Guest Profiles Have Changed

Just logged on and got a reservation request. When I went to peruse their profile for reviews and verifications, I was directed to a COMPLETELY NEW PAGE where you can no longer see the guest’s individual verifications before they book or their reviews they left for hosts. Has anyone else noticed this?

Not you, you must be part of the test group. More pro-guest BS.

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Oh interesting! Because I do ask guests for identification. Maybe that’s why I’m in the test group. I will stop hosting on the platform altogether if we can’t screen people at all.

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There are a lot of things they try and drop.

This isn’t a good one. Though I do like that they’re always trying new things and making changes and adjustments, but would prefer some heads up, like when TOS changed. I’m lowtech and thought I was doing something wrong. lol

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It makes no difference to me as I use Instant Book. So I don’t see anything about the guests until after they have booked.

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@jaquo Do you cancel anybody who has bad reviews, or who left hosts bad reviews?

I also use IB. I’ve only cancelled two people, both this calendar year.

No I don’t. (Not so far anyway). However if a guest has a review that mentions something I wouldn’t want to happen here then I address it with the guests before they arrive.

For example, one thing I will not tolerate here is noisy people. So if a review says that they were noisy I send a message via the Airbnb system saying that I’ve seen the review from xxx that they were noisy and remind them that this is a particularly quiet and peaceful place and they must not be noisy.

I always message guests and mention that I live on the premises and ‘am on hand to help you with anything you need during your stay’. What I’m REALLY saying is that I’m on the premises so ‘bloody well behave yourselves’. Once or twice guests have cancelled when they’ve realised I’m right here. Which is fine because I’ve suspected that they are partiers - which is the last thing I want here.

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Was it after seeing their reviews from the Chrome AirReview App? Because I think that thing is like gold. 99% of people are okay and it’s all uneventful, but there are those that clearly should not be using a home-sharing service. And nobody wants crazies in their house.

@jaquo so you definitely use the app, you just haven’t had to decline anyone. I would say that is us, too. We just look and 99x out of 100, all is well and there are no red flags. But it still makes me feel better being able to see their reviews rather than having to go fishing for them on the host’s listing.

The app would have saved one awful guest who made a special request that we could not oblige and then left us a two star review. Was one of our first guests so our review stars were skewed…for months! That likely cost thousands, but who knows? If we had had the app, we could have seen that she did the exact same thing to another host. Really nasty review. So clearly batsh*t.

Yes, I use the Chrome app. Of course, by the time the guests have booked there’s not a lot I can do about it but forewarned is forearmed. If I see anything dodgy in the reviews that the guest has either received or written, then I’ll mention it to the guest.

I would say that 98% of our guests are younger than me so I don’t mind going into mother-mode (or even grandmother-mode with the really young ones!) and saying something like ‘look, I saw in a review that you smoked in xxxx’s apartment in Mexico but you damned well won’t smoke in our apartment’. People can put up with more straight talking than some hosts realise :wink:

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I just looked up my stats and we accepted 98% of reservation requests. hahha
and that is probably even higher because we had several people with kids make requests, (though we have it listed as not kid safe/friendly).

It would probably be 99%, so not sure why I’m fretting. I just like to be able to get a feel for the guests before they arrive. They all say different things. Some comment on the amenities, some focus on the neighborhood, others are all about the hosts welcoming or friendliness. It’s a very helpful app. for getting a feel for people to better tailor their experience, or at least be aware of a guest’s preferences. Doesn’t have to be negative screening for declining.