Potential guest has no reviews or profile, but does have ID sorted

[Samantha45]

She has been a member for nearly a year and talks about not having had any problems when uploading her id for other hosts - but she has no reviews. I was wondering if I should ask her where she stayed and would she mind if I contacted them?

What do you think?

Best wishes

Sam

[Emiel1]

Hi,

Such an approach is not common practice on Airbnb. If she has reviews, you can see who reviewed her. If there are no reviews, you have to rely on her profile and on her answers to your questions. If there is no proper identification, you can request it (it's even an option in your settings). If you feel uncomfortable with her, maybe better decline the request. Best regards, Emiel

[Lawrene0]

Maybe she meant hosts of other platforms than Airbnb, @Samantha45? But it sounds fishy to me, too. I don't think you are out of line asking where she has stayed on those other trips and why there are no reviews. Trust your instincts. Stay savvy and safe!

[Samantha45]

Thanks guys - we have exchanged a lot of messages and I am happy with her and she is happy to provide more information about herself. As it happens she joined in 2016 but this is the first time she has used the system, which is why she has no reviews.

Best wishes,

Sam

[Edwin57]

Is always good to be safe then sorry you did the right thing to ask for more information 

[Catherine2412]

That's a good idea.  The think is when guests give you a phone number or an email address AirBnB hides it and so I have not figured out yet how to receive information regarding a reference via the AirBnB messaging, or otherwise.  How do we do that?

[Elaine701]

Unfortunately, we are seeing a decline in the "quality" of guests on Airbnb, since perhaps.. last year. Maybe it's something to do with the pandemic, but before 2020, we had precious few problems with guests. 

We are now seeing more of this (guests with accounts several years old, with no ratings). Also many that joined "yesterday". Many introduce themselves in odd ways, or say very little: e. g., "I want to book your house".

Having now been burned a few times too many as of late, we're now asking a lot of questions, and making sure they read and understand house rules before they book. We've set high penalties for breaking the rules, which scares some people away. 

Unfortunately, we end up declining more requests than ever before, but it minimizes the chance of parties or getting the house trashed. Even if we decline what would otherwise be nice guests.  I suspect it's just something we'll have to live with from now on.

But... does a high decline rate affect our overall rating? Or our listing placement? Because it appears we're not showing up in the first few pages anymore.