No response from upcoming guest

[Sherri218]

Hi all! I am a fairly new host. I've had several wonderful guests, one scare and now have an upcoming guest that won't respond to my messages. He booked a couple of weeks in advance, has nothing but rave reviews, but his profile pic has the face covered. All of his reviews are for he and his party/guests. He booked for one adult (whole house, sleeps up to 6) and says he is coming to town to meet business associates. I don't know why I have an off feeling enough to come here for advice. Any thoughts or suggestions?

[Emiel1]

@Sherri218 

At least you should ask the guest if the amount of guests on the reservation (1)  is correct.

Although your listing shows you do not charge for additional guests (house has same price for 1 or 6 guests). But houserules state:

"No events or gatherings. No additional overnight guests. Only guests registered on the reservation allowed to stay."

Make it clear to the guest he booked for 1 person and no other persons are allowed to stay.

[Gwen386 · Accepted solution]

@Sherri218 When is guest scheduled to check-in? He may not have alerts from airbnb activated on his cell phone. This happed to me with my present guest. He checked his messages on airbnb one day before check-in and said he was surprised that I had messaged him and he apologized. 

[Sherri218]

Great thought! He is arriving on Monday. Maybe I will text him directly. My phone goes off with  a text, email and AirBnB notification with any correspondence so I didn't think about that. 

[Sudsrung0]

We have had guest not responding until last minute, Im assuming they dont have notifications turned on,

Then one guest never responded and they never showed up, as we say a "No Show" happy days you still get your money.

[Mark116]

@Sherri218  Yes.  Text him for sure.  Almost all guests who weren't responsive on airbnb, once they got a text they replied quickly.  Not all and obv. it won't work for international guests.  If you still don't hear from him, I would contact Airbnb and have them reach out, I've done this a few times and every time the guest responded to Airbnb.

I also usually send that last message that says something along the lines of 'Hi XX, we've sent you a few messages and haven't heard back from you.  In order to ensure you can access the property at XX it's important for us to confirm ZZZ with you.   Also, I want to verify that you will be the only guest staying at the property.  We want to make sure you have a great time and that everything goes smoothly and hope to year from you soon.  

**If your rules say no visitors w/out host approval, you might mention this as well.

good luck.

[Gillian166]

+1 to what @Gwen386  said, and this is why in my initial "thanks for booking" message I ask them to make sure they have the airbnb app installed on their phone as it's the only way to see the check-in instructions, and to turn notifications ON. 

It is a bit weird that a solo traveller, coming for 'business' needs a large house to himself. Did you try to google him on linkedin or fb? Him arriving on Monday is less of a concern at least, that seems appropriate for business travel. 

Also another thing that some hosts request is an actual profile photo, of course you can only do this after a booking is approved so it's kinda hard to enforce. 

[Sudsrung0]

I did have one guy book a big 3 bedroom villa with us and he just said he likes the space, Im ok with that