My experiment as a Guest - early bird gets the worm.

[Andrew90]

I recently had to help my daughter find a place to stay in London and Paris after she cancelled her plans to go to Turkey after recent events.

I inquired to about 10-15 opportunities in each city. 2-3 hosts responded in about 2 hours and only about 50pct replied within 12.

In each case we booked with one of the 2 with the first response.

[Jude7]

Interesting experience, @Andrew90! Thanks for sharing.  The fact that I grab my phone and respond immediately with the first "ding" makes me feel sorta like a superhero! 😉

Just curious - since there was a recent post about the difference between inquiries and requests - what was your reason for sending out multiple inquiries, rather than perusing the offerings and simply booking the one that best suited your needs?

I know that I, for one, would be interested in knowing how a guest thinks, as they're contemplating making a booking choice. I'm sure that insight will help others as well.

Glad to hear that your daughter is safe, and that she avoided stepping into a potentially volatile situation.  I am sure you are very relieved as well!

Jude

Rhinebeck, NY (just in case you didn't notice we were neighbors!)

[Andrew90]

@Jude0 thanks. The main reason I inquired with so many was that I was recommending options for my daughter to choose. And I was reaching out to hosts to recommend her since she had new profile with limited details and I know from these forums that many hosts who share rooms don't like to rent to guests with no reviews.

[David126]

You did not see anything with Instant Book that suited?

[Helen3]

Interesting David you mentioned Instant Book.

I would never have this on as a host and as a guest, I would always want to 'chat' to a host first before making a booking to get a feel for them. So instant book doesn't appeal to me

[David126]

You are fluent in French?

Just wondered what a few lines exchanged can tell you over and above what is on their listing.

[Jude7]

@David126 - 

I actually find that those few lines of chat between myself and a guest seems to give me a great deal of information about who they are, their friendliness, and an overall sense of our compatibility.  Perhaps I have a 6th sense about such things, or perhaps is it my experience as a teacher of language arts, but their "voice" just seems to jump off the page at me, even in a few sentences, as you say.

With @Andrew90 looking for a safe place for his teenaged daughter, I can certainly see the value of such an exchange.  

Jude

[Andrew90]

I dont generally do IB and especially not in this case. I was looking for a safe place for my teenage daughter traveling alone and I wanted to chat with the host to ensure they spoke English and were actually living in apartment with the shared room so so she would not be alone.

[Andrew90]

Oops double post