I’m a single mom with two teen daughters. We live alone in a 4100 sq ft house. I have medical conditions, so I have been looking for ways to offset medical expenses. Airbnb! But the first message I get is from a man who lives maybe 20 miles away and is asking about how fast the internet connection is, if there is a tv in the room, if he can cook, if he can use the fridge…all of which are outlined in my profile? It just feels really creepy to me. Why would a guy 15 minutes from my house want to stay one night and cook? Is it safe for me to host in my personal residence? Especially with my children home?
Decline this person.
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I would say, if it doesn’t feel right don’t do it. Lots of host advice against allowing kitchen use, and against guests living too close.
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And the creepy ones with no reviews also seem to look for new hosts like yourself that they can exploit.
I’d say decline and stick around the forum for advice on future problems.
Also, it is safe to host in your personal residence generally speaking, but probably not this guy. Some new female hosts only host women or couples, no single men. Especially at the start you might consider this.
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Geez! I just got another one from 15 minutes away! This one booked one person, but says he’s bringing a guest. Anyway, two men, from really close, and I live farther away from businesses than where they are currently. I sent both messages. I tried to cancel the second one, but it says he’s arriving at 2am. Say what? I mean I said before noon, but I didn’t code for crazy. I teied ro xall airbnb to let them know, but no answer after 10 minutes.
Hi might have dietary needs who knows. Newbies sometimes ask a bunch of questions because they ar confused about the whole
airbnb thing. I would ask him what is the reason of his stay.
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I guess I should have known being honest in the profile was risky. I just wanted to make sure I was respectful of religious prohibitions and married men whose wives may not appreciate their husbands staying with a single female. And I posted a profile pic…dumb, dumb, dumb.
Have you put a limit on how long guests can stay? The advantage is that if you don’t like a guest that they will be gone soon anyway.
If you charge for extra guests, enforce this! Send him a change of reservation for the extra guest.
Consider sharing your listing here, so that the more experienced hosts can help you to get everything up to standard (house rules, good description to attract the right people, price, etc. …). If you don’t want to do it publicly consider sharing through a private message with a few of us (@konacoconutz, @Yana and @KKC are an excellent starting of point 
. Hope you don’t mind girls 
!).
Consider putting up a profile photo of you and a male friend / father / brother. This could turn away any men that might fancy you. At the same time be aware that not all men are bad .
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I never accept a Request to Book from someone who lives within 30 miles. Makes no sense whatsoever.
DO NOT use Instant Book
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I know not all men are bad…I would say most people are good. The proximity issue disturbs me, though. I did mention that my house has 8 security cameras, and that I own firearms (for people who may object on personal grounds, or who may have small children, or who may be interested in inflicting harm), but I don’t think either man read through the information. I guess I also assumed that arriving at 2am warranted more than 4 hours notice especially with children home. And it never occured to me that local men would be booking. I think this is a great way to earn money, and I assumed my daughters would sleep in my room during guest periods, but if my house flooded or burned to rhe ground warranting a local stay, I feel like those are circumstances I would explain.
I had no idea about the IB thing. Not sure where to find that serting. Please tell me personal info isn’t released? OMG.
May be it’s a good idea to just accept women? We all need to be cautious but not paranoid . I seriously don’t understand what is the big deal about accepting local. There are tons of circumstances why local people book. For instant / appointment early in a morning and though he leaves 15 minutes away he doesn’t want to be stock in traffic and be late. And even where he will be drinking and doesn’t want to drive. Fight with wife/ girlfriend .
He rented his own space .
All of this I had before . I had plenty of local guests who stayed at my house and they were great.
A certain trust is nessesary if you let people into your home , otherwise you will go nuts from overthinking about all the “dangerous” scenarios
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I agree with the other hosts. If you don’t feel comfortable, don’t book. And never mind a 2AM arrival. That’s ridiculous.
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I was trying to post my listing here, but I can only upload one pic as a new user. So here is the first:
I completely agree. I have had several local guests book and they have all been great. The most common reason is that they are moving into a new place, but there has been a delay with renos, etc. One couple were all packed up and ready to move to the US for a job, but their entry visas were delayed a couple of days.
Just tell the guest you noticed that he lives locally, so you are wondering why he is looking for somewhere to stay. If he’s legit, he’ll give you a reasonable answer.
Also, I agree with the comment that new users can ask some strange questions, and that it’s probably because they’re not 100% sure how AirBnB works. Be clear with your guests. Enforce your house rules, and don’t let guests talk you into changing your check in and check out times unless it benefits you as well.
Remember that you are running a business. Most guests are great, but sometimes you have to work a bit harder and be a bit stricter to get your message across. Be polite, but direct, and you’ll have very few problems.
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my thoughts… please take yourself off IB until you are more experienced.
I seriously would not offer rides anywhere. You are renting a room not operating a free Uber.
I wouldn’t disclose you are a single mom who travels a lot. The first part of your listing sounded a bit like a Craigslist ad.
If you are not comfortable with these guys, ask Air to cancel them.
On this forum we don’t really encourage going “real life.” Some people do it volunTraily, but please don’t feel pressured to share your listing publicly.
Sounds like you are in over your head a little bit, so I would pull back and just decline these guests until you get a better feeling about them.
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