inquiry

Kari27
Level 3
Sacramento, CA

inquiry

I received a booking inquiry with a message requesting information about hosting airbnb's. If it is worth it, cost, return. It looks like she prebooked a night just to get into system to contact me. How do I handle this? and how do I let airbnb know this wasn't an actual request for booking?

Kari

16 Replies 16
Christian65
Level 10
Copenhagen, Denmark

Was it an email within the air system and platform or via your regular email? If the latter its probably spam or phishing and is so, delete  it.

Brad-And-Nancy0
Level 1
Franklin, TN

I just had a realtor send me an inquiry and all she wanted was to know if we  wanted to sell our home. That is so frustrating! is this allowed on Airbnb?

 

Nancy

Marit-Anne0
Level 10
Bergen, Norway

@Kari27  Just decline or send a special offer for an enourmous amount 🙂

@Brad-And-Nancy0  Our listings are public, so hard to avoid altogether. Do as above - you can also flag the message and the profile.  I did so once when the town hall registered and started sending messages regarding tourist tax.

 thank you

Judith107
Level 6
Ernzen, Germany

Dear community,

 

I tried to open a new thread but I kept being asked to select a board, so sorry if this message doesn't belong here...(I'm new to airbnb).

 

I received an inquiry yesterday together with a message, stating, that they would really like to book my house, that I should block it for them no matter what, but that they refuse to verify their ID, saying they found ID verification "extremely annoying" and that they would like to talk to me outside airbnb.

I said it was not possible for us to discuss this outside airbnb but since I would earn a lot of money with their booking, I was willing to make an exception and turn off ID verification. Instead of booking, they sent another message complaining about airbnb allegedly asking for a payout of 100% of the money straight away although the booking is for december only and that this was illegal in Germany. They would be willing to pay 20% now and 80% two weeks prior to their stay. Also they said that according to german law I would be obliged to show them an insolvency insurance, using a ridiculous amount of exclamation marks after each sentence.

 

Are they trying to pressure me into something I shouldn't accept? Doesn't Airbnb only withdraw the money from their account shortly before their stay? Should I be worried because they ask for an insurance on my behalf and refuse to hand in the only credible verification I can ask for (ID)?

 

It would be great if someone had advice for me.

 

Thank you!

@Judith107

I think these guests sound like extremely bad news and I would not want to have them for ANY amount of money.  

If they do not want to play by the airbnb rules, how do you think they will respect your place and your house rules ?

Decline (and tons of exclamation marks )  

Dear Marit Anne,

Thank you for your reply. I think you are right. I will decline their inquiry (and shed a little tear for the lost 3000€ 😄

I will also happily apply your advice in concerns to the exclamation marks! 😄

Have a good day.

Judith.

That definitely sounds like a scam to me. And anytime someone insists on switching to another platform to communicate, that's a red flag for me. Anything that happens, even if you get a threatening message, is not reportable if it's not in the system.

 

Good luck!

 

Charlie

Rene-and-Zac0
Level 10
La Quinta, CA

@Judith107 That sounds like a total scam.

Guest that start off like that are just a ticking bomb. They will “nickel and dime” you to death and complain for a refund without a doubt. When you make side deals outside of Airbnb you really set yourself for a huge amount of risk. So no ID?

That means you don’t really know who is in the house and asking for the insurance papers screams “scam alert!” Any “Tom, **bleep** or Hank” could file a claim on your insurance and you have no way of saying or proving if they were actually there because you never check the ID. They find “verifying ID annoying “? Im so sure...I don’t like the “free” headaches I get and I sure as syrup wouldn’t buy a headache for $3000. I had a new host book with me to “see my place” while theirs was in escrow. Well they ended up closing escrow early and decided they didn’t want to stay at my place but they wanted to talk about “the business”. They said “we didn’t realize we booked” and their arrival was set for a Sunday. They never actually canceled, so I had to rush to have the place ready. Although I have a strict cancellation policy, I refunded all but $75 as a pain in the butt fee. 

Thank you Rene & Zac for your reply (that made me laugh out loud 🙂

You're right. "If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is!"

I would probably not have gotten any money from these people at all or a bad review or whatever. I will just decline people that refuse to verify their ID in the future.

I have also read this several times now in threads that people book just to "chat about the business". There are many strange people out there. I would have kept the 75$ PiB fee as well! 😉

Thanks again and have a good day!

Guest threatening to sue airbnb and me and to inform authorities - inform airbnb?

 

Hi, 

 

Sorry to bother you again. 

 

Said guest contacted me again, saying that he would accept to identify his ID and that he would pay 100% in advance BUT that he refused to pay the amount to airbnb and that I should "tell airbnb" that he would transfer the money directly to my  personal bank account. 

 

I told him again that airbnb payment conditions cannot be changed and had to be accepted as they are or the booking could not be made. I also said that I did not feel comfortable with him booking anymore, that I could not provide hotel standards which he seemed to expect and that I was sure he would find a more appropriate place to stay over christmas.

 

He became very rude, saying my response was inacceptable etc and that he would inform the authorities that I was renting my house without an insovency insurance which he claims is a must in Germany and that he would sue both airbnb and me...should I inform airbnb about this or just let him do whatever he thinks he must?


I am just so so glad I did not accept this guy as my guest - especially over christmas!!

 

Thanks in advance and have a great sunday. 

@Judith107, I"d also tell Airbnb about his behavior so that they can block him for other guests. HE sounds awful and shouldn't be on the Airbnb platform if that is his behavior.  Once he has your banking details all kind of terrible things are possible in this world.  Don't deal with him any more and tell HIM you are reporting him to Airbnb and if the harassment doesn't stop immediately, to the police as well.  HAH!

Marit-Anne0
Level 10
Bergen, Norway

@Judith107

This person sounds plain crazy - flag the inappropriate messages and block this person from further contact with you.

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/2020/how-do-i-report-a-message-or-block-someone-on-airbnb

Flag, block (go to report this guest, choose the reason, if not in the list of options choose something else, block him.)  If asked for an explanation put 'attempted extortion.'

 

Now you know that if you receive a weird inquiry the best thing to do is politely and firmly decline.  Do not provide a reason because then they can argue with you or turn your words against you.  Just say "no, sorry, we can't accommodate this request."  Don't sign your name.  Make it as impersonal and 'computer generated' looking as possible.  If contacted again, use the exact same words.  Again make it look automated.  Then flag and block.

 

People are weird.  They may be scammers or they may be nuts.  That is all.