suspicious requests for house address

[Linda38]

I have received many requests that felt not-right that asked for the home address so they could drive by. Does anyone know what is behind this? 

[Dave-and-Deb0]

Hi @Linda38,

This could be for a number of reasons but all the reasons I could thing of are not good.

1) Scoping out the place as your calendar shows which nights nobody is home

2) Could be someone trying to report your listing 

3) Could be a scam

Etc.

I would not give out your address to anyone and if they want it, they will need to make a booking.

Dave

[Allan32]

I have just had a request for the address, the reason being that they want to see if the location is convenient for their long term stay.

What could be their ulterior motive? The propective guest has an avatar as his profile picture. Is this a common dodgy scam? Should I cancel the enquiry? (No booking yet)

[Cynthia-and-Chris1]

The simple answer is maybe.  It could be someone asking for nefarious reasons or it could be someone who is unfamiliar with how Airbnb works and actually wants to make sure the neighborhood they will be staying in suits their needs in they are staying long term.

Absolutely do not give them your address (Airbnb won't let you and will block it out if you try) but you can give them a general sense of where your listing is so they can see the general neighborhood.  ("I am near [major street] and [crossing major street] near the [insert landmark here]")

I wouldn't necessarily cancel the inquiry.  I would just let them know Airbnb does not allow the host to disclose their location before a reservation is made and leave it at that.

[Lizzie]

Hello @Allan32,

Just to add to the other replies and to what @Cynthia-and-Chris1 mentioned, if a guest asks to see your listing before they book, you could encourage them to take a look at your reviews and your Airbnb listing discription/photos and say you are on hand to answer any additional questions they have.

There is a Help Center article on this that explains that bookings/payments going directly through the Airbnb system help 'to ensure you're protected under our Terms of Service, cancellation and refund policies, Host Guarantee, Host Protection Insurance programme, and other safeguards.'

I hope this helps. 

Lizzie

[Peggy-And-Mike0]

Isn't it true that as soon as you book your address is provided?  So if you have a flexible cancellation policy, it's really not all that costly if someone is scoping out your place to rob you or something nefarious...I like the idea of giving them large cross streets nearby but don't think that anyone should feel comforted that a reservation means you can take off the radar for guests you give you that sense that something is "off."