Scary Guest

[Matt-And-Linda0]

I don't like to pre-judge, and I like giving prospective guests (and all humans) the benefit of the doubt.  So I approved a young man (age 18) and his three friends.  It was tough, because I was averse to his "screen name" (?):  "BangBro".   Second concern was he is brand new to AirBnb, so no history of positive reviews from other hosts.  But isn't that a catch 22?  No one accepts you cuz you're new, so you can never get a good review!  Am I naive to take comfort in the fact that he has to click that he accepts my house rules?  Am I silly to take comfort in AirBnb's insurance coverage?  Hoping to get some good advise on this.

Thanks

Matt (and Linda)

[Amaris0]

I understand your concern but you have already decided to give him the benefit of the doubt by accepting his booking so why not do so? Also can I ask why you have called him a 'scary guest', has anything actually happened?

Ama

[Helen56]

I would never accept a reservation from someone with a screen name like that!  They are supposed to use their real names anyway, and have verification - doubt that name is on his driver's license.

[Maria298]

TAKE A DEPOSIT!!!

[Sandra126]

@Matt-And-Linda0, three 18 year old males (with bad screen name) sound slightly alarming, but might be nothing. I would probably ask them to show photo ID when they arrive, and write down the car numberplate. (I hope you meet and greet in person). If you don't allow extra guests, you need to make sure that doesn't happen in case a party is a possible worry. Do you live nearby or are friendly with the neighbours? Maybe keep an eye on noiselevels etc. I googled BangBro and it is a really bad pornfilm site. To be honest, I would now have a conversation with him questioning his choice of name, and asking that he make his real name available on his profile. I would quite possibly consider cancelling this booking, regardless of penalties. But he might cancel it himself, if you question his motive for a porn name on his profile? Take a parental role, nice but firm?

All the best.

[Maria298]

I'm new to Airbnb, but not new to renting.  18-year olds do not take care of someone's home--even when they think they REALLY, REALLY DO!  I have some 18-20-year-olds let a log burn for over a half hour without opening the chimney flue before they carried to burning log outside.  Their "cleaning" looked like a 5-year-old did it.  There was a burn on the deck upstairs, and soda spilled on the rug.  Scary guest is right!  Good luck!

[Gladys8]

I understand your feelings perfectly. I just posted my scary situation elsewhere on these forums. I live alone and I have to use my assessment as a former mental health professional to help me determine when things seem maybe not so safe after all. I waived the rest of a reservation for a very angry lady who had arrived angry wanting to stay with a friend but not wanting to be charged for the first day. Her anger had to be about more than just that because she complained about everything, the 2nd flr (even though she knew before hand) having to carry her heavy suitcase up the stairs, my not having her kind of milk for her coffee). It got to the pont she was snapping at me when I tried to make small talk. I told her she seemed very unhappy here so I would waive the rest of her reservation so she could stay  with her friend or Air Bnb could find her another place. She said I think that would be good. Well it took AirBnB a long time to turnaround and her anger just heightened. AirBnB penalized me by blocking my calendar for the remainder of the reservation time saying I had cancelled the appointment. The insurance is not going to help much if a guest boils over for some unkown reason and lashes out. With all of the anger out there, things like this are just an altercation waiting to happen. I'm afraid that when a host is so fearful of getting a bad review,or being penalized by AirBnB, we may be setting ourselves up for something worse. I asked to speak with a supervisor but was refused. I'm beginning to feel not so safe myself now.

[Sharon64]

If you are getting bad vives and they have not yet arrived I would call customer service and ask them to find another place for these folks. Something similar happened to me ...I took a booking about a month in advance for a couple and abut a week before arrival I sent the wife an email to see what time they were planning to arrive. They were drving about 2 hours and would arrive at midnight...that was ok but then I got an email that they required tea when they arrived and within another minute I received another email that they planned to cook all night in my kitchen, than a couple minutes later she said she would require my kitchen very early in the morning to cook  a full breakfast for her husband. I called Airbnb that night and asked them to find this woman another place to stay because I did not want her in my home. All went well and I did not have a bad mark against me.