people wanting to view apartment before booking

[Jane25]

Is anyone else on here finding that more and more people are asking to view the place before booking? Isn't that a safety problem and against Airbnb rules> Is anyone else having that problem? All my most recent bookers are asking if they can stop by to see the place.

[Shadley0]

Hi @Jane25

I have had a few but all first time airbnb signups. You are correct, it is against airbnb TOS. There is no reason why they should request this if you listing is 100% accurate.

[Maria-Lurdes0]

Are the looky-loos all local people?  I'm so careful not to rent to locals.  I don't get many  people that want to look in advance as 80% of my busines is international.  The rare time someone has been in a bad situation and wants to find a new place so they'll ask for a look (I almost always say no).   

I wonder if people wanting to look first is more prevalent in certain markets....

[Kris-and-Zak0]

I have had a few people ask, but I say it is against policy, and also addresses do not show up on threads. My photos, description and reviews says it all.

[Maggie77]

I just had this happen for the first time. I have never had someone ask, and everyone who has stayed at my property has given me amazing reviews. I have more than 20 photos of the property itself. And fortunately for me the property is booked so often there are very few days when the property is vacant and available for viewing. Personally I am on comfortable having someone know the location of the Airbnb without giving their information to Airbnb. I feel like this could be a safety issue. Ultimately I apologize but told the woman I was unable to accommodate her request, but I offered to send more pictures or take videos or answer any other questions she had about the property she responded to me in quite a rude way asking me how on earth I was able to do business with an attitude like mine

[Kate157]

I would not allow an advance look. This is time and effort on the part of a host that will not be reimbursed. Of course, I would be polite and say something like, "I am sorry, but I don't offer this service." You might also say there are many honest photos of the listing on Airbnb. That would do it for me. 

[Clare0]

@Jane25 It is not necessarily against Airbnb's Terms of Service, but Airbnb certainly does not promote viewing a listing before booking.  Normally these requests come up when a guest is interested in booking a long term stay.  What Airbnb will do is review the messaging between hosts and guests and, if they both agree in writing to a preview of the listing, Airbnb will facilitate the arrangements, assuming the guest is in good standing.  

That said, it is best not to agree to it since your listing's address, etc. will now be known to the guest.  If a guest wants more information or pictures, a host can add them to the publicly viewable listing. 

[Isabel203]

I am pretty new to hosting, but this question seems to come up on the discussion boards fairly regularly and the advice I have seen is unanimously "thumbs down" to previews. I myself have chosen not to take longer-term rentals and, in this context I have only ever had one inquiry for a preview which I politely denied (the guy was a local who later went on to suggest he would pay me under the table).  I figure, if the guest distrusts me so much they need a preview, it`s probably best they find another host anyway 🙂

[Clare0]

@Isabel203 Yes, part of the motivation to ask to see a listing in person is to be able to try to convince the host to do cash payments.  Any reservation made this way will strip the host of any protections Airbnb has to offer so, no, it is not a good idea to proceed with a personal viewing.