Potential guest wants me to call her first on WhatsApp

[Marjorie176]

We have been hosting for about six months and it’s been a very positive experience so far. This morning, however, we got a message asking us to pre-approve a three week booking starting tomorrow. The guest has no reviews and wants me to call her on WhatsApp to discuss her booking. This seems suspicious to me. Have any of you had this experience?

[Bryan10]

There are several discussions about this type of scenario - virtually always it turns out to be a scam, someone looking for a free stay one way or another. I'd avoid it, unless it's someone you know and you've hosted before. 

[Susan1404]

I would tell her until there is a booking, it is standard policy to keep all communication on the Airbnb app.  Most people attempt to send me an email address or a phone number which is automatically blocked by Airbnb in the message system.  I would be very skeptical of anyone trying to communicate outside of the system, although some people do want to hear a voice at times.

[Pat271]

Try to keep your communications with potential guests, and even current guests, on the Airbnb platform. It should arouse suspicions if someone wants reroute conversations to the phone or any other medium. Just tell her Airbnb policy is to keep messages on the app, and ask how you can help her further.

[Marjorie176]

@Pat271 that is excellent advice. Thank you. She did not respond when I told her we wanted to communicate only on the Airbnb app.

[Helen3]

I just had a similar inquiry from someone who spelled out their number.

I told them that Airbnb keeps all communication on the platform to protect guests and hosts until there is a confirmed booking. @Marjorie176 

[Marjorie176]

Yes, she spelled out her # as well. She did not respond when I requested more info. thanks for your reply, Helen.

[Chris16452]

@Helen3 right? Airbnb should be enforcing all communication on the platform. 

The fact there are so many stories to people being contacted outside with little being done. 

Where is the official response from Airbnb on these threads?

[Helen3]

This is a community forum for hosts and guests so you won't have official airbnb responses here.

Airbnb do enforce no communication outside of their platform before booking .

Sadly there are always hosts and guests who try and game the system by sharing contact details .

As a host it's not complicated IG a guest tries to provide contact details for direct communication before booking just report them to Airbnb 

[Chris16452]

@Helen3 I have, Airbnb doesn’t take ownership to resolve.

It’s very much an attitude of pass of the risk to the guest even if we PAY Airbnb to protect us in fees.

Even this “community” is a method to get guests to “self serve” pass the actual labour to each other - rather than invest in proper customer service.

They shouldn’t even be giving out personal numbers in this way.

Other platforms like Lyft or Uber auto generate unique numbers to mask your number so the other party never has it.

Should a 3rd party call, it routes contact through the platform to protect all of us. 

We’ve already seen the horror stories over the last decade when they don’t do this. 

It’s why other platforms don’t give out your number. I find it disgusting that Airbnb hasn’t applied learnings in this context.

Any guest getting contact outside the platform - it should be an immediate suspension. 

@Airbnb - this is your responsibility. Not the guest. Not the hosts to put PROCESS in place in protect us.

[Helen3]

As I've already mentioned if a guest or host  tries to share contact details before booking then just report them 

this happens on other listing sites not just Airbnb. 

if this is a deal breaker for you then just don't use Airbnb @Chris16452 

[Chris16452]

@Helen3 

I feel like this is my exactly point, the “community” does the work to maintain the status quo.

There’s little incentive for Airbnb invest to solve this problem properly via process.

To enforce “on platform” contact by default. No exceptions. To prevent details being passed on by default.

An alternative response could be - “hold on, there’s a good point here.  This is wrong. There’s a huge risk here. This probably disproportionately impacts some people more than others. Someone probably historically has got hurt.   I should demand better, I will ask Airbnb to be better”

—

Sentiments of

“this happens on other listings sites” &

“just don’t use”

fallacies at play:

- Red herring
- False Dichotomy

- Bandwagon

[Kath9]

@Marjorie176,  yes, many of us have had this experience. It is almost certainly a scam. Why would someone want to bypass the messaging system? At the very least she may be trying to book without paying Airbnb customer service fees, which puts you at risk as a host.  I would definitely decline, especially given the lack of reviews and short-notice booking.

[Marjorie176]

@Kath9 thanks  so much for your advice. We declined for the reasons you cited. this is the first time we got a query like this, and now we will be wise to it.

[Linda3786]

I had a similar situation and called Airbnb customer service. She told me it is Airbnb policy to keep all communication on the platform so there is a thread of all communication to protect both parties. I followed her advice.