I'm new to hosting and luckily have had a few reservations already. However today have had two separate requests for reservations from brand new accounts with obviously no prior history/reviews.
I'm trying to think whether I'm being targeted as a new host for a scam, but I'm struggling to think of an angle where a scam would work.
Airbnb confirm identity and take payment so maybe I'm being overly cautious, but would welcome thoughts of more experienced hosts for their thoughts.
Thanks!
By - Exchangenudes_4_Joke
Quite a few of our reservations are from new accounts. There's just a lot of people out there who haven't used AirBnB before. We always send a message asking them what brings them to town and how many guests will be staying, and sometimes ask them to verify their ID ahead of time. You can tell a lot by the way they answer. Is it riskier? Absolutely. In the same way that trying a new restaurant is riskier than one with reviews, which is riskier than one you've been to before.
Another user here wrote previously this as a good message to send: Hi \[guest first name\], It looks like this would be your first Airbnb rental. We like to get to know unreviewed guests a little bit before we accept a reservation to stay at our personal vacation home (we are not a commercial operation ;-). Would you tell us more about yourself? Where are you traveling from? Family trip or group of friends? What interests you in our area? We look forward to hearing back from you. We hope that you will be our guests and that we'll be able to provide you with your first 5 star review (AirBnB gets easier for guests after a few good reviews!) Thanks,
Our first reservation was for 3 weeks in Pittsburgh PA at a nice home and created the account specifically for the reservation moments before we booked. We had excellent feedback and have used 2 since then where we were exceptional guests as well. Hopefully just a similar situation!
You’re new to hosting so you should expect reservations from brand new guests. When I just started hosting my first few bookings we’re almost all from brand new guests.
A few things are red flags for me if they have no reviews. 1. They are from the same area as my listing. 2. They book 1 weekend night. To me that signals someone trying to throw a party and I always decline. I have had guests with no reviews request to book 4-5 days and I usually accept and haven’t had any issues.
Our only hard and fast rule is no last minute bookings from new accounts. Got burned by that once. We've had plenty of issueless stays from new guests who had very reasonable reasons for being in town.
In what way did you get burnt, what happened?
Couple guys smoked all night long in our place
Hard rule: No one night bookings, especially from locals, from a new/no reviews account. I am a newer host and have accepted new users, but I always try to vet them before accepting. It has worked out great.
I have a pretty lengthy spiel about the “ethos” of BNB’s vs faceless corporate hotels, respect of property, and verifying they vouch for every last person in the group, etc, etc. “Hi xxxx, I noticed you don’t have any reviews yet. I’m not sure if you are aware, but Hosts rate guests, just as guests rate properties/ hosts, and it helps us determine who we feel is a good fit for our property. While not having any reviews is not necessarily a problem, it does make me ask a few questions to make sure it’s an enjoyable experience for all parties.” Insert some follow up questions and wait for the response. Many simply have booked through their parents, or friends and are completely familiar with the bnb vibe. Others? Crickets. Problem averted.