Cheeky Airbnb user asking for free stay

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 :slight_smile:

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!

Looking forward to hear from you soon!

Best,
M

This was touched on in another post recently. Not worth the time and effort of replying - except to keep your response stats high.

I’d be tempted to say you have more than 30k followers yourself so thanks but no thanks…

4 Likes

You do have to respond.
Suggested response: “Hahahaha!”

10 Likes

Such a crock! But as long as people keep falling for the scam, others will keep scamming.

3 Likes

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.

2 Likes

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!”

You will never hear from them again. :japanese_goblin:

7 Likes

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).

10 Likes

Reply to guest:

"I absolutely love your Instagram :grinning:.

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.

Looking forward to hear from you soon!

Love and peace,
P-Rose"

11 Likes

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.

1 Like

If you post here presumably that makes you an influencer?

I use IB so would just hit the pre approve button to keep ABB happy knowing they will never book anyway and move on.

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? :joy::rofl::speak_no_evil: Looking forward to here from you soon. :wink:

:mage:((:candle::mage::crystal_ball::candle:))

3 Likes

I was once contacted by an IG star from Australia who offered to share her IG love for a mere $20AUD per night!

What is IG ? 20 20 20

1 Like

I thought you were a world class INFLUENCER?!!! :rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

[Instagram]

3 Likes

I am holding out for KK and her family.

3 Likes

UPDATE: I declined the offer in less than a sentence. And M responded immediately with an even more amusing message:

“Just wanted to quickly check with you if you’d be interested in 1 paid, 1 complimentary night for the same promotion. Cheers”

NOW how can I POSSIBLY resist the revised offer?!?! I am so lucky to have been the “CHOSEN ONE”.

6 Likes

Maybe this influencer can have a new collaboration with crowdfunding - lets see if their 10000 acolytes can chip in a dollar each

2 Likes

But it looks like the one who tried to scam a freebie from AnnSavannah did actually book, then scrunched her.

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…

I very rarely lose it but that might do it.

No way. Double cheeky!!!