"!

Hopefully he did!

Cheers.......Rob 

[Melodie-And-John0]

Thats just precious @Robin4 !   Sometimes you have to really listen hard to hear the train coming, other times it s nearly impossible to miss the warning signals!  You not only got out of the way, you switched it to a whole other track and sent Cliff over a Clif!  Well played Sir!   .  

[Alexandra316]

@Melodie-And-John0  My favourite at the moment came a few weeks ago. Brand new profile: no verifications or profile information. The first message:

"What's your address?"

I replied:

"The map on our listing shows the location. Airbnb blocks address info in messages. If you search The Flat on King Vineland in a search engine it will show you also."

She wrote back:

"All other hosts I have contacted have at least told me the street they're located on. Are you on Glendale Avenue?"

I replied:

"I'm on King Street: the property name is the Flat on King."

Thankfully she didn't reply. I didn't want to waste a decline.

[Melodie-And-John0]

@Alexandra316 , Ive had to convince folks that i couldn't send my address or phone number  by showing them, then they go oH....

[Alexandra316]

@Melodie-And-John0 Same. 

For the record, I'm not usually this short with guests, but her message was so low effort I wasn't going to take any more time. 

[Emilia42]

@Melodie-And-John0 @Robin4 

This recent one is my most annoying inquiry to date:

[Robin4]

@Emilia42 

Good on you Em, short and sweet.....I wish I had followed your advice!!!! I can be a silly schmuck at times!

Cheers......Rob

[Melodie-And-John0]

@Emilia42 , the wise arse in me might be inclined to say we have cable but it has power running on it, at the moment, which one would they prefer, Power or Cable tv???.   

[Emilia42]

@Melodie-And-John0 

Haha! Some people really just amaze me. What kind of response was she looking for? . . . "I'm so sorry, I will call right away and have cable installed in the apartment prior to your stay. Even though you cannot even bother to address me by name or with a hello/thank you attached to your message and even though the 350+ guests before you were able to perfectly adapt and enjoy their stay with no cable."