Denied guest booking for First time in over 4 years

[Kate157]

So, yesterday I got an inquiry. The days wanted would start on Thanksgiving, and run for three nights. All the message said was:

"need an address"

There was no greeting, signature, punctuation or capital letters. The photo showed an older couple, and they had no reviews. I had a heavy feeling, and I thought of all the host's out there who advise others to listen to your instincts. For the very first time in over 4 years, I pushed the Deny button.  That's right, I have never done it before. I felt a tiny bit guilty. But I know that these are people who don't care to be polite, who don't care about following the rules. So, thank you fellow hosts for showing me a path down the road of sticking to my guns and making the choice to opt out for better guests. (BTW I have had to explain the address is given upon confirmation of a booking many times to people. But they asked politely.)

[Kimberly110]

Thank you for sharing this experience. It is helpful for me as I am just starting out and it is very difficult for me to say no, but I need to trust my instints as well.  I recently had a request that I felt uncomfortable about and I did not decline it but the person ended up not booking and someone else booked for that day instead that I felt much more comfortable with.  Even though it worked out that time, I just need to trust my instincts going forward.

Thanks again for sharing your experience.  

Kim

[Farah1]

@Kate157 good for you! Recently, I need to do something for the first time in 4 years of hosting too: Asking guests to leave and vacate the premises. I am going to make a separate post about this... I think it can be a useful and helpful information for all of us.

[Edith0]

For the first time in three years of hosting I CANCELLED 2 bookings this morning so I'll loose my Superhost Status (3 years old) next october. I know I should have denied from the very beginning as I used to do before. But just to tell you the truth I have no regret and I congratulate you to have blocked them at first sight!

So why did I came back to my decision? A vacuum and a short profile, neither English nor French spoken, asking a quick question, no review for the newbie, just a few for the host who posts several pictures on her profile: two groups, one of a child...I asked her who she was on the pic? She said: the blond one.

I rent two rooms in my apartment where I live, so I have to feel confident.

I am getting more and more tourists traveling "low cost", demanding, not reading the rules or making fun of it, posting any kind of profile picture, not showing up once but it was somebody else! With all the risks of no suport by my insurance or Airbnb insurance. This is why Instant Booking does not seem to me to be recommendable. And unfortunately AIRBNB puts only too much pressure to force us to take this option! Scams to Airbnb by creating false listings or the usurpation of real listings, fake Airbnb profiles, fake Facebook accounts, false identity papers ... do not secure the host either.

[Luke73]

@Kate157 Thanks for sharing this with us. If I encountered this situation, I would have do the same thing. For me, I don't think you should've felt a tiny bit guilty because there is no place for impolite guests

[Karen-and-Brian0]

Wow @Kate157 unbelievable what some people do. My response:

need a booking request that I will immediately decline

😉

[Paul154]

Thank you Kate for doing the right thing.

Do not feel guilty, you did a service to them and future hosts.

This is Airbnb, guests and hosts are on a two-way street.

These guests will be more thoughtful with their next reservation and they may read the rules.

(My gut feeling is that it was a scam, but that's just the cynic in me)

[Austin31]

my preference in the written word is lowercase

sans punctuation

i find it to reveal the intrinsic elegance and poetry of letters

i also think being direct has merit 

how we use language is in a dynamic flux

especially with the advent of txt messaging

advise

[Jann3]

Advice:

Lower case without punctuation is lazy...and is an indication that one doesn't even know what to do with a pen and paper - if handed them.

What would Shakespeare say?

PS: Language is not in dynamic flux...the mis-use of it is.

Just my $.02!

[Deborah265]

Hello Kate and other hosts reading this. I have had people ask me for my complete address prior to booking. I would recommend no host provide anyone the address of their listing until a few days before the guest arrives, until then just provide general cross streets.

What I think people are doing is getting addresses to apply for credit cards online.  I have even had a guest from France go as far as cancelling her reservation the day she was due to arrive ( knowing she would lose her $1,500), explaining she had  "too much anxiety to get on the plane".  I'm sure she obtained a credit card with  a high credit limit, using my address, that outweighed the loss of the $1,500. (she may have even paid using  another fraudulent credit card.) She probably never intended to come. Unfortunately this guest already had my address since she didn't cancel until the day she was due to arrive.

I was very suspicious because her photo was very blurry and she did not go into about the reason for her trip.

( at one point Airbnb was automatically giving guests the address once they had paid, but I wrote to them and asked them to stop this practice because people were using addresses to obtain credit cards)

Tips: ask specific questions about the reasons for their trip to make sure the guest is legit, ask to view their Facebook profile... and never give your address until a few days before the guests arrives, report the subscriber to Airbnb if you think their actions are suspicious. You can't stop this practice from happening completely but these are good deterrents.  

Happy hosting, Deborah