Hi Tri-Valley Hosts (Pleasanton, Dublin, Livermore, San Ramon, CA),
After a recent scary hosting experience, I'm interested in bringing together a community of Tri-Valley Airbnb hosts to share experiences, stories and tips. I had a guest recently who was clearly high on drugs when she checked in, and against my better judgment and (a bit of naivete and other inconvenient circumstances) I decided to let her and her boyfriend check-in. It was not a good experience to say the least. Based on her reviews, it appears that she is working her way around the Tri-Valley Airbnb community (she lives in Livermore) because she's been kicked out of Mom and Dad's home. I want to help other hosts avoid nightmare guests like her. I think it would be great to set up a local community with a private Facebook group for Airbnb hosts so that we can share stories, warn each other about possible problem guests, share hosting tips and provide support.
As you may or may not know, there are hosts with Airbnb who do not write completely truthful reviews regarding their guests. Though retaliatory reviews are not supposed to be an issue with Airbnb's review system, many hosts on this community have claimed they have received them and therefore are leary of leaving negative reviews because it impacts their host status and rankings. Some reviews are vague or only touch on certain positive experiences, while peculiar or negative incidents are not mentioned. Sadly, other than gut instinct, past reviews are one of the only ways we have to make sound judgments about accepting guest bookings with us. That's why I want to start a local group to support each other and share vital hosting information.
If you are interested in this kind of local, community support group, please reply to this message or send me an inquiry. I'm not sure if I can share my phone number or email address with you on this platform, but hopefully we can connect through this forum.
