This forum is dedicated to connecting hosts with other hosts. Sign up to get the latest updates and news just for AirBnb hosts! Note that we are not affiliated with Airbnb - we are just passionate hosts!
Has anybody else got requests like the one pasted below? This is so shameless: Airbnb users asking for a free stay in exchange of some form of publicity on their social media page that I couldn’t care less about. This is probably my third or fourth in the last 2 years. So I’m guessing there are people who oblige to requests from conmen like these.
====
Hi!
Trust you’re doing great!! I absolutely love your place
I’m traveling to Pondicherry for 2 nights, from March 28 to March 30, with my family, and we would love to stay at your place. I’m a travel influencer on Instagram, with over 10,000 followers from India and abroad. My username on Instagram is m*****"_****, and I highly recommend you to check out my profile, there you can also find my past collaborations with some spectacular accommodations in Bali.
In my past collaborations, I was offered four complimentary nights in exchange for 4 posts + 4 stories on my Instagram with direct call-to-actions of booking links. For instance, the last collaboration was with a beautiful villa in Ubud, Bali and they have already received 3 bookings so far through my audience. However, this time because I’m traveling with my family instead of solo, I wanted to see if you’d be interested in providing 2 complimentary nights in exchange for 4 high-quality authentic posts and stories of your gorgeous property on my Instagram. I’m pretty sure my audience will immediately fall in love with your place and would definitely give it a shot on their Pondi adventure!
Sounds like the blogger (or as she put it, “on-line influencer”) I had when I first started hosting. She asked for free nights in exchange for promoting our property, and of course I turned her down. After staying for 4 nights she told me at checkout that our house was “infested with fleas.” There were no fleas. But on her FB page she had a photo of the back of the cottage and you could see that she had the screen windows open, so she probably did get mosquito bites (Savannah in October? very likely). She wrote a scathing blog post after Airbnb removed her (and my) review. What a weird experience. The style in the message you posted even sounded kind of like her writing.
Reply: “That sounds great, I could definitely do with the free publicity. But just so I know you are genuine I am going to ask you to send me $250 in advance which I will refund to you when you arrive. Thanks for thinking of me!”
Thank you for your inquiry. I would be happy to offer you a discount of 0.00007%. This would be the percentage of your followers (10,000) vs. AirBnB users (150,000,000).
I am an experienced and recognized BnB host with over 2000 guests. I often collaborate with bloggers. In my past collaborations I offered 4 nights for the price of 8 in return for extra traffic to the blog. Since you are only interested in 2 nights, I’m sure I can provide you with just 2 nights for the price of 8. In return I will pull my strings to get you a whopping extra of 2000 followers. I’m sure they will fall in love with your Instagram and visit it daily.
Good god these are good responses. Too bad there is no chance an “influencer” will ask to stay at my place. But should the impossible occur, I’ll be ready.
Listen I’m an established influencer-influencer. In return for 2 nights for free, I can influence 10 influencers into staying with you, for free of course. How does that sound to you? Looking forward to here from you soon.
And it was removed, now this has not happened to me but to people I know, people who stay and then seek a freebie or refund in exchange for a good review, well not a bad one…