Does this Guest raise Red Flags-Would you accept them?

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Back ground: About 5-6 years ago, my city started to require STR’s to collect all the guest’s name and the names and ages of all minor guests. (Also, vehicle info.)

This year, after my state added STRs into the “Lodging” category, they also started to require names to be collected. (I believe this may have to do with Covid “Contract Tracing”, but not 100% sure, doesn’t really matter at this point.)

My insurance requires that all the laws of my city/state be followed or it makes my policy null and void:

Current Dilemma: I have a guest I’ve been working with for a couple of weeks now and everything has been going great. He even sent me a random “You’re amazing” message. Nice, but… he still hasn’t booked. This isn’t making me suspicious, as the reservation is more than 7 months away and it’s for a wedding group, so there are always a lot of questions asked before reservations are made with that sort of booking.

He told me he wants to book now, so I told him I’ll need all his guest’s names, etc. and now, out of the blue, he’s questioning why I need everyone’s names. I’ve told him it’s a requirement, etc. and he is still questioning me. He has sent to 3 messages about the requirement for names.

I tried to reassure him that we are very discreet and we don’t leave a list of guests around or give out anyone’s name. I’m the only one who has the list of names. I even told him we have hosted “big names” (professional musicians, one of the “Housewives” franchises, celebs, politicians, etc.) and we’ve never had an issue with anyone’s name being leaked. (I’m guessing that, maybe, he is concerned about privacy because one of his guests is a “big name” perhaps? I’m hoping this is what it is, and not that one of his guests has a criminal record, etc., they don’t want me to find out about? )

He then emailed me about another one of my listings, not realizing it was mine as well (and the same rules would still apply.) At this point, legally he would only be able to bring 10 of his guests, not the 16 guests he originally wanted to bring, because my smaller listing is not allowed to host more than 10. So I’m guessing (hoping) that his plan is to rent 2 smaller homes and not try to sneak in the 6 extra guests into my smaller listing.

All this stated… would this raise questions with you about hosting this guests?
Even if he does submit all the names, now I’m feeling a little “sideways” as to why he is/was so hesitant to give me names in the first place.

No guest, in all these years of hosting, has ever questioned me about providing all the guest’s names.

Would you rent to them?

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No I would not. Simply because you know he wants to bring extra guests and I would assume this is why he is being evasive. I would just block a day or two of the requested dates and tell him sorry his dates are no longer available.

RR

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I too would not rent to him. I agree with RR. He’s not trying to book two houses. He’s going to sweeze everyone into the one house. He didn’t realize you were the same host, he was hoping that the other property wouldn’t ask for names.

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@Ritz3 Perhaps I was being hopeful in thinking he was going to rent my smaller house and someone else’s rental house to put all the 16 guests in… Good point about him hoping the other host wouldn’t ask for names, (although it’s a pretty strict rule and has been for a while in my town, hard to imagine a host would so blatantly break the law and risk their license,) … definitely something to think about. Thanks

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I would be so tempted to write back along the lines of
“Thank you goat asking about my other property!
I am delighted that you want your guests to have room to move. If you could supply the names for this property and the other we can move forward to confirming your booking”
:crazy_face::grinning:

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You should be able to proved a link directly to the city/state codes that require you to provide the names/ages of guests. You should include that in your first message to all guests. I assume you can’t put it directly in your listing because Airbnb censors it (I know they censored a link to the city public transportation website in my listing).

Based on the info you’ve provided, you’ve got a guest that’s still shopping for accommodations. I think there’s also a good chance your guest is planning to have more than 16 people stay at your larger listing and I personally wouldn’t put any more effort into accommodating this guest.

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I probably wouldn’t. He seems like a hassle and he seems sneaky and dishonest. I’m not sure of your particular situation but, unless you are making a ton in extra guest fees, I don’t see any point in renting to such a large group either.

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This does raise some concerns. However, sometimes when I plan travel with a group of friends and family 7 months out, I’m not sure who will be able to come yet. I just plan for the largest potential group. People cancel and others replace them due to illness, work demands, etc. I would not have a problem asking for a tentative list and ask them to update it a couple weeks prior. Most regulatory bodies only care about who actually arrived at your place. That said, rather than question the requirement, he should just explain if uncertainty is one of his issues.

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Thanks so much for the insight all.
To address your comments and questions:

@Debthecat “Thank you goat asking about my other property!" … Ahmm, not sure I understand this one, am I supposed to be referring to the guest as a “goat” (“greatest of all time”?) …or was that a typo/auto correct? LOL Either way, thanks for your suggestion, I like the way you structured the last sentence. Permission to “steal” it?

@Brian_R170 Actually, I did try and provide a link to my city’s STR codes, but you can’t add a link, picture, etc., on Air until after the guest has booked their reservation. But it was a really good suggestion. Thank you.

@JJD The point of renting to large groups is to make more money. Large groups is our entire “niche” in my market. Without the size and ability to host large groups, we’re just another “luxury property”. And there are 7 or 8 “luxury properties” in my market. We’ve been doing this for years. And not 1 group has ever had an issue giving me their names. But I think you are correct, he is now coming off as “sneaky and dishonest”.

@Christine_Shirtcliff I agree… this guy does raise concerns. And the reservation is a long way off, which is why I told him he could give me his complete list closer to his check-in date. But his hesitancy to give me any names at all is what is giving me pause.

Now for the update: There’s been a bit of a “plot twist”

This is his latest message:

" Interesting. I run 9 -------- 's and this has never been a requirement on that side"

The word/s after “9” are blocked out with " --------'s" .

I’m assuming he means “Airbnb’s” and “site” ?

So I’m guessing he’s a Host ???

Also, he asked if he could just provide first names. … What is the point of that?

I tried to politely as possible, ask him if there was an issue with providing the full names and asked:

"Is there a particular issue with providing the full names, such as one of your guests legally only has a first name, like, ‘Cher’ ? "

I added an “lol” to lighten the tone.

I haven’t heard back from him, but I agree with the majority of commentators here, I should not rent to him. So I’m going to follow my “gut” and now my “gut check” (that’s you all :wink: ) and not rent to him unless he has a really good explanation for turning so suspicious… It’s a shame because we really did have a great working relationship until I asked for names… and it would have been a lot of money.

I’ll provide any updates if there are any.

Thank you all for your comments and advice.

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If he runs 9 Airbnbs you should be able to see that on his profile. And what does that have to do with complying with your reasonable request for names? Everyone should do things like he does?

Once someone starts pushing back with the “I’ve never had to provide this info before”, “I’ve never been expected to XX at other Airbnbs” shtick, no matter what they are being requested to do, red flags start flying.

If it were just a question of the guest list changing between now and the booking dates, why wouldn’t he just say that, give the names now, and if that changes, update you- XX can’t make it, YY will take their place.

This guy is gonna suck up your time, and it won’t be worth it. Surely you can get other bookings in the next 7 months.

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“Since I can’t attach the link prior to booking, please refer to the rules for STR on City and/or State website that describe this requirement”

“Thank you for your inquiry in this property. I am declining your request as I think it would be best for you to find a listing that will accommodate your wish for your guests to remain anonymous.”

Not complying with your initial rules is in indicative of how the rest of the actual stay will go. Any long term host will know it’s best to go with your gut, when safeguarding your listing.

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This is at least 4 messages since being informed of the guest name requirement. This is now in the territory of harrassment. This is someone who thinks his :poop: doesn’t stink and he is used to getting his way.

As for asking about the other property, yeah maybe he’s an idiot or maybe he is trying to manipulate you into thinking he’s shopping around and so you should acquiesce to his demands.

This is more manipulative nonsense from him. Let me guess, you’re a woman? He thinks this kind of crap works because it has worked for him most of his life.

This booking request would be a hard no from me.

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Ditto on that; and then reminded me of the seemingly never ending inquiry I got last year

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Nope. Whenever I’ve asked for full names and photos of ID (license, passport) and stated that my STR requires it, only the guests who have proved difficult during the stay have balked.

I simply state “See HR, please comply before completing the booking or cancel via Air (if IB and confirmed) if this makes you uncomfortable as this listing seems to not be a fit for your needs. We’re required by law to take this information. Thank you.”

Silly people tricks…

This. Just. Say. No.

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Don’t care about guest names pre arrival. As I’ve said before, we have to register every guest with the Policía, and if on arrival someone doesn’t like it, there is always a nice bench in the plaza round the corner :smile:

JF

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I declined the guest, which was tough as it was for a week, in the off season and I hadn’t gotten around to reducing my off season rates yet. Plus it had an additional ~$210/night extra guest fee tacked on to the original nightly rate… this was a tough decline.

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You sound American but you must be in Australia.

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I think you did the right thing. Every time I have gone against my gut in life, I have regretted it.

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In my long hosting career, I’ve never developed that ‘gut feeling’ thing that other hosts have but there’s no way I’d accept someone who trying to run rings round me, especially as you’ve got many months to get bookings.

That sounds as though you’ve been hosting for several years so I can’t understand why you are giving this person any of your time. I certainly don’t understand why you’d ask here about it.

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I’ve had a negative feeling about two individual guests, and they both turned out to be great. One has been a frequent returner and is now a friend.

My instincts don’t seem to be as sharp as yours.

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