Do we rent to hitchhikers?

Have recently had booking by hitchhiking couple. Fortunately it was canceled by AIRBNB for some reason. Can we refuse people without a car? Should AIRBNB collect license number?

The credit card was probably declined.

I suppose you could in some situations. You must be in a remote location because no city host would ask this question.

Automobile license plate number? How would someone renting a car after they arrive to your location provide this?

Yes, we are in a “remote” location. IT would be very suspicious for a guest to hitchhike all the way in to our location. So far we have only had guests with their own car. Thanks for the thoughts all. I think we can safely add a personal vehicle requirement to our stipulation. It won’t cost us any business.

I agree that you could decline someone without a car if you live in a remote location. I see “must have transportation” on some of the suburban and rural listings in my county, far from the bus lines.

I went to a hippy college where students, including my husband, hitchhiked and trainhopped on term breaks. I would be comfortable hosting this type of “backpacker” if their payment came through, though I’d be prepared for a lot of laundry being done.

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I wouldn’t add that they must have a car. What about those who use Uber?

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Do they have Uber in remote locations? How many people Uber to your place?

Well my place isn’t practical for Uber, bus riders or hitchhikers. I suggest for their own comfort sand mobility that they do have a car, but some have used Uber or taxi before. They were always sorry! :joy:

I guess the way she worded it might sound like discrimination toward hitchhikers! :rofl:

Yes, I agree. But I can also see why one would be hesitant in a remote location. They got canceled anyway so luckily the hosts didn’t have to worry about it.

No Uber here, or Buses, I do get a lot of Cyclists in the summer and a few Hikers.

As my place is 2km from the nearest bus stop and there is no public transport or shops nearby that can be walked to I stipulate that guests must arrive in their own car. Then I had a guy turn up who was dropped off and picked up by his mother, they lived about 50km away. Nothing went awry he just brought all the supplies he needed and stayed put for 3 days with his dog and hung out.

That’s what I was wondering too. We have very few guests who have their own car. Those who do bring a car (about 60% of guests) bring a rental.

I would never think to decline hitchhikers.When I was in my teens and early twenties it was the mode of transport. :slight_smile:

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As someone who hitch-hiked from the North of England to the South of Spain more years ago than I care to remember (my children are horrified, grandchildren think I’m cool!) I’m rather sad, though quite understand, why this style of travel is now almost non-existent.

The only thing that might put me off accepting the reservation could be that hitch-hikers can’t always be very specific as to when they will arrive … either the lifts come or they don’t! Standing on the Spanish/Portuguese border for about 6 hours in high Summer with only 5 vehicles passing made me realise that!

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Likewise, although we at least have fast London trains two miles away. I don’t really like hosting people who come without a car as they seem more demanding of early check-ins/bag drops and stay in the house more, particularly if it’s raining or they have found out how dangerous the narrow country lanes and farmers in cars are… I now insist on high vis jackets for hikers.

The rest of the story. We got an email from AIRBNB Trust and Safety stating that Guest A reservation was canceled, had been refunded and their membership terminated. The next day we got a reservation from Guest B, who was coming from same town. I did my own googling on the two guests and discovered that they were both grew up in the same town and bot had criminal records! So it was obvious that Guest A (rejected by AIRBNB) was going to arrive with Guest B and GUEST A had done something pretty bad at a recent stop. When we contacted AIRBNB they told us to NOT let them in ! When I shared my google research with AIRBNB they agreed to terminate the GUEST B booking. So, we averted having to meet or confront this couple. We even alerted the police. The big lesson learned is that a person terminated by AIRBNB may show up at your door with a companion that has not yet been rejected. AIRBNB does not do criminal background checks, unless maybe a host reports a theft or something.

Thanks for coming back to update us.

As far as the hitchhiker issue, we just added “Please no walk-is or drop-offs” to our description. This is just our personal preference. Thanks everyone for the feedback,

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PS, if you feel in ANY type of danger, the police can’t do anything until a crime has been committed. So, if someone shows up to check in that you have great misgivings about, you must verbally and politely ask them to leave. Then call your police immediately and request a temporary trespass restraining order. We credit AIRBNB for taking the step to cancel the booking before the guests arrived, based on our communicating our google research and concerns. What AIRBNB did NOT do was to contact legitimate Guest B and ask her if she was indeed traveling with rejected Guest A.

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