Inquiry from person who asked to see my house before booking...and is just staying for 2 days?

No it’s not uncommon particularly if you have a lot of choice - tourist towns for example

I had few people who wanted to come and see the place. All of them never rented from me though my house is beautiful and very clean, and back then it was priced more than reasonable. My infamous cooks did that too and they liked the whole setup and rented but I wish they did not.

I do feel thoug that when people want to see the place for couple days stays it’s a waste of time for me. One couple came and spent quite a bit of time walking through the whole house , asking questions. I told them when I started to see how they are looking at kitchen that they can’t really cook here, or they wanted to see all the rooms, I asked them if they know thatvthey are just renting one room.
It was actually quite weird for me that they are spending so much time in a house checking it out like they are going to lease it. I ended up telling them that I have pedicure and have to leave, otherwise they would hang out for another hour… Well, they never rented.
I agree that there are plenty of pictures, and people can just ask more questions instead of coming over before they pay.

I agree that wanting to see the place before booking is a waste of time, and not only that, I feel it is a violation of AirBnB’s trust system. If people still want to see the place even with looking at the photos and reading the description, then they’re not fully trusting the host (if at all)

Also, as someone else said, there is no way to give the exact location of the property and give contact information before booking.

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you can give your adress and because I am on other sites they can google and find me. What I discovered for me it’s much better if guests just book through Airbnb. If they are already in your house they will try to jut give you cash expecting discount. There is always something if they want to go around and give you cash, sometimes people want to see the place only to negotiate the price even more.
Then they want to stay another day and want to pay next morning . I had a couple who stayed like this for 2 days and ran In a morning and never paid me.
Now I collect money before hand.

Agree Yana, BIG waste of time and also could get you booted off Air, so no benefit, and a security worry. No reason at all to ever let anyone thinking of renting come and check you out.

I’ve had inquiries from “friends or relatives” of those wanting to book: “since we are in Kona now can we come and take a look for our friends?”

No you can’t. And tell the friend I’m not interested in renting to them. Because you should know better than to ask that.

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It’s better to go through Air. Only costs you 3%.
better than footing a paypal bill yourself.

There is no benefit to showing your property before a rental. Unless you don’t mind people wasting your time and peeking into all of your closets and sizing you up. Just no.

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Also they can read reviews. I have so far 37 reviews. I think it’s enough to have a picture of what my house is and what it’s not.

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Its also just a bit odd wanting to few your property, its not a hotel. Its just strange and I don’t think I would accept people wanting to do this.

I’ve had similar inquiries and it’s not worth the effort to show the place for a short-term stay.

I don’t see any problem if someone requested to see my apartment prior to booking a stay. One of my first guests requested to see the apartment and I gladly obliged; the couple subsequently booked my place for almost 3 months, it was great!

I believe the host’s actual address isn’t revealed until the guest books?

I have no problem sharing my address and letting a prospective guest visit the apartment; naturally, if I wasn’t comfortable doing so I would not do it, but if I get a “positive” vibe, I’m ok with it.

We have done it for longer ie higher value stays…if its just 2 nights, no way.

I agree, for shorter stays it makes no sense to offer “preview” visits. However, minimum stay at my place is 4 days.

Trouble I am having is with Flipkey. Guest wants to book, but Flipkey will not allow me to provide our address prior to booking. Ugh!!

I can’t be bothered. If it’s a week long booking I might make some effort

For 2 days? No way!
Perhaps for a 2 week long booking or something.
But not for 2 days!