Guest Screening Best Practices

[Alina127]

Hello Community; I am a new AirBnb host but come with 4 years of experience hosting au-pairs/live-in nannies so I leveraged some screening practices from that into my AirBnb hosting.  

I do Instant Book but on my “Greeting” I have a questionnaire that guests are required to fill out.  This is done under the Guest Trip information.  I require verified ID.  I do not require recommendation from previous hosts.

Making guests fill out out 5 essential questions before arrival can help you weed out duds. I’ve enclosed them here and my advice as to what to look out for:

Guest Questionnaire:

1. Full names of guests on reservation. 

WHY YOU NEED TO ASK THIS QUESTION: if the guest does not want you to look them up on Google, LinkedIn, or Facebook, they will not give you their name.  Asking for names  is a reasonable request to ask because it is a confirmed booking and you need to ask for ID upon check-in

2. Occupation/Work Profession of guests on reservation

WHY YOU NEED TO ASK THIS QUESTION: Stable people have careers or are happily retired!  People who hold jobs and show up to work have a predictable routine!  Stable people do not do things that will make them lose their jobs: robberies, illicit drug use, stay up late to party/play video games and sleep in (ie: show up late to work)...basically guests you don’t want inside your home.  Most tourists have day jobs back home.  I do short-term stays and only want stable people in my home; and people who will not mooch around my home all day long doing nothing or squat forever!  Local drifters who are unable or unwilling to hold a job will not answer that question.  

3. Have you &/or guests used Airbnb before?  If yes, how many times & dates?

WHY YOU NEED TO ASK THIS QUESTION: if a guest answers all of the other 4 questions and you’re happy with their responses along with a profile pic but just started using AirBnb in the past month; you should consider hosting them!  My first two reservations had no Airbnb reviews yet answered all my questions and had decent profile pictures.  They had no reviews because they just started using AirBnb but their hosts were either too busy or too lazy to write a review.  They were great guests and I got my reviews! 

4. Reason for being in the area?

WHY YOU NEED TO ASK THIS QUESTION: If your goal is to host tourists or working professionals; they need to have plans to be out and about during your stay.  In my area those reasons should be: I’m in the area for skiing, job training, attending a conference, going to a show, catching an early flight or visiting extended family — A (wo)man should have a plan!  A red flag answer to this question is not answering this question or saying something like “Oh I’m just winging it with my plans”. 

5. Why you are interested in this accommodation?

WHY YOU NEED TO ASK THIS QUESTION:  “Why Us?” you are one of hundreds of Airbnb options the guest is looking at.  There’s always going to be an Airbnb that’s better than yours in terms of location, price, amenities, more privacy etc.  The answer given to you should be genuine, something you believe to be valid.  

***The first answer out of their mouth should NOT be the cost!!***

 If they give you that as an answer; be suspect and know this is a red flag guest.  Just like in job interviews, we interview because we know the job pays more but we don’t give “It pays more” as our answer, there is something else besides the money that makes us want to interview.  Likewise, people go to AirBnb because of the cost but their motivation to book an Airbnb out of all the other options available needs to go beyond the cost.  

Your guests need to give you a better answer than “Yours was the cheapest to book” or “I sold my house and living in motels and Airbnb is cheaper and decided to give it a shot”....answers I’ve received and denied.  Especially if it’s coming from a local...if a local really want to save money, why can’t they stay with family or friends in the area? 

The answer you should be looking for should be tied in with their answer given in the forth question.  “It’s 11 minutes away from my job training”,  “It’s close distance to the airport for early flight”, “My daughter lives 6 minutes away”, things like that. 

If they are serious about booking your accommodation and have nothing to hide; they will answer all 5 questions.

If I’m satisfied with their answers, I go ahead with receiving them.  No problem guests so far!  Those that did not answer my questions or dodge answering my questions with asking me questions that are not about them, “Do you have TVs in the bedrooms?” most likely have something to hide and I decline the booking.  

[Rebecca181]

@Alina127 - I also used the 'Guest Trip Information' section to ask pertinent questions as part of the Instant Booking process and it indeed helped me weed out the occasional 'dud' (as you say). However, recently I have heard hosts say that they are no longer able to ask questions / insert customized questions as they had been able to do in the past. You, apparently, still can. Perhaps this is true only in some areas and some hosts still have this option? As for me, this was the main feature that allowed me to feel comfortable allowing guests to Instant Book - It is always harder to screen 'after the fact' (booking) because if you then need to cancel, Airbnb might decide that we are behaving in a 'discriminatory' manner. These days, based on changes to the platform, policies, and practices I've seen this past year, it would seem that Airbnb prefers we home-sharing hosts act as if were a commerical operation; not home-owners opening up our abodes to strangers, thereby putting what might be our largest investment - and our personal security and safety - at risk.

[Paul154]

Favorite answers.

1. I just got a job at Amazon and need to use Airbnb until I find an apartment.

2. I'm here for a work meeting.

3. I work in the ship industry and you are close to the port. 

All stable, $$, clean and never there!  

Plus they are always grateful.

[Gulay1]

@Alina127 thank you so much, this is very helpful.

It's a crying shame that us hosts have become so leery and defensive. I firmly believe that Airbnb's hands-off approach to any dispute a host might have with a guest is the root cause of this problem.

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Paul154 

The worst answer: we are coming for our cousin's wedding

[Linda-And-Eddy0]

Sorry, I know this is three years old, but why is that the worst?  Honest, I don't know!

[Sarah977]

@Alina127  Those are really good, well-thought out tips. I don't use IB, so guests have to send an Inquiry or Booking request, and when they do, I've been very lucky to have the kind of guests attracted to my place who generally volunteer all that type of information in their first message. Guests who expect to be welcomed into someone's home by presenting themselves as anonymous silouettes with no profile info are guests I'm not interested in.

[Lauren18]

Me too.  No instant book.  I like to read their profiles, reviews if they have any, and if they don't introduce themselves in the inquiry I won't rent to them as a rule anyway, because it tells me they think I'm a motel.  And cross my fingers, I've been lucky to have lots of great people stay here because of that.

[Anonymous]

@Alina127  I can understand the benefit of asking about a guest's profession if the listing is oriented toward long-term (30 days or more) stays. However, for the short-stay guest it seems needlessly intrusive and can easily be viewed as discriminatory.

Also, I don't think I agree with your extrapolation of which people are "stable." I've come across many people with advanced degrees and distinguished professions who also happen to be psychologically unstable, or drug addicts, or party animals, criminals, and in some cases all of the above. And on the flip side I know plenty of stable and responsible people who are unemployed, studying, or doing low-skilled work. In this regard I don't think a prospective guest's profession is any better indication of their suitability than things that it's against Airbnb policy to ask about, such as their race or religion or sexual orientation.  Plenty of good guests will take offense to the question, and less desirable guests can simply lie.

The other 4 questions seem quite reasonable and are pretty close to what Airbnb advises guests to volunteer in their initial requests.

[Ann489]

@Alina127   question: have you had any reservations with this "über-questionaire"?  It seems a little overkill-especially, asking potential guests about their occupation.  

[Linda108]

@Alina127   Your questionaire would definitely be off-putting to me as a casual short term guest but your thought process is interesting

[Helen3]

I am sorry @Alina127 but I think you will put many lovely guests off by your approach.  You will find many like me will not want to offer such personal information about ourselves.

1. Full names of guests on reservation. 

Unless you live in a country where it is a legal requirement, you don't need anyone's ID. I and many hosts I know don't feel the need and certainly don't have the time  to check out the ID of the hundreds of guests who stays with us.

2. Occupation/Work Profession of guests on reservation

I wouldn't book with you if you asked for my occupation. Quite frankly it is none of your business. You can vet people to ensure they are good fit without asking this question.

3. Have you &/or guests used Airbnb before?  If yes, how many times & dates?

I am certainly not going to look up all the times I have used Airbnb before and list them for you.

4. Reason for being in the area?

I ask about people's plans for their stay too to ensure there is a good fit (however I don't have a list of reasons which I have identified as being acceptable) 

5. Why you are interested in this accommodation?

I actually ask what made you choose my place. Again to ensure there is a good fit.

[Inna22]

@Alina127 I would utilize the 48 grace cancellation as soon as get your list if I booked with you. Unless it was in your description that you would be asking these. Then I would not have booked in the first place. And this is precisely because I have good answers to those questions and I have no interest in someone knowing everything about me, my travel patterns, my plans during a particular trip. I do not want “some” host collecting all this private information about me.  I think more “stable” people tend to be more private unless they want public exposure for work. Plus this is a lot of work- every Airbnb stay with dates? Is this a visa application? And how would you feel if I sent something like that back to you? Your family names and occupations, your plans for when I am at your property etc? I also do want to know if my host is stable!

i am also wondering what percentage you end up cancelling as a result of unsatisfactory answers and if it affected your cancellation rate. 

[Donald28]

You can certainly ASK these questions but if you're using instant book, you're screwed if they don't answer. You can't just cancel if you don't like their answers or if they choose to ignore your questions. 

If you got rid of IB and then used these questions, you'd be far better off. 

[Helen3]

Actually that is not true @Donald28 

You absolutely can cancel if you have questions as part of your IB process and in your house rules which guests don't respond to.

Where guests haven't responded. Airbnb has contacted them for me to secure the information and confirmed that if they don't respond, they will cancel the booking.