Do you accept or decline first time Airbnb guests?

[TracieandJason0]

I tend to see the best in people and I think the same is true with other Airbnb hosts. I mean who else could open up their homes to total strangers?

I currently have a first time guest who is very very nice! But so many problems. Some first time airbnb guests forget that I am not a 24/7 concierge and unless it's an emergency, anything they have questions about or need help with should be communicated with the host with advance notice whenever possible or otherwise you just gotta wait. I've had to drive from far away late at night twice to help her. I've had to remind her of my house rules on different occasions. She's been very agreeable to resolution charges and is apologetic but I think she is maybe a bit inconsiderate and this type of understanding comes with more airbnb use. I've recommended to her that for future bookings, she should make sure her host is close by and can easily come help her.

I don't know if maybe it could also be my own naivety. It's been a learning curve for me and I've realized I need to stop accepting reservations for first time airbnb users. My hosting style is pretty hands off and my house is set up to be super guest friendly and you really don't even need me there. I've had plenty of great first time guests but the rest are not worth the headache. Anyways I think it's important to recognize if a guest's livestyle and manners fits with your hosting style or not. It's not to be discriminatory but just to ensure a good experience for both parties. 

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@TracieandJason0

good guests become even better with experience and bad ones remain bad or become better. But I think it has more to do with common sense, mentality and house training then with Airbnb experience.

We accept first timers but you probably know you can set your booking requirements and accept only those with min. 1 good review. .

[TracieandJason0]

@Branka-and-Silvia0 You are right. Some guests can just remain bad even with more airbnb experience. I will just need to look out for red flags better. 

As for the booking requirements, that's only for instant book and if the guest is recommended by other hosts and even so, I believe the guests can still send a request. My problem is approving those few guests who come across very polite and respectful through message but end up being quite high maintence. It's unfortunate but has now made me want to stay clear of all new Airbnb guests. 

[Nanci14]

I have to agree with most of what you have written Tracie and, I set minimum reviews for instant bookings. The reason I did this was to avoid these scenarios happineing in the first place then, to my annoyance Airbnb writes to say my acceptance has dropped below the minimum.  

[Sarah977]

@TracieandJason0   Just as new hosts need guests to take a chance on them, someone needs to be the first host to accept a new to Airbnb guest. So maybe rather than not accepting new users (which of course you have every right to do), maybe create a saved message to send to them when they request to book. "Dear XXX, this is a saved message I send to all guests who are new to Airbnb to make sure they understand that an Airbnb is not like a hotel with concierge service." Then you could go on to explain that you live x number of hours from the listing, what you do and do not provide in terms of services, that there is a house manual and that everything is set up to be easy and guest friendly, and that you're available to answer questions via messaging should they not be able to figure something out, but that you can't just be at the door to help out with any little thing, etc.

[TracieandJason0]

@Sarah977 Thank you! This is actually really great advice and I think I will definitely incorporate something like this in the future. I usually just send a quick reminder of house rules and things to help with their trip but it makes sense to also establish boundaries. Prior to this I felt that this would come acros a bit cold and parent like. I guess I wanted to be the cool mom and not like those other moms.... Anyways jokes aside, it makes a lot of sense to establish boundaries right away rather than waiting till later and dealing with the resolution center and a headache. 

[Zappa0]

I'm a tad curious what was so difficult for her to figure out that required two trips...

[TracieandJason0]

@Zappa0 Her reservation is self check in with a keyless doorpad entry so I don't even need to be there and was at a friends house about 40 minutes away. I leave the bedroom key in the guest bedroom for the guests to hold onto. Literally 10 minutes after checking in she calls me to tell me she locked herself out her room while going to the bathroom. This was after 10pm... sigh. The following day, she told me her room felt too hot. So she instead of turning down the thermostat, she opened the window, which is fine but she could not figure out how to close it. I still am not sure why but she opened the top half of window and couldn't get it to shut back up. This was after 11pm, it wasn't too cold and I was a bit annoyed so I told her she would just have to wait for me to return the next day.  

I now leave another spare key hidden. 

[Zappa0]

Oh yeah...she'd be a zombie lunch for sure

[Mark116]

It's really a mixed bag, we host a lot of first time guests and they are usually pretty good, think of it as you are training them how to be a guest on the airbnbn platform.  What has been more disappointing is when we have hosted guests who are also hosts or who have 4 or 5 EXTREMELY positive, gushing reviews by other hosts and we find that they are disrespectful of the space/dirty/etc.  

[TracieandJason0]

@Mark116 I have yet to be a host to other hosts... and this is not the first time I've read a comment like yours about this matter. Do you not accept hosts as guests now due to this? Or what red flags do you watch out for now regarding this?

[Mark116]

We do accept hosts, but instead of our original sigh of relief, that hey, they are hosts they will 'get it' we keep an eye out on them the same as any other guest.  The red flags are also not 100% we have hosted guests that I was very wary of who turned out to be fantastic, and the reverse, guests who I had an expectation would be great/fun to meet who were nightmares.  The most consistent red flag is if they ask a lot of random questions and the opposite, if they are unresponsive to messages; positive signs are people who are very polite and give a back story on their visit.  We also now tell everyone upon inquiry/acceptance that they should read the entire listing, house rules and location details, and this seems to help.  

[Letti0]

@TracieandJason0  I accept 1st timers. Are you sure these are actually all first timers or just guests with no reviews. I have had 3 bad groups all from AirBnB only, they were not first timers per their comments to my questions they just had no reviews. I blame the other hosts for these groups being able to book again. Many hosts do not review good or bad guests. None of these guests should have been welcome back to AirBnB. I have had good experiences with many 1st timers. I can get a pretty good feel from my conversations with them. On my bad guests I had a gut feel about 2 of them, but AirBnB would not let me cancel them even though they were IB. They felt there was nothing in the messaging system or on these groups to warrant a penalty free cancellation. 

As @Branka-and-Silvia0  states you can limit your guests to only those that have 1 good review, but a lot of hosts have had issues with them also where a host gave them a positive review which could not have been true.It will also lower your bookings as many guests are 1st timers. It is always going to be a crap shoot on guests whether 1st timers or older seasoned guests. It may not be the booking guests that cause the issues it could be part of the group that they are with. I had this issue with my one group I felt fine with the guest booking. It was the other family with him that stole items and did the damage, but unfortunately for him he got the bad review because of his brothers family. How am I to know whether they travel together all the time or not. He booked the place, so ultimately he was responsible. 

We are on property, so it's no big deal if a guest needs something. We are basically hands off too. We ask if everything is okay and to contact us if they need anything. Very few contact us for anything as everything is there with instructions for the most part. Although we did have one who could not figure out how to lock the door which locks automatically lol. Another said they had no washcloths, she thought our washcloths were hand towels. The funniest one called because she could not get the Nespresso to accept the capsule and really wanted the flavored coffe, not regular coffee. She was use to the Keurig K-cup pods and desperate for the Vanilla Carmel coffee. We now have a photo of placing it sideways into the machine to avoid issues again. We do not even mention this item in our listing. We were all wondering how she planned to survive without this Vanilla Carmel coffee for the 5 days, she was almost in tears with frustration when she finally called. 

I also will not host a Host. Like @Mark116 states a lot of them feel entitled, picky and demanding. So I avoid them like the plague, even though I am sure there are many that would be fine to host. 

[TracieandJason0]

@Letti0 Thank you for sharing your experience. That story is pretty funny and gave me a chuckle. Isn't it so horrible when we had a bad gut feeling but we still host the guest anyways and it turns out we should have trusted our gut! 

As for my guest, yes she is a first time guest. She joined in October 2018 and I can tell its her first time for sure. I may just still be reacting to the situation because I know most people are not like her and she is just exceptionally high maintenence. I never get upset or anything because sometimes her need for helping her as well is a bit laughable also. Its just a headache and time consuming if anything. I've had drive 40 mins to unlock her bedroom door which she got locked out of after 10 mins of checking in. I had to come back the next day to close a window for her which she slept with open because she couldn't figure out how to close it. Re-explain the thermostat... explain the shower handle... She's called me late at night asking if her car tire being slightly on the sidewalk was a problem. She's asked me about laundry facilities 3 times already...brought a overnight guest... the list goes on and let's just say I will be very relieved when she finally checks out. 

I will take all the advice I have received and adjust my vetting process and checking in process accordingly. I will still probably host some first time guests but my standards will be a bit higher going forward. Thank you everyone!!

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

ah @TracieandJason0 this guest of yours will remain the same even after 10 stays... , she is not a kid any more but is still totaly incapable to do simple life tasks.... there is no hope for her ... 😜