Uneasy when I receive a requst

[Zacharias0]

Ever since Airbnb removed the photos from inquiring guests a sense of unease overcomes me when I receive an inquiry or instant booking. I know many others feel the same and  honestly the feeling never goes away. Its something about the fear of the unknown and then having to live with the person that becomes terrifying. I received a request from a guest and noticed they provided Airbnb four verifications: email, phone number, government ID and work e-mail but the host isn't provided ANY of that. In fact, it'll take a court order to even get that information unless the guest willingly provides it.

The guest does have the option of providing a paragraph about themselves but lately NO ONE is filling it out. Its the worst when all you have to rely on is previous guest reviews when basing your decision on if you want someone to become a roommate for a few days to a few weeks. I tell guests to provide reasons for their stay because I have a one month minimum and people arent forthcoming with information either. Im never sure how to ask nicely: Im looking for inquiries from people who work full time or will be occupied and out of the house at least 40 hours a week. This statement only applies to people who choose not to provide any reason for visiting that would logically keep them out of the house more time than not.

[Geri26]

Exactly Robin 🙂  And with my pic there is a profile and guest reviews - I have nothing to go by at all.  With one space snoozed and the other only attracting its first booking yesterday in over 6 weeks because I refuse to use IB again, I'm looking at other ways to use my spaces.  And the sad thing is Airbnb are losing the repeat, single women students who come to me for hosting because they feel safe. They are now looking at uni accommodation instead....

[Wendy708]

Hi Geri, I agree.  I started as a new host in London last year, using Airsorted to manage and had fantastic experience. This year I added a second property and already have had to cancel one guest (with all those problems!).  And ridiculously Airsorted have excepted two teenage boys, allegedly coming for a study holiday for a week in London.… Very expensive furniture… Watch this space.

[Robin4]

@Zacharias0 

Zacharias, mate it is even worse than that. 

A CX let slip in an email response to a host enquiry the other day that Airbnb no longer require a current user email as part of the verification process. The CX said...."Oh Airbnb stopped that requirement some time ago, I will pass this on to developement to cut the references!"......and yet it is still (as of this morning) a requirement in ABB's Terms of Service to set up a profile and list or book!

Fairly soon Zacharias, all we will be able to look to is a FedeX van out the front with an unaccounted for  guest delivery for us!!

Cheers......Rob

[Joseph644]

I never had a problem before but now I do because Airbnb took off the pics. 

[Helen3]

Honestly @Zacharias0 

I don't see the issue. If you  use IB and you have ticked the box to say you only accept bookings from guests who provide photos, it is exactly the same as it was before. You will see the photo when the guest books.

So what is making you uneasy.

As hosts it is up to us to put the work into vetting guests in a way that works for us.

I ask for 

1. reasons for stay

2. why they chose my place

3. who is travelling

4. check in time.

If they don't provide this I chase. If they don't respond . I ask Airbnb to follow up.

Quite honestly it's a small amount of work for my piece of mind and the income I receive.

[Alice595]

@Helen3It does make difference for hosts who are reluctant to set instant booking on and for accepting guests who are first timer booking on Airbnb.

There are guests who don't like to answer questions even if you ask. And in some cases, guests don't have Airbnb notification turned on, they may not see your messages for them to provide responses to your questions.

[Thomas-and-Damian0]

If guests don't like to answer any questions which a host may have then I think this guest is better off booking a room in a regular hotel where questions are not asked!!!!!! Airbnb prides itself to be different so it is totally understandable if a host may have some questions. Where is the problem??

I recently switched over to instant booking and I am afraid to say that it does not work out for me so far, execpt that it is like booking a hotel room.  Quick, easy, anonymous, etc.

Here is just a quick scenario of my first IB experience. A young guy who has just landed a job in our area was looking for a place to stay before he found an apartment. He was a young paramedic and sounded nice and all good. Long story short, the day he arrived he literally moved in with all his belongings as he just moved interstate. So his plants found a place somewhere around our house and his bikes where parked in our garage and that is absolutely fine with us. So our guest settled in and started his new job as a paramedic. What we didn't know was that he had to do many night shifts which means he was working all night and obviously.... sleeping all day. So far so good. Now, he only rented a room in our house and being a good host we tried to keep the noise level down as much as we could while our guest was sleeping during the day. That's what a good host would do, right? So for four weeks while our guest was staying with us we changed our house routine to a point where we had to make sure that even our dog had to go outside as he would bark when we had a visitor. Now our guest managed to land a pretty good deal as he took advantage of our monthly discount which ended up that we made $32 per night. Long story short, our lovely guest finally moved out again after four weeks and the review he wrote was that "it was lovely to live with us for four weeks but the ratings in the category value section only got us 4 stars. I can't express first of all how I was let down by the IB feature and then again I was furious that a young guy had the guts to give us only 4 stars in the value category. Before we switched over we communicated just a few sentences so WE could make sure that our guest gets everything he needs when looking for accomodation. The fact that we had no idea that this guest was basically sleeping most days put us in a very awkward position where we felt strange in our own home to make sure our guest gets the best possible outcome. Do you understand where I am coming from????? :)))

[Emilia42]

@Thomas-and-Damian0, set a maximum night stay. Had this guest only stayed for 3 nights instead of 28, there probably wouldn't have been any problems? I don't think Instant booking had anything to do with your bad experience. This guest could have requested to booking and easily left out that he was working a night shift.

[Thomas-and-Damian0]

Hi Emilia, thanks for your message. The fact that he was staying with us for 31 days was totally fine !! The issue I have with IB is that there is zero communication between guest and host. If there would have been any communication prior to his booking/arrival (including explaining his situation) I would probably refered him to one of our friends whose listing would have been a much better fit in his case. Being a good host we made it all work so he had a good stay but the 4 star review in the value category section makes me scratch my head. We were tippy toeing through our house and making sure our dog spent most time during the day outside to keep the house quite and our guest who paid $32 per day had the guts not being appreciative 🙂

[Emilia42]

@Thomas-and-Damian0, 

You definitely were being accommodating hosts! I love instant booking so apologies if I am a little pushy with my tirade. IB gets a bad rep because a lot of hosts think they are loosing the chance to talk with their guests to “vet” them in a way. But you CAN still have a conversation with an instant booking guest. After a guest confirms, if you are not happy with their intimal message, ask them questions, tell them a little about yourself and what they can expect, start the conversation. If the guest is late to respond, call them on the cell phone number that you have on their itinerary. Or ask Airbnb to get in touch with them. I’ve had guests cancel after they booked because we both got the impression that it wasn’t a good fit (they have 48 hours to cancel after booking for a total refund.)

The 4 stars for value is annoying but as long as your overall star rating was not affected, don’t beat yourself up about it. You have a beautiful home and when I look at your listing as a potential guest, I only see 5 stars across the board.

[Thomas-and-Damian0]

Hi Emilia, thanks again for your reply. I totally agree with your point of view regarding the options a host has when switching over to IB. Again after having been in the hosting industry for many years I more and more come to the conclusion that there is also a -HUGE- difference when guests book "a private room" vs "an entire place". The first option obviously means that you have a total stranger probably staying with you in your house, apartment, etc. versus booking an entire place where the host isn't around in the space they rent. We currently only rent out a "private room" in our house which means each guest has also access to the rest of our house, kitchen, dining & living area, outdoor area ..... nothing is locked. Again, when hosts are only renting out a room in their house it is only understandable that they want to have a little bit more control. Does that make sense!? 🙂

PS: Looking at your beautiful listing(s) makes me want to come back to New England for a while

[Helen3]

I appreciate that @Alice595 but if when you see their photo when the book and as a direct result of that you feel uncomfortable you can ask Airbnb to cancel.

I have to say in three years of hosting I have never had a situation, where when I see someone's photo I would have wanted to cancel the booking.

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Helen

there is no difference in case of the guest instant book ( we have IB)

but some guests can't book instantly ( no recommendations from other hosts, no reviews, travel with kids, etc....) so they have to send an inquiry or request. In this case, the profile picture is very useful.

The last inquiry I've received was for 3 bedroom apartment for 1 guest :

- " I want to book your place please"

The guest has no reviews, new member, no profile, I have no idea where is she from and why she needs 3 bedrooms for just herself?

So I answered:

- " Hi, I see you are new to ABB, please set the number of guests in your group, read our description, house rules and answer our prebooking questions ( time of arrival, if needs parking, how many beds, etc...)

She didn't answer anything but she sends me a booking REQUEST instead, this time for 5 guests.

So, I had no idea who is on the other side... is she young and careless planning a party, or she is old and has no experience with the internet, or she doesn't speak English. well... I just knew her communication is bad and she doesn't meet my booking requirements. So I declined the request as the clock was ticking.

Then I got another message:

-  Did I make something wrong? I travel with my sister and 75 y.o. parents to meet our relatives in Zagreb we really like your place, please reconsider our request

So I sad, ok and I've told her to send another request and I will accept it. So she did, I accepted and asked again for the time of arrival but still didn't get an answer.

It turned out she is a middle-aged woman but obviously not experienced in online communication. .If I could see her picture before booking I wouldn't decline her. 

This is the situation where the profile picture helps us understand the guest and explains why his/hers communication is bad.

The difference between instant booking and accepting someone's request is we can't cancel the reservation penalty free if it's not IB so we have to be carefull.

[Ann489]

@Helen3  yes, Helen...it is apparent that you don't see the issue. Luckily, most of us do and are concerned.

[Linda1526]

I do not understand why Airbnb took this decision and I do dislike this very much.