Potential new guest

[Denese5]

I have a potential new booking for a new Air b&b guest, joined 2023, no reviews and their name is "Nn".  They want to stay for the month of December and with no reviews or profile to work from, I am concerned that there is more to the trip than at first glance, ie parties, drugs etc.  This is also only my second booking as I am new to hosting.  Any advice, suggestions etc. would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks in advance :-)) 

[Heather289]

If you have your settings so that you have to approve any booking where the guest doesn't have a review, you can decline if you want to. 

If you don't get a good feeling about the way they write their initial message to you, I would just say no.    

It should be up to Guests to reach out in a nice way to the Host saying "Hello, your place looks lovely, I'd like to stay there with my husband when we visit your area for xyz".  So you feel they are normal and nice.

If you get a bad feeling, then go with that bad feeling and just say no. 

[Denese5]

I believe I do have settings on to accept first-but refusing takes you into a whole another ballgame I think airb&b changed their terms recently on this… when you decline you go through various step, air b&b want a reason and tell you that they will inform the prospective guest. They actually send your wording!! Had I put what I wanted to, it could have got messy but I suspected that’s what they meant and my response was guarded. It shouldn’t have to be, you wouldn’t be a host and decline people less there was a good reason I would think. My response was for air b&bs feedback but it went to the guest too, so essentially I couldn’t tell the truth - maybe I could but repercussions I don’t know. 

[Heather289]

Well, if someone doesn't have any reviews, they have to request a reservation (I accept automatic reservations from people with reviews). 

Then, if I decline, Airbnb has a list of "reasons" and I simply tick the box that says "my listing doesn't meet their needs" and that's that.  

As the guest then never booked, they will never get the chance to give me a review, so a bland response like that should be sufficient, I think 

[Paula]

Hi @Denese5, have you had the chance to read the suggestions from our Hosts? I'm sharing some tips >>here for new hosts that might be useful for this and future bookings.

What ultimately happened with this potential guest?

Keep us posted.

[Denese5]

So I asked them again various questions, to determine their authenticity.  The response was vague and some answers were different to their booking, ie 1 person or 2 going.  They thought my caravan was a house, which it clearly from the profile picture is not.  They asked me to explain stuff about my "house" which again was evasive, I had asked them about the purpose of their stay, it was like I had irritated them.  They also ignored some of my questions, so I declined.

The process to decline isn't great if I am honest, as far as AirB&B is concerned, as it advises your response will go direct to the potential guest.  You can't exactly say I don't trust you can you, so I had to word it differently but I think the owner should be able to refuse a booking and not really give any reasons.  Seems excessive.  Anyway its all sorted and they are not coming, I thank the Community for all their support and advice. 

[Paula]

Thanks for sharing the update, @Denese5. I'm also sharing the link >>here where you can send feedback directly to Airbnb.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Denese5 don't worry - they'll ask to contact you off-platform soon at which point you can report them.

[Denese5]

Like your sense of humour and I was very suspicious, they didn't respond correctly to the questions, so I declined the booking, though Air B&B make that part difficult as what I wanted to say and what I could say (because I knew the response would go direct to them) was difficult but not insurmountable.

[Kitty-and-Creek0 · Accepted solution]

@Denese5 

Good question! Definitely ask them to complete their profile, and ask all the questions you have. This is a business, and a business decision. Make sure they understand and agree to your house rules. A month is a long time for a guest to stay with a new host, and with no information to make the host comfortable. Also how long is a month, and does that length of time constitute tenancy per your laws? Best of luck, let us know!

[Denese5]

@Kitty-and-Creek0 Thanks so much and sorry I haven't replied earlier, I have been quite unwell.  As it turned out I did ask some more questions and their replies were odd and evasive, so I declined their booking.  Though Air B&B make it difficult what you can say/respond about your declining a booking, I sorted it anyway, and appreciate your response.      :-)))

[Kitty-and-Creek0]

@Denese5 

Thanks for letting us all know. Hope you are feeling better and stronger. Take care -