I am renting a whole house and am curious what experienced host use to evaluate and quantify potential guest before they accept their booking.
I’ve read a lot on this site and hopefully have learned a lot, but I read horror stories about the bad guest lounge. Does anyone have a method / questions / techniques that they use to try to weed out the horrible guest vs the charming ones?
I figure things like good reviews left and received, photo on profile, and govt id are a must…but am I missing anything that might save me heartache?
Before anyone gives advice it is helpful to know how many you sleep, if you have neighbors who will be disturbed (and how close by), if you are onsite or live hundreds of miles away, do you have an onsite person, etc, and is your house a place that makes guests want to have gatherings (large back yard, etc.).
I’m on 5 acres but surrounded by woods with mountain views. Less than 4 miles to a small mountain town and a university. I’m close to 7-8 vineyards that all do tastings and a few offering on site restaurants and wedding facilities. I have 2 king beds and 2 twin beds in 3 bedrooms. Two baths, kitchen, great room, etc. the house is an a-frame.
I expect many leaf color chasers in the fall, college parents visiting during parents weekends and graduations, visitors or vendors for the many festivals my and nearby towns offer.
If I left anything out please let me know.
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I live @25 miles away. I don’t want parties.
I’m sort of tucked away from neighbors but since I’m on a mountain the sound travels.
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So you’re on the premises?
No, I’m @25 miles away and have a self checkin setup…i.e. Passcode lock.
Do you have security cameras on-site? That is frequently mentioned here as a must-have feature.
I do not have security cameras…yet.
But I’m planning on two in the next 30 days.
It’s really hit or miss when evaluating inquiries. Sometimes the least chatty people are the best and the overly chatty the worst. I had one young couple say they were “fun,” and I took them but was kind of worried . Did they party? They turned out to be awesome guests and left one of the best reviews I’ve ever received. Others who describe themselves traditionally turned out to be. PITA and I would never have them back. So you never do know.
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In the past I have had people who planned to have gatherings and they are not forthcoming. My rental sleeps six and the most common thing guests will do is not mention the very young children and visitors.
When I get an inquiry I always ask guests to confirm they have read the entire listing description and the house rules section. I also ask them if there will be any visitors during their stay. I had one person put in a booking request for six guests. And then after pulling teeth he finally disclosed that he planned to have a small wedding. But he had told me in his booking request that he was getting married that day at the court house. I guess it was technically true but if I wouldn’t have asked,about visitors, he would not have mentioned the second ceremony. I declined him.
Another couple finally disclosed they had plans to have a photo shoot with a bunch of models and photographers.
My house rules section mentions the security cameras so it is a good tool to weed out the guests who had other plans. They can cancel their booking request since I haven’t accepted.
I also ask guests to provide me the ages of any children/infants in the group. Even if they entered two guests I still ask. This is when they will reply with “oh we do have a 1 year old blah blah.” It’s a shame that the guest cannot edit a booking request. So if you do charge for all ages then they will need to cancel the request and make a new one to include everyone in the adult guest count. It’s mentioned in my listing loud and clear but no one reads it or they just choose to ignore it.
It’s rare that someone has actually read the house rules before booking. I know this because I do ask them to mention things when making a booking request and they don’t.
The ones I will ask a few more questions are groups that are in the area for a wedding or a family reunion. I just want to be sure that only the guest booking are the ones staying, and their friends have their own accommodations. Sometimes they will want to invite some people over dinner one night. If it’s just a few people for a few hours and they insist that the other members have their own place…then I will make an exception for a few hours. I do allow visitors but only six guests total at all times (which includes visitors). So if it’s seven or eight for a few hours that’s fine.
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CCTV on the property is a given.
Personally I
- only take guests with verified ID
- only take guests who tell me why they chose my place and plans for their stay
- who have a photo of themselves and a completed profile
I have heard other hosts say not to take same sex parties.
If you are only twenty five miles away as an extra level of protection I would suggest you personally check guests in and out (or arrange for someone else to do this).
Don’t use instant book.
Thank y’all so much!
What I understand so far is:
1-only take guests with verified ID
2-only take guests who have a photo of themselves and a completed profile
3 -same sex couples aren’t a concern to me…should they be?
4- im assuming no one booking under 24…i.e. No frat parties and no locals
Send an email to the inquiry to include this language:
1- ask guests why they chose my place and plans for their stay
2- ask guests to confirm they have read the entire listing description and the house rules section.
3- ask them if there will be any visitors during their stay.
4- mention security cameras as a tool to weed out the guests who had other plans.
5- ask guests to provide me the ages of any children/infants in the group.
6- ask a few more questions to groups that are in the area for a wedding or a family reunion to be sure that only the guest booking are the ones staying, and their friends have their own accommodations.
Anything else?
I do almost none of this… in fact, I believe that I only insist on:
• only take guests with verified ID
Some of the second group wouldn’t apply to me since I am on-site.
I wasn’t exactly sure what you meant by “mention” but I wouldn’t mention during correspondence. Just make it loud and clear in the house rules. Then they can read it for themselves without needing to bring it up.
I am not sure what my settings Are on Air with the verified ID. Will need to check. But I list on many sites and there is no ID verification. Air is the only that does this. So I am very comfortably in renting without ID and wouldn’t necessarily require it.
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I said same sex parties not same sex couples 
As you will see every host does what works best for them - there’s not a one size fits all.
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Oops I guess I need to read more closely. I agree that probably every host does what works for them and that’s going to be different from one local to the other. I’m sort of trying to get a laundry list or a menu of sorts that I can pull from depending on what I think will work for my Location.
Thank you bunches!!
I agree so much! But regarding the ‘screening’ I need to say that I’ve been hosting one way or another since the 1980s (I’m old) but I have never found an effective way of screening people on Airbnb. Some guests who have given the most sketchy information have been fabulous. So have those who have no photograph of themselves in their profile. (Last year I hosted the Taj Mahal and he was one of the best guests ever).
Hosts talk about a ‘gut feeling’ but in all these years, I’ve never developed that talent.
People with no reviews or verified ID have been great as have teenagers and people in their 70s. I simply don’t have the ability to evaluate guests because of their inquiries/messages. I recently had guest who, when prompted for their reason for staying said only ‘weekend break’. They were terrific.
Potential guests can easily lie in their messages, after all.
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The 1980s?!! That makes you the queen matriarch of our forum!
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This is a very comprehensive list of What to Do. I don’t have these problems because we only rent our one guest room and provide breakfast. If you do not get answers to all these questions, or the answers are ambiguous, decline the request. I have additional criteria that have worked for me over the years, even when I used craigslist.
Vagueness, grammar, overenthusiasm for a place they haven’t seen, and above all Too Much Information. If you get an essay about the person, his or her character and morals and lengthy descriptions of work, etc, and the tone of the inquiry seems too casual and overfriendly, decline it. The relation of guest and host should always be professional, formal,
observant of normal protocols and appropriate dialogue between strangers discussing a possible business relationship. It should BRIEFLY tell the guest’s profession, reason for visit, Your other requirements for them to read the conditions should be accompanied by repetition of the most important ones (children, time of arrival, special needs, etc.) AND
a reply from them that answers your conditions and confirms their compliance. If I get an inquiry such as “Hi there, hope you are well, I love your place, looks great,”, decline. This is someone fishing. For me, I trust inquiries like this:
Dear…: We are retired/students/tourists/waiting for new apartment to be finished/artists/etc, and we are coming to NYC for job interview/vacation/visiting our children/grandchildren/attending our daughter’s wedding/to see our son’s new baby/enjoy New Year’s Eve in Times Square/shopping because it is cheaper than over here/have an internship at a
law firm/theater group/architectural firm. We love your neighborhood because it is attractive, quiet, historic, convenient to Manhattan. I’ve never had a bad experience with that one time with the Iowan woman who didnt complain until the fourth day of her stay. We get all kinds of people, all ages, ethnic groups, races, religions, professions, gays. This makes our hosting interesting. And our ad specifies NO CHILDREN, NO PETS, NO SHOES.
I have a 3 bedroom 3 bath house that sleeps 11. I rent out on a ski hill and I live half an hour away.
Am new this season and will be welcoming my 7th group soon.
I have found that through AirBnB they introduce themselves and the reason for their get away, and often how many in their group and the dynamics. i.e. 2 couples with 4 children ages 12 to 16, type of thing.
If they don’t let me know that info I will ask them. Have 16 bookings so far and have only had to ask twice for the configuration. It helps me determine whether the space will work for them.
The guests I have been nervous about have worked out to be the best ones!!