Potential guests with no reviews but has been a member since 2012

[Eileen4]

Anyone know how this can happen? How someone can be a member for 5 years and no review? I have Instant Book and so if this person qualifies, they apparently can book without asking, but this person has made an inquiry instead. 

Does anyone have experience with this? Could this person have already used the service once or twice and simply not been reviewed? 

[Lawrene0]

I would think, @Eileen4, that the likeliest scenario with someone who has been a member since 2012, is unreviewed, and has sent an inquiry rather than just Instant Booking is an unpleasant one. 

They possibly cannot Instant Book because of previous thumbs down by hosts.  

You can ask whether they have used Airbnb before. You can ask why no reviews. If any part of the answer, or non-answer, seems fishy, just decline. 

Maybe just decline now anyway. It doesn't look good, but perhaps they signed up in 2012 and are only trying it out now. Perhaps they are wary of Instant Booking and want to establish communication. (Wouldn't that be great!) Perhaps they will be brilliant guests. 

Go with your instincts. 

[Eileen4]

He's selling himself a bit hard, ie, he is a professional, he will be a good guest, etc. I guess I'm just wondering how he could have such a long membership and no reviews at all. The thumbs down was what I was thinking too. Thanks...

[Mark26]

We could speculate all night and day about why this person has no reviews despite the fact that he signed up with AirBnb five years ago.  One of those reasons could be that he never saw a listing that made him comfortable enough to give it a try.  I'll have to admit, I cringe when I see some of the trash people have listed as places to stay.  Maybe the broken-down motor home parked on the side of someones house listed at $40 a night, in a crappy part of town gave him a bad impression of AirBnB.  Maybe he wasn't quite ready to stay in someone's guest room, and the pictures of cats in the listing make his eyes water and his nose itch.  That... and he's a business traveler?  Maybe he couldn't find a simple enough way to put it on his corporate credit card, or get reimbursed because he won't get a receipt like he does at the Marriott, or Hyatt Regency.  Another reason is that he might have actually stayed a few times over the years and never received a review.  Did you think of that?  How many hosts write reviews?  What percentage don't?  He could have stayed with four different hosts who all said "Reviews? Who has time to write reviews?  And how many ways can you say "Eileen was a delightful guest, we'd love to have her back again" before it just gets to be a tiresome chore that doesn't really do anything for you but suck up your time?  Yes... I know.... some hosts are all over their guests about reviews.  "Hey... thanks for staying... we sure enjoyed having you... be sure and write us a really nice review.... and remember... anything less than five stars is just horrible... Oh... and watch out for that tree.... Carefull...  yeah... you got it... all clear now.... safe travels.... Don't forget that review....  Bye now.... "

Just because a person doesn't have any reviews doesn't mean they're an ax murderer.

[Susan1188]

If he had multiple stays and the hosts did not review, he also would not have any "thumbs down" and so he most likely could instant book.  The issue here I think, is that he couldn't instant book he had to send a reservation request.

[Kati18]

I've been a member since 2012 and have no personal reviews on my profile.  I've travelled all over the world, stayed in everything from hostels to 5 star hotels.  I've stayed in VRBO's and Airbnb's but never booked under my own profile as I was travelling with others.  So instead of instantly dismissing someone right away maybe ask a few more questions to learn their story.  Like it was said earlier, use your instinct.  All it takes is one host to give them their first review - they might be the most interesting guest you meet.

[Andrea9]

@Eileen4

A number of my friends signed up i 2012 in order to help me in the beginning by writing references for my listing (in the good old days you didn't have to be on fakebook to do that). They have never used their profile again.

[Eileen4]

Thanks for all the replies. I do get that there could be a perfectly good reason why this person has no reviews, but I'm still wary. Five years and no reviews is a bit weird. I've stayed in a lot of Airbnb places and have been reviewed about 90% of the time. Only one or two hosts have failed to review me so I don't think the "no review" phenomenon is wide-spread. 

It also seems that with Instant Book, I have so little recourse to saying no to iffy (or potentially iffy) guests, that I'm inclined to exercise my rights here, especially since I'm getting a slightly bad feeling. That may not be fair to the guests, but with the new anti-discrimination policy and our now constrained ability to vet on Instant Book, I'm more sensitive to the possibility of problems. I did post a few weeks ago about a group of friends whom I had some reservations about. They and then a subsequent group of young friends obviously partied in the condo, this after I made it clear it's not a good place for partying. It's frustrating that I've lost control over that. 

Has anyone seen any difference in dropping Instant Book? Does your rating (and do your bookings) go down? 

[Mark26]

The day that AirBnB forces me to use Instant Book is the day that I remove my listings.

[Michael2910]

I am going to speculate that the person may be a terrible guest.  If a person willingly disobeys host rules, they can avoid retribution by simply never submitting a guest review. That way the host’s review of them is never posted, and they utilize a loophole that makes the whole review process useless. I had a terrible experience with a guest in this way, and I decided not to accept guests who do not have positive reviews posted.  

[Monica190]

Hi Michael, all the reviews get posted, even if a guest doesn't write a review, the host's review will be automatically posted after 14 days, so thankfully there's no loophole, after two weeks...

But I agree it's a bit worrying when a guest has no reviews, no clear profile description, and yet they have been members for years...

[Sarah977]

I've had a number of guests who showed as members for several years yet had no reviews. In two of the cases, they said they had joined, but never actually used it, either being part of a group booking where one of the other people booked it under their account, or their spouse booked the places they'd stayed under the spouse's account. Or they joined, but never in fact ended up booking an Airbnb. The third one said she'd stayed a couple of places but the hosts hadn't left a review. I accepted all these guests and they were all lovely people.

Hosts wonder why guests don't ask questions if they're unclear about something. I really don't understand when hosts just speculate about why a long-term Airbnb guest doesn't have any reviews- Why not just ask them?  Sure, they could lie, but a lie is likely more transparent than a speculation that they were bad guests is accurate.

[Jayme23]

I wish there was a place for hosts that showed the number of completed trips a guest has had. That way if they have no reviews we would be able to see if they have used ABB in the past. It would also be great to be able to contact their previous hosts to get more info if needed.

[Susan1188]

Like @Sarah977  I frequently have this scenario.
People might join on a work email or email they don't use a lot.
People might join to check it out then never book.
I just had one from 2017, no reviews, and in corresponding with me before accepting his booking he tells me he uses airbnb a lot!  What!  
Anyway I accepted his booking because he did respond nicely despite that huge red flag.
I think you can find out a lot by corresponding with them to see if they answer, their attitude will come through so you can make an educated decision whether to take them or not.
This particular old-timer with no reviews but supposedly lots of airbnb experience, wound out being the only guest I ever had who left a great review same day as departure and a lovely gift for me.
So, you really never know.