Pattern of sketchy activity

[Yvette401]

I've recently become a co-host helping a busy professional improve his results on AirBnB. I've quickly noticed a disturbing pattern and I don't know how to change it. 

We have received several instant bookings from groups of men or single men who book on the day of or only one day before. They either have no profile picture and few to no reviews or only a few, yet favorable reviews. After the first couple of times it happened, I changed the setting to require a profile picture, but other strange similarities occur. If it happened only once, I'd chalk it up to being too suspicious on my part but again it seems to be a repeating pattern. Here is the pattern of concerning issues:
Instant booking for day of or next day
No to few reviews
No profile pic (fixed that) OR
the guest who shows up looks nothing like the guest who booked
They book for only one person but often show up with two or more additional guests
They are from the local area or have only rented AirBnBs in the local area
They arrive but leave the unit repeatedly around midnight and don't return until the early morning hours
They exhibit varied suspicious behavior (too many small strange things to explain here)

When booking, they give some random story that seems made up and doesn't pan out when they arrive. Latest example: guy wants to book and says his wife fell in love with our place, then when he shows up, there is no wife. 
There's no one thing I can put my finger on to say, "aha, something's rotten in Denmark," but it has happened enough now to make me very leery. My mind keeps wondering if these groups of men are somehow connecting and passing our listing around to each other as a place to hang and do whatever sketchy thing it is they are up to. 

Has anyone else had this experience?

[Patricia2526]

Hi @Yvette401 

Yeah, we get this a lot too bookings that show just 1 guest, even though our place can host up to 7 people. As soon as the booking comes in, we message right away to double-check if it’s really just for one or if there are more staying. We let them know that we need a guest authorization form with all the names listed (it’s already mentioned in our description, “Things to Note,” and House Rules). If it turns out they’re bringing more people, they just update their booking to match.

For us it’s a bit easier to manage since everyone has to pass through our building security before getting in, so the actual headcount is always verified anyway.

[Yvette401]

Patricia,
thanks for your reply. You mentioned an authorization form, is that something you created yourself or is this something you get from AirBnB?

[Joan2709]

@Yvette401 

My suggestion is to turn OFF Instant Book and don't accept same day bookings. That should reduce a lot of the issues you are mentioning.

The only way to totally eliminate the issues is to let the booking guest know that a photo ID that matches the profile photo of the person booking will be required to be shown at check-in. This only works if the Host lives on property, or nearby, or for remote Hosts if they employ someone to do this on their behalf. You can also require that all guests staying must be listed on the reservation by name (have an Airbnb profile).

[Helen3]

Vetting guests will help avoid these situations.

1. Don't accept same day bookings 

2. don't accept guests if photos don't match the person who turns up

3. if the guests are local then ask them why they need to stay 

4. if guests book for only one person but you accommodation sleeps more ask the guest to confirm that only one person will be staying

5. if more people turn up then have book ask the visitors not on the booking to leave

as @Joan2709  says turning off IB while you become more experienced at vetting guests will help avoid these situations 

it sounds perhaps if your listing is being used for drug dealing ?

[Yvette401]

Thank you, @Helen3. I appreciate you taking time to respond. I, too have wondered if these characters are involved in drugs or something similar.  

[Helen3]

Hi @Yvette401 

what reasons do the guests give you when you ask why they need accommodation when they live locally? 

[Joelle43]

Hello @Yvette401 

I notice that you accept 1 night bookings and was wondering if the profiles you mention only usually stay the 1 night?  If that is a recurring pattern, then maybe consider increasing your minimum stay to 2 nights to see if you have less of these type of requests.

But I agree with the others, turn off IB, set an Advance warning of 1 or 2 days on your calendar to avoid these last minute reservations.  Look how you can improve your House rules to include something like "any illegal or suspicious activity (drugs, prostitution etc) that is contrary to the laws in place, will be reported and will terminate the reservation with no possible refund".  Something to scare them anyway😉  I have this in my house rules and I figure that any law abiding citizen is not going to be put off by this.

[Yvette401]

@Joelle43, thanks for taking the time to respond. I'm going to incorporate wording similar to yours regarding suspicious behavior. 

[Shelley159]

Hi @Yvette401 

Your challenge is familiar to most hosts: one gets good advance bookings in place, but is often left with gaps in between that are much harder to fill. The best way to fill those nights, is usually (in line with what you've been doing) to break up the gap into one-night stays and drop the price as the dates come closer. This often works well to get the dates booked, but in this case it may have attracted guests you'd rather not host.

If you make radical changes to discourage these bookings, you may make it so hard for regular guests to fill the gaps that you end up with most of those nights unbooked (and potentially a significant drop in income, especially in slow months). I would try some small changes first, to see if they solve the issue. It sounds like these guests are not looking for a dream vacation - they have their own agenda and are simply looking for a place to stay. This is good news, as you probably don't have to go out of your way to get rid of them - all you need is for it to be less practical for them to stay at your listing than at the next one.

1) Make sure your advance bookings are from guests you want to host. Set your default prices and minimum stays in line with what your preferred guest would want to book, and make sure it's out of line with what these unwanted guests would book.

2) Go through your bookings history and make a spreadsheet with columns to record details of the habits of the unwanted guests. Booking lead time, length of stay, number of guests declared, total amount paid, etc. See which of these you can manipulate to still allow for regular guests to fill gaps between bookings, but at the same time make your calendar and prices unattractive to the unwanted guests. If the analysis shows that you need to make one-night or two-night stays more expensive, consider a high-ish cleaning fee (which will spread out for your regular guests who are making the longer advance bookings).

3) Because they go out and return during the night, I would consider a highly visible exterior camera (a way to emphasise that you can see what's going on, without having to say it) and (perhaps, if you think it may help) a sign on the inside of the front door, asking guests to please limit late-night outings to emergencies only, out of consideration for the upstairs neighbours.

[Yvette401]

Hi @Shelley159, you hit the nail on the head! I feel caught between a rock and a hard place since I want to fill all the gaps but also see that it opens the opportunity for nefarious actors to easily book. I appreciate you taking time to share helpful suggestions.  

[Helen3]

Have you chattted to the owner about these issues . It sounds as if you haven't hosted before taking up this cohosting opportunity as as he's an experienced host he's probably best placed to advise you @Yvette401