Hello I’m still suspended for no reason after a 3rd party booker. So To head off future issues I am turning off Insta book and all future reservations must have reviews. (This gal had none). I will also in my arrival info remind them I do have cameras at all the doors even tho completely disclosed on my site. Any other suggestions?
Use vetting questions to ensure there is a good fit and you aren’t having third party bookings @53Lindsley
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I sympathize. We are always on the fence about this. I don’t allow instant book without reviews, but sometimes after an inquiry for people who have no reviews. I am suspicious if it shows they have been on AIrbnb for years with no reviews. If they just joined and have decent communication I accept them, but only for a night or two. The majority of these guests have been great and write comments about their positive first Airbnb experience.
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Theh issue with guests who have no reviews or just signed up that week is that they do not know how airbnb ‘works’… they will become indignant that there is a cleaning fee, or that there are house rules that do not allow them what they thought was their rights; their expectations are separated from the realities of the uniqueness of the booking. These are folks who take the ‘review’ process to make aspirational comments like ‘sadly did not have a third bedroom’ and give 4 stars for ‘location’ because they did not read the description.
It will never happen, but I would love to see newbies disallowed to write reviews, or give star ratings, until their 3rd stay… by then, the will have hopefully realized how lucky they were to be hosted by caring hosts, and will not arrogantly review their stay comparing their $75/night bedroom to the $600/night beachhouse.
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Place a picture of door cameras on your listing. Many guests don’t take the time to read thoroughly. Under the picture I would write something like “for security reasons all doors have cameras.”
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That won’t work out well for you. If you decline every request for a guest who has no reviews, Airbnb will threaten to suspend you.
The whole point of having the requirements for IB of good reviews, recommended by other hosts, etc, is because hosts don’t have a chance to look at a guest’s reviews or communicate with them before they book.
When you use Request to Book only, you have to learn to communicate with guests in a way that gives you the information you need in order to feel comfortable accepting their booking.
Everyone starts off with no reviews, both hosts and guests. Saying you won’t accept anyone without reviews is a strange concept. Who is supposed to accept them, then? How will they ever get their first review? What if no one ever booked with you when you first listed because you had no reviews?
Quite a few of my guests had no reviews and were fine guests. And there are legitimate reasons why a guest might not show a brand new profile yet have no reviews. It’s not an automatic red flag.
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This.
If guests looked at a listing and though ‘well, we don’t want to go there because they have no reviews’ then we’d all have been in trouble.
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Here are some legitimate reasons some of my guests have had for a long-standing profile yet no reviews (all turned out to be wonderful guests):
Had stayed at many Airbnbs, but always with her husband, booked under his account. This was her first solo trip. She had had her own account for a few years because she used it to “armchair travel”- look at listings around the world for fun, as you would peruse a travel magazine.
Had joined planning to take a trip, but the trip fell through, and school and work commitments prevented them from travelling since. (This guest left his room and bathroom so immaculate, you could barely tell anyone had stayed in there for 3 days)
Had stayed at two Airbnbs before, but hosts had failed to leave reviews. (She was a great guest, so I can’t imagine it was because the previous hosts shied away from leaving a negative review. Some hosts just don’t bother to leave reviews.)
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Well said! We get the location comments sometimes.
We’re the same. I’ve never booked with Airbnb because although I have to be super-organised in my working life, I hate planning trips. So my other half does that from his account.
He joined at the same time as me and it must have been two or three years before we travelled using Airbnb so he was a long-time account holder with no reviews at that time.
So I have no reviews at all as a guest.
Wow you are so right. My worse review actually came from another host very early on who complained my place didn’t look like the pictures! And they were taken by an airbnb photographer. That’s why I’m at a 4.91 or something like that from 4 years ago
Unbelievable
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So what was the problem that caused suspension?
If your listing is suspended, you can relist under a friend’s \ family member’s account until it’s sorted out.
I’m some cases you could create a copy of suspended listing in your account and just manage the calendar.
Don’t know. I was never notified. I can only guess that my 3 rd party booker reported my already disclosed exterior cameras. ( brought 4 extra people all 22 year olds to my Historic property. Obviously I never would have rented to them but she booked under fraudulent terms. )
This is the problem with airbnb; can’t get help and management is no where to be found
I am now looking into Furnished Finder for traveling nurses Not the weekly turnover headaches and don’t have to deal with airbnb
HI, I never use instant booking as I am sharing my home. If potential guests wrights a reasonable request, I tell them I don’t accept guests without reviews; however, if they have an active linked-in profile or are on a company website to which they can give me a link, I can consider their request. I had a father and daughter staying for four days, and he provided a linking profile and company website. Delightful guests.
I am also a homeshare host and IMO, it is a lot less risky for a homeshare host to accept guests with no reviews than it is for off-site hosts. So a guest sends you a “reasonable request”, but you will decline them if they don’t have some social media account or work for a company and appear on the company site?
I’m not sure how having a social media presence or being employed by some company with a website is an assurance that someone will be a good guest.
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I only accept up-to-date & active linked-in profiles I would not take a FB or Twitter account; I can gain some idea of who they are, their age, and their interests. If I am unhappy in any way, I decline them.
Even if guests have reviews, I ask them to look at my profile as I give a lot of information about myself and ask them to provide similar information.
One guest who had reviews and his request read, " I will arrive at xx time with my girlfriend and stay for 4 days" The only thing I knew about him was he lived in London. I asked for additional information, he said that Airbnb had his ID, which was sufficient, and he did not see it as necessary to provide further details! So I declined him! My home my rules!
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How does this in anyway prevent you from hosting poor guests? It would seem easy to me to join with fake accounts in these pseudo corporate social media sites. There are so many poor quality guests who hide behind the titles they have in their corporate world rather than be responsible on a personal level with your airbnb.
When I first started in 2019 I nearly succumbed to the Airbnb pressure to get a professional photographer to take the pictures. My husband insisted I just take wonky pictures on my phone instead - I’m so glad I did, I’m sure the “under promise, over deliver” motto is working well for me!
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I wouldn’t book with a host that required I sent my linked in profile @fiona11 .
What do you do with guests that don’t have linked in profiles. Automatic decline?
It seems an odd business model.
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Neither would I. I also wouldn’t book with a host who asked nosey questions - what do my reasons for staying show to a potential host?
This is why we almost always use IB when we travel using Airbnb. I just find all this ‘waiting for the hosts’ approval’ malarkey far too junior school.
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