First time

[Pontus12]

My wife and I have had our home listed on Airbnb for a while, but to be honest, we haven’t really had the courage to say yes yet. Now we truly want to take the step, since our long-term goal is to be able to travel more often with our kids.

We understand that there’s a lot to think about and that hosting takes work. One thing that’s important to us is feeling comfortable with who we are renting our home to.

So I’d love to hear from those of you who rent out your own primary residence:

– Do you ask guests for identification, or do you rely on Airbnb’s verification process?
– Do you communicate with guests before accepting a booking, and if so, what do you usually ask?
– Were you nervous the first time you said yes, and did that feeling change over time?
– Is there anything you wish you had known before hosting your first guests?

Thanks so much for sharing your experiences and advice – it would really help us feel more confident taking this step.

[Shelley159 · Accepted solution]

Hi @Pontus12 

You've come to the right place to get some very valuable advice from hosts.

Understandably, hosting guests you've never met in your primary home while you're traveling can be very daunting, and others who have done this many times can give you important pointers.

If I can just mention something that you may not yet be aware of: in the long run it's very difficult for many of us to keep our listings in a prominent position in Airbnb search results - especially if you host in an area where there's plenty of competition.

As you can imagine, the search bot will give preference to listings that it knows will likely accept a request. Listings that show a pattern of rejecting booking requests, result in a negative guest experience on the Airbnb platform and may therefore show up less prominently in many searches (although there's a very large number of other factors that also play a role).

I mention this so you can take a balanced approach to decide when to decline requests. If you've already declined a large number, perhaps follow the advice that others give here regarding what questions to ask and how to safeguard your home, and see whether you can make a request work out in the near future (so that the bot can see it's OK to show your listing in a good position).

[Pontus12]

Thank you so much for taking the time to explain this so clearly – I really appreciate it.

That’s a very helpful perspective, and it makes a lot of sense how declining too many requests could affect a listing’s visibility over time. We definitely want to take a balanced approach and make sure we both protect our home and avoid unnecessary declines.

We’ll take your advice on asking the right questions upfront and working on making suitable requests work when possible. Thanks again for sharing your experience – it’s very reassuring to hear from someone who’s been through this many times.

[Greystone0]

Hi @Pontus12  - agree with the advice given!  

Here's some additional thoughts:

- you can take some really good guidance from your own travels and experiences with short term rentals. This perspective is very helpful.  As a traveler, you are the unknown guest that you are talking about and maybe this helps you put things at ease.

- if you have local regulations or insurance requirements make sure this is a factor in your screening process and mentioned in your listing (house rules, etc). For us we have strict rules on parking, occupancy and noise that are important to make sure each guest 'follows', otherwise we risk losing our permit and ability to be a short term rental.

- you can ask for the booker to have a photo that helps identify them (not a photo of their chin or a pet or a cartoon). And you can ask for each guest to be included.

- Instant book: if you have this enabled or want to consider, there is a pre-booking message you can include to get a conversation going, so yes, communicate and vet to make sure the reservation works for both sides.

- alternatively, if you are 'request to book', have your vetting questions ready. For us, confirming/re-confirming occupancy and parking is essential. We also ask guests to 'confirm' that the house rules work for them and guests and depending on the group make up we reference our 'no smoking' and quiet hours. Generally speaking, understanding 'who' is in the reservation and 'why' coming are relevant questions. We

- use your tech to help you feel safe with each booking. Exterior cameras will allow you to immediately know if 100 cars with 100 people have descended on your property. 

- and one thing that is hard learned on our end - use your vetting for each and every guest. Even guests with a really nice 5 star history can be poor guests. So have a system and stick to it.

- and I am nervous each and every time - this is my home and making sure it is safe and cared for is very important to me. This is our fifth year and new issues that have-yet-to-be experienced keep popping up. Even our repeat guests are doing weird things and we need to make sure we stay on top of things.

Good luck out there!

[Pontus12]

Thank you so much for sharing your experiences and for all the helpful tips!

All the best,
Pontus