New host irrational fear

[Craig760]

Hi. I’m a bit of a worrier when trying something new. 
I have my first booking and they instant booked but have no feedback. 
I have this awful vision of someone turning up in a van and clearing me out, nespresso machine and all. 
This kind of thing doesn’t happen in the waking world, does it? If it does, do I have any protection?

Thanks in advance for any reassurance provided by seasoned hosts. 

[Gillian166]

@Craig760  most of us seasoned hosts would advise you to turn off Instant Book. You need to learn how to vett guests. You didn't even check the part where 0* guests have to message you first ? 

so right now: turn off IB!! first thing. 

then come back and chat more. 
or, do some research here, cos all this info is available if you just invest some time. 

[Craig760]

I just re looked through the settings and can’t see the option to require 0* guests to message first. Is this only available if instant book is off?

[Gillian166]

@Craig760  supposedly 0* guests can't do IB. but there is a thing to check that guests have only positive reviews, which would exclude 0* guests. 

I'm still suggesting: turn off IB while you are learning. If you can be available to guest enquiries it won't inhibit your ability to get bookings. 

[Craig760]

I shall most certainly follow your sage advice. Perhaps they changed things to allow 0 feedback to use IB. Hopefully my nespresso will survive to welcome the next guests. 

they sure make it hard to turn IB off. I’ve never jumped through so many ‘are you sure’ hoops. 

[Huma0]

@Gillian166 @Craig760 

I believe that guests with no reviews CAN use IB (any guests can), unless you tick that box requiring them to have recommendations from other hosts.

@Craig760 I concur with @Gillian166 that IB is not a great idea for new hosts. You need to get a bit of experience under your belt first, vet your guests and to make sure that your listing is clear and the guests understand what they are booking (many of them do not read the listing!) Your first few reviews are really important, so it's vital to make sure your guests are a good fit for the listing and vice versa.

If you feel you must use IB, then tick all the boxes for all available filters, i.e. recommendations from other hosts, verified ID, pre-booking message, profile photo.

You will find your instant book settings under the 'policies and rules' when in edit mode.

That doesn't mean that guests who don't fit the above can't request to book with you, but they won't be able to instant book with no communication.

As for your question RE theft, personally, I have never experienced a guest taking anything other than (by accident) travel adaptors (put stickers on them and that stopped) and, once, a guest swapped one of my pillows with a different one, which was weird. But, I am a homeshare host and am here most of the time. I'm not saying it couldn't happen. The important thing is to vet your guests. 

RE cover should something go wrong, you should read the Aircover for hosts policy and also search for this on this forum, where you will find plenty of discussion on the subject. Yes, Airbnb does provide some cover, but of course there are T&Cs and there is a process you must follow if you want to make a claim. Not all claims get paid, and those that do might not always be paid in full, so it's a really good idea to have your own insurance and make sure it includes coverage for STR.

[Craig760]

Thanks. It’s a pity that Airbnb push you toward IB. I have taken all your advice and will adjust my settings to make sure a dialogue takes place before a booking... just so I can sleep before each guest arrives. 

[Huma0]

@Craig760 

Yes, absolutely, Airbnb does push you towards IB. I resisted for a while, but then they really started pushing it and made IB a default on the searches, so guests had to switch that filter off to see any listings that didn't use IB and they didn't make it obvious, so most guests would not switch it off.

Overnight, I went from fully booked to nothing. I switched on IB and the bookings flooded in almost immediately. 

Luckily, at some point they changed this. I continued to use IB for quite a while but I switched it off earlier in the year as it was becoming too problematic.

The Airbnb algorithms did their best to convince me not to switch it off but, by this point, I had enough experience hosting to know that it wasn't working for me. This time, I didn't notice a drop in bookings, so I am glad I did it.

[Gillian166]

@Craig760  your listing looks ok, great space, mediocre photos. At some point hire a professional, or take better pics with some natural light. you are lucky cos your place is clearly newly renovated so your poor photos get a pass. 

you have no extra house rules, you might want to add some. 

Beware of scammers who target new hosts. DO NOT accept long bookings. DO NOT accept off platform payment schemes. do you have your welcome message and check out message set up in the scheduled messaging system? 

Do you have any protection? in theory: yes.  but read the forums, there are many hosts sharing disgruntled experiences with the CS team and unfair decisions. 

if anything happens, take photos and video first. 

and consider installing an external camera.  This goes a long way to hinder bad guests. 

[Craig760]

Point taken on the photos. As a ground floor apartment , natural light is something it is lacking in. 
I looked at the rules section ad was a bit stuck for inspiration. I don’t want to sound like a matron. Any tips?

I suppose I could pop a ring type doorbell on the apartment door as suggested by another member. There’s not really anywhere for any other camera without it looking a bit dodgy. 
They didn’t respond to my ‘hope you had a good sleep, let me know if there’s anything you need’ message. 
I hear what you are saying about the cover provided and wonder if you or anyone knows of any policies that will supplement it? All I’ve been able to find is normal insurance policies that grant cover if you short term let but don’t cover theft or malicious damage unless someone breaks in. 

[Gordon0]

Nice, tidy listing, @Craig760, and I suspect you'll do a roaring trade in the summer given the location.  

Like you, I suspected the worst when it came to my first booking or two, although hosting in my own home I fully expected to be murdered in my sleep or, at the very least, find a horse's head on my pillow for leaving somebody an iffy review.

Thankfully, as this response illustrates, I'm still here (no horses heads, but all sorts of other oddities left behind).

As has already been mentioned, IB is probably not for the feint-hearted, scaredy-cat new host, but I wouldn't rule it out wholesale once you're up to speed.

A 'Ring' (other brands available) doorbell is a wise choice as it'll alert you to extra guests sneaking in.

While some won't agree, I think it's good to have a photo of yourself (not a cup of coffee) to 'humanise' your listing. The more you can get would-be guests to understand this isn't some sort of corporate digs they're in, but somebody's heart and soul, the better.  



 

[Craig760]

Thanks Gordon. I actually changed my face to the coffee when my kids said I looked like a serial killer in my profile picture. 
I’ll get one of me and the dog on the beach at a slight distance and use that. 
All tips greatly appreciated. 

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Craig760 we have many zero star (ie new) guests and they have been great. This forum is full of bad experiences but they outnumber the good experiences only because people do not post when things go well.

I would stop worrying and prepare for a positive experience.

[Craig760]

Thanks. I never forget I was a 0 once when booking. I think the IB makes things a bit impersonal so I’ve tweaked the settings. 

[Huma0]

@Craig760 I agree with @Mike-And-Jane0 .

I have had many, many wonderful guests who are newbies with no reviews. In fact, often they are better guests than those with many positive reviews because they are eager to impress you. 

The thing is, with IB, you can set it so only guests with good reviews can use it and then you can cherry pick (to an extent - you will get penalised if you decline too often) the rest. The most important thing is to be clear in your listing and communication in order to only attract the guests that you want.