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I just created my listing last night and today I received an inquiry. I set it up so that I have to approve the request. Just a few minutes ago I received a question regarding early check in from a guy who only needs one day. My concern is that his profile picture is the back of a body (can’t figure out if it is a male or female body) looking at a waterfall. The other concern is that its only for one day (check in early, but check out next day at 7am). Lastly, my real concern is he just set up his profile this month, so I can’t look at his reviews. I don’t know why he’s traveling or anything about him. Does this sound fishy? Any advice?
Not really, but you don’t feel comfortable so engage them. Send them a reply message asking them why they are visiting your area, what appealed to them about your listing, or see if they need some assistance finding nearby places to eat. Anything at all… and see where that goes.
When you first list, you will get inquiries with no profile picture, no messages, recent join-ees, and if you allow one night stays, then you will probably have one night stays.
I opened my Airbnb room (private room & bath) in my home just about a year ago. A full 65% of my guests have been newbies who recently joined and I was their first Airbnb stay. I was nevrous about that at first too, but I’ve since gottten over it.
As you’ve already been advised, if you’re uncomfortable with a guest’s lack of information, just ask them. Don’t give them the 3rd degree of play 20 questions, just ask what brings them to your area. Most will give you all the info you need.
One night stays are not at all uncommon, at least for me. I live in a summer beach town, and I get lots of people just staying one night. Usually they are getting away just for the weekend.
You don’t have any reviews either, right? So it’s a leap of faith for both of you essentially. As others have said, there’s no ‘standard’. You’re in charge, Airbnb is just the conduit. When you’re starting it’s best to engage with potential guests so you can feel comfortable (there are no guarantees, though). I used to say this:
“Hi xxx, thank your for your interest! I see that you are new to Airbnb. I’m sure I will be happy to host you here but you don’t have any info in your profile/ photo/info about the purpose of your visit [whatever bothers you the most]. I expect you can understand that it’s important for me to know something about the people who will be sharing my home. I look forward to hearing back from you.”
Can you tell if the person is local to you? That would be more of a red flag for me, especially in combo with the other things. With that said, a large percentage of my guests are brand new to Airbnb, are unaware of the importance of the introduction, and you must help them along a bit. I generally really enjoy first-timers and have one arriving in less than an hour. One of my best guests ever was a white background–no pic at all. I also hosted a lovely motorcycle with a rather dubious license plate. Some new guests are nervous about sharing their photo. By all means, strike up a conversation through the Airbnb app and then make a decision.
I would also avoid one-night stays when you’re starting out. Make it two-night minimum until you know what you’re doing, seriously. Depends a lot on your area and market, of course, but generally one-nighters are more savvy and less likely to absorb any newbie errors.
2 night minimums are fairly standard here in the Pacific Northwest. 3 nights on some big holidays. 1 night turnover just creates so much work, and many even encourage people to treat your place like a hotel. That is just my opinion, though.
What others said. The first thing to do is to exchange messages with the prospective guest and see what kind of vibe you get. Ask for his or her full name, and Google it. I also ask him or her to tell me something about himself or herself, and also what brings him or her to your city. The way they respond can tell you quite a lot. Personally I watch out for bad grammar and spelling. Those are big turnoffs for me. Though I make allowances if they are not native English speakers.
As I’ve said elsewhere, it’s increasingly common for professional’s names to appear online, often in social media. Linkedin is particularly common for professionals. Facebook is another possibility but is usually less informative. However, the absence of information doesn’t mean much either.
A 1 day stay isn’t significant.
Hosting guests is basically a crap shoot. However, I think that a nightmare guest will at least some of the time give you notice of who they are. (I’ve noticed that people will often tell you who/what they are. You just have to ask them the right questions and keep your ears open.) And really bad guests are relatively uncommon. One thing to do is avoid setting your prices too low. That’s not going to help with the quality of guest in general. Also, make sure to check ids, at least. Whether you make copies is up to you - I do.
You will soon find your boundaries. At first, I wanted my guests to “like” me so I said yes to a lot of things. Now I have a non-negotiable 2 night minimum and it never even comes up. If you are clear on what your private spaces are, you may still be surprised at snoopers, but you can keep setting boundaries as your time as a host goes on (putting “private” signs on doors, etc). Best of luck.
