You sound American but you must be in Australia.
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.
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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I’ve done exactly the same thing. One was based on the guest’s picture - she looked seriously spooky and grumpy. When she arrived I couldn’t help exclaiming “oh, you’re so pretty!”. We got along like a house on fire.
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I suspect we’ve all done it, my biggest error with my gut was this one I posted a while back.
Have them back in a heartbeat.
JF
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Some people just aren’t photogenic. I and my oldest daughter are like that. We look quite different in person. In photos, I tend to look like the wicked witch who’s come for your firstborn. We look quite different in person.
And the opposite is also true- some people photograph really well but look quite plain in person.
And some look exactly as they appear in photos.
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Another ‘red flag’ that’s been discussed here is that of potential guests who ask ‘too many’ questions before they book. The worst I ever had was an elderly guy who wanted to know everything about the place even the height of the bathtub. It was pretty nuts.
He booked, I think it was only for three or four days, and I was bracing myself to expect a pretty challenging few days. I though I was in for some needy guests.
During the stay, his wife contacted me once because she hadn’t been able to get onto the internet with her iPad. That was all.
They were sweethearts.
They became regular repeat visitors and have recommended us to their friends and family. One time, they were in the area but hadn’t been able to book with us - but they called in to say hello anyway. 
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I was giving the guest my time, because that’s my job and it was a lot of money and I didn’t want to throw that money away so quickly. Money is not going to be flowing in the next few years as it had been the last few, so I’m not going to throw away thousands of dollars away without thoughtful consideration. I lost a good deal of money in 2020 and am hoping not to repeat that in 2021.
Also, while the dates are a far way off, it’s doubtful I would get another booking for that time of year for so many nights and have another $1400+ added on for extra guest fees.
And I certainly don’t understand why I wouldn’t ask here for other Hosts opinions, isn’t this what this website is supposed to be about? There are some good, thoughtful opinions and ideas I’ve learned about STR Hosting since joining. (Fun side note: I did ask my mechanic about this guest and was merely met with a blank stare.)
Lastly, I’ve been a Host and business owner in general long enough to know enough to know, I don’t know everything, and will always ask for the opinions of others in my line of work who might be able to provide a different viewpoint or insight than my own.
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Without knowing if your prediction is Covid related (or other), there has been dialogue on this forum, relative to AirBNB during and post pandemic. The general consensus was:
- Home share Listings are predictably down during pandemic and there are questions if post pandemic travelers will retain cautiousness or dive back into shared home listings.
- Many non-shared listings (including mine) have experienced INCREASED demand during the pandemic, as travelers avoid hotels and as WFH has liberated those in large cities to work from wherever there is good WiFi.
- Many believe that post pandemic non-shared listings will significantly benefit as “flood gates” open because of pent up demand for travel.
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It must be difficult to be renting in an area that is only making money for you for part of the year. Isn’t there any way that you can use your rentals year-round? I’m surprised that you are so location-dependent. Let’s hope that this forum can help you to come up with ideas.
Absolutely definitely. I’m finding that our apartments are in high demand for the WFH crowd and for isolating purposes. They are great places for working guests and well set up for self-isolation couples.
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That’s funny. I’ve always thought that women manipulate me 
Why not ask if this is the reason? One of my clients (not Airbnb) hosts celebrities and they only require names on the day of check-in for Fire and COVID reasons.
To those of you asking/replying about my hesitancy about the time of year, etc. and money not flowing as it was in the past few years, I do not believe the dark days ahead will be isolated to Covid reasons only. I believe there will be other factors as well. Actually, for the time being, I do believe Covid does and will help increase STRs properties… for now. But I’m not sure what is going to happen 7 months or so from now. Will people feel more secure and go back to hotels? I don’t know. None of us do.
Will my state lock down again? I don’t know.
I also don’t know what it going to happen to gas prices, disposable income, increased taxes, etc. in the coming months. 7 months is a long time off and I tend to be more financially conservative, so turning down a large amount of money was a tough one for me, especially considering I no longer allow my listings to be booked so far in advance on Airbnb, so on VRBO, if the state shuts down or their plans get cancelled, etc., due to Covid, or for any reason at all, I still get paid.
It’s great that so many Hosts feel that everything is going to be awesome for STRs in the coming months and years… I hope you all are right.
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In March when things were suddenly cancelled and looking bleak, I looked seriously at converting from STL to LTL, as an alternative plan. I never had to implement that because within 2 months things turned around big time, with new types of guests. As @jaquo suggests maybe you should investigate alternatives.
It’s my turn to buy!
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Lol… This is “unique”
Not sure how it would serve me to take advice from an uneducated, drug addled-brained celebrity with no experience in my field and whose opinions I don’t respect, but, ah, whatever … 
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The meme was meant as humor and to focus on my “glass is half full” perspective.
The intent was meant to be positive and constructive.
The intent was NOT to imply that Bill Murray is providing you advice on AirBNB or STL.
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Maybe Forbes?
I learned a long time ago after 30 years in the restaurant business with regards to employees, trust your intuition and when there is a doubt don’t do it. In my opinion Even if your city and state didn’t require you to have the names of the guests, I would not take any guest that refused to give me that information. These people will be staying at your house. If they don’t think that’s reason enough to have to give you their names and if they don’t trust you to keep that confidential then I wouldn’t trust them either.
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WIth people who push back on your original communication, I just repeat the exact same original correspondence. Cut & paste is a great time saver to deal with time wasters. Everytime you take more time to reword, re-explain, apologize, try to make clearer you’re just giving up ground to a possible manipulator.
This person is definitely not connected to any ‘big names’ as they know how to make things work, as its routine.
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