Oh, I see. Thank you for the clarification.
I love this post @dcmooney! I have the same experience. After doing this for 3.5 years Iâve learned that you canât predict what guests will be like. I have IB for recommended guests (but few use it) and I screen very carefully. But you can never tell. In the beginning I think I was too focussed on pleasing people. Now I just open the door and be myself. If they donât like it, meh. Luckily, most people do,
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What are ârecommendedâ guests?
Maybe it means âverifiedâ?
Hi there!
Great question! Iâll weigh in with my thoughts.
Iâve been hosting for 4 years, and have 2 listings in 2 different citiies. I have hosted over 1,000 guests.
Iâve never had a truly disastrous situation, although Iâd had my fair share of guest drama, broken plumbing issues, and other moderate issues. I would say that about 5 out of 100 bookings have something go really wrong. By âreally wrongâ, I mean having a guest that is really hard to deal with, rude, obnoxious, unusually messy etc.
I have to say Airbnb customer service has been GREAT! They have always backed me up, and helped smooth over situations that come up. Some people just have bad days, and they take it out on the host. Other people are just downright unstable. Neither of which are fun to deal with, but thankfully they are the minority of guests!
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Itâs lovely to have such a positive post - thank you 
Guest which have been reviewed and at the end the host said they would recommend the guest to other hosts. To be a recommended guest they would have had to stay with a host in the past and had a positive recommendation.
On Instant Book you have a choice between âAnyone crazy bastard can book, I donât careâ and âOnly guests recommended by other hosts can bookâ. I choose the latter - only guests who have been given the thumbs up by other hosts. (Obviously Iâm paraphrasing the first option!).
Lots of my guests had no reviews, all wonderful guests
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No. Because if a potential guest keeps going on and on with inane questions that could easily be answered by Google, then I decline. Fortunately most guests have access to the Internet like I do and do their own research and so donât take much energy to book.
Yes. Always go with your gut. If something just feels off or uncomfortable then just politely indicate that your place probably wouldnât be a good foot for their needs and wish them well. No amount of money is worth having someone in your home who makes you uncomfortable. I give especially heavy scrutiny to folks with zero reviews. I usually start the conversation with âhey there,âŚit look sake you are new to AirBnB. We like to know a little about our potential guests so we are a good fit for your needs.â Most people are happy to chat with you a bit and get to know you before deciding to stay with you, so it often works out. If anyoneâs ever unwilling to say much about who they are or they seem odd, Iâm not shy about declining. Itâs been working well so far.
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Hi @jackulas,
So you have a chat with everyone you are thinking of hosting, then? As I understand it, there is a 24 hour window to make a decision on acceptance or rejection of hosting, which seems a bit tight. It would have to be a brisk conversationâŚ
And does everyone use email to talk to prospective guests, or is the telephone/VOIP(e.g. Skype) also used?
Hi @Magwitch,
I see. So itâs not quite as risky as it would first appear, then. 
Do you know what the precise criteria for this is?
You canât have access to any other info like phone number unless they book.
I manage my daughterâs house and itâs not on IB because for that property i have to be sure that guests are behaving.
Itâs a separate house who I rent as the whole house and usually for longer than 5 days. I ask questions and write answers. I just calculated my actual booking rate out of all inquires and itâs 15%. Only in March close to 30 people inquired and only 4 booked. 25 of them were totally eligible to let in and I preaproved them. Thatâs tons of work.
With my other guests in my own house who usually stay 1-2 nights this is all I would be doing : asking and answering all day long.
Hi @Yana_Agapova,
Thatâs interesting. So you only have access to email for preapproval purposes, then. Yes, I can see that talking to people via email could get extremely time consuming, unless one is a very fast typist. Though presumably checking out people who are only going to be staying a day or two is a little less critical than checking out people who are going to be staying longer.
So you preapproved 25 out of 30 people, but most of them didnât finally end up booking? That sounds a little frustrating.
Its not the lenth of their stay but where, In my house i have control. I am right there, i can stop any activity if i dont like it, and they would not dare mess up my house, only may be their room a bit. In a separate unit i cant control the situation as i am not present. I h was once overbooked and put couple of young men in the separate house for 1 night. They immediately started smoking pot, opened all windows with AC runnig, did their laundry though not allowed for 1 night stays. I stopped by because i had to pick up something and discovered it, and asked them to leave. They were shocked and lied to me that my husband let them smoke pot. I said, really?? he just let you smoke pot here or may be he just told you you can smoke outside but not pot!
And they had excellent multiple reviews!!
Anyway they left. The would not do it at my house for sure. Thats why when i say that i dont think screening every single person that stays in my house with me present is nesesary. Separate unit is a totally different story.
I decline people all the time. I would not let parties under 30 years of age there, though my own daughter rents with her friends Air houses all the time, other hosts dont mind. I ask questions and what their purpose of visit, reminding them about house rules, no parties and so on.Even with adults who have good reviews i still run in some problems, like adjusting pool temperature putting it on 95F though i specifically ask not to do it, leaving windows and doors open and other things.
Hi @Yana_Agapova,
Yes, I see your point. Sounds like a surveillance camera or two might not be a bad idea, though these seem to get extremely bad press in rental contexts. For your daughterâs house, I mean.
I am strongly considering it, only for outside. I will inform my guests about it. One I am thinking about is that I can use from my phone.
Itâs definitely worth thinking about. Iâve been considering it myself. But I havenât worked out the details. And I know that people are very anti-cameras indoor. In a rental context.
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I just switched to instant book only because now it allows you to choose who can book: anyone or only those with positive reviews. I chose the latter for what I think are obvious reasons. I realize I may be shutting out first timers who may be ideal guests, but they can still request a reservation and have a back and forth dialogue so you can get an idea about their suitability.