I got a one-week booking for September, and immediately after booking they sent a message, “ Would you mind if my sister comes to take a look at the place at your convenience? She lives on Francis Road.”
…yeah, no.
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I’m curious why not? I think one of the barriers for potential guests on Airbnb is the lack of standardization among the various airbnbs so people don’t know what to expect. I’ve shown my place a few times and never had an issue with it. Are there reasons no to do so that I haven’t thought of?
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I don’t necessarily think you shouldn’t allow it if it suits you, but I have guests booked for most of the summer, and between guests it may or may not be ready to show, depending on the cleaner’s schedule. And I work full time.
It turn out his concern is about the possibility of pet hair, as they are ‘slightly allergic’.
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Staking the place out for theft. Trying to get the host to make an off-platform deal.
In this case, the guest had already booked, but more often guests ask to see a place before booking. Letting a complete stranger into your home to look around is no different than letting some random person who knocked on your door come in and look around. Seems really foolish and possibly dangerous to me.
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I have had people ask once or twice and I didn’t necessarily rule it out right away. I’d at least have a deeper conversation and maybe it would be fine.
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Yes that is what I did. They had a bad experience once at a pet-friendly place. I asked him to check our reviews, and that was enough to satisfy him. That, and my Superhost status, lol… maybe it’s not useless after all!
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Don’t blame you at all.
I’ve received a few of those. It’s been the same situation with a relative that lives nearby and they want them to come see it before they book. I have always said no too.
Geez, it’s a one-week stay, not exactly a big commitment. Get a grip. 
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That explains it…just gun-shy after a bad experience. Glad it worked out.
I often get requests for a walk thru and I don’t have a problem with it. My cottage is at the higher price point for the area and my guess is guests want to make sure it is worth it.
A preview of my private home? I would feel differently about that.
Everyone has to do what they are comfortable with. I get relatives of friends and locals about once a year who ask and if I don’t have guests or plans I allow it. They often turn into repeat guests. I was very happy that we let a professor from a nearby college come see our place before renting because he ended up renting 8-9 days a month ever since last September.
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Many of my guests come to see friends or relatives living locally, so I’m asked a lot. I’m always fine with it and there have never been any problems.
I mean, I am essentially letting some random stranger (with some rather insubstantial Airbnb verification) come and live with me. I worry more about theft from an actual guest than from someone who walks through the house with me. I don’t know, maybe I’m too naive?
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I could understand a guest who was considering booking for several months wanting to see the place first, but for a short term rental, the photos, description, reviews, and dialoging with the host before committing should be plenty of information and I’d be suspicious of why someone who wanted to see the place first if they were only booking for a few days or a couple of weeks.
I’m not a generally paranoid person myself, and have never worried about my guests stealing from me, nor have any of them done so. As a homeshare host, I only use request to book and usually exchange a few messages with my guests before they arrive, so they don’t feel like random strangers to me.
And if someone showed up at my gate and said they heard I have a room I rent out and could they see it, how I responded would depend on the vibe I got, how they said they heard about it, etc, and I would sit outside and talk to them a bit before deciding whether to invite them in.
With entire homes with off-site hosts, I wouldn’t be inclined to let people who hadn’t yet booked see the place, as I have read about places that have had big thefts of valuable items, and letting strangers check the place out before they have even paid anything just seems risky to me. Also I’ve read several posts from hosts who said they had agreed to allow previews in the past, but it was a total waste of their time- they spent an hour, first waiting for people who showed up late, and then showing them around and answering questions, and never heard from those people again. They also tried to make side deals, even when the hosts said they only book through Airbnb or other rental platforms, and always tried to chisel them down on the price.
I do agree with you, though, that Airbnb’s “verification” is nothing to be trusted and I don’t.
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Smart move to not show it. The pet-allergy excuse seems a little weak. What does the state of pet hair today mean for the state of pet hair in September? I smell a party.
There’s a 60-person destination wedding being held near us next year and they wanted to book our villa in additional to all the other villas in our neighborhood. I declined as it was too far in advance. Then the parents of the bride stayed at the villa next door two weeks ago. They asked their night caretaker if he could show them our place, so he brought them over.
Fortunately, our night caretaker knew better than to let them into the house. So they just peered in through the windows, then spent their time out on the back deck talking about how great the view was for wedding pictures and how it might be big enough for one of their gatherings.
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Was that directed to me, or just in general? There are many ‘lanes’ in hospitality, and we each find our own. I have a target market and keeping my focus on that is working really well for me.
I know that my place has its strengths and its challenges, and I also have limits to my own time and energy. I don’t need to try to accommodate everyone. That’s my lane.
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One thing that no one has mentioned here is that it is against Airbnb/s terms to have the guests see the place prior to booking. It is prohibited. So you have to go through all the trouble of getting the address and information through the messaging system undetected, which entails some risk.
If you’re doing it to take a profitable off-platform booking then it’s likely worth it. I personally have no problem with direct bookings and cutting out Airbnb from the profits. However, I don’t think it’s worth it to take the risk merely to spend your time unpaid waiting for someone to show up, dealing with an obviously high-maintenance personality only to merely possibly get a week-long booking on the platform.
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It has nothing to do with not feeling one has something to be proud of and that guests “won’t be thrilled with reality”. And in case you aren’t aware, many of us are homeshare hosts.
Not wanting strangers who haven’t paid to stay yet, or sending their sister or anyone else, traipsing through the house like lookie-loos, has nothing to do with “hospitality not your lane”.
And I’ve hosted plenty of “mature” travelers and none of them have asked to preview the place.
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The bulk of my guests are “mature” travelers which is why they are, not incidentally, also very experienced and independent travelers. So it’s difficult to understand what it has to do with being “mature”.
The few people who have asked me to have someone tour before booking have all been, I’d estimate in their 30s. Two of them eventually admitted they were planning to do a photoshoot in the unit (there was apparently a trend of doing pregnancy photos in clawfoot tubs, lol). I suspect the 3rd one was doing similar because she specifically wanted to see the backyard and gardens but wasn’t bringing a dog. And it doesn’t surprise me because in my experience, because I have been a location scout, the main reason to see a location before booking it is not to see if you can sleep or eat there comfortably but to make sure that it works for the photos and/or filming you have in mind for it.
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I suspect the “mature” demographic they were referring to are senior couples who wouldn’t be classified as “travelers”, but more like occasional tourists who have never stayed at an Airbnb before and expect it to be like booking a hotel room, probably with expectations to match, like getting clean towels every day and daily maid service.
The types who find doing things online difficult and want to communicate by phone.
Not the kind of “mature” guests I deal with.
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In my area people often come that know people in the area. When one of my homes was new to the market someone driving by mentioned their sister had rented the home in a few months time and could they see the inside. I was doing an after cleaning walkthru so I invited them in. They were thrilled. Took some pictures, and told me their sister was worried it wouldn’t look like the listing, and being new it only had a handful of reviews. She was thinking of cancelling for somewhere not as nice, but with lots of reviews. After her sister saw it she kept her reservation and was thrilled to come on out. So sometimes it saves a booking.
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