Yes sorry everyone. I appreciate all the comments. I called air CS and to me it seemed like i would be penalized for canceling and penalized if it does get trashed and they dont cover my claim so i decided to call the guest and i spoke with her directly. She said that she has friends from out of town hence the car question and they are celebrating her 26th birthday. I was completely honest and told her i was hesitant only because of her car question and the fact that she lives in the area. She said theyre plans were to go out in the town and come back and sleep. Then she messaged me again and told me she understood the hesitation but to ease my mind more, all her friends are nurses or going for nursing and that they will treat my home with respect and be courteous. I felt better having talked with her directly. I was also thinking of just calling the cops to have them do a ride by the night of her reservation to check on things since i am an hour away. So i chose not to cancel and im hoping she is a young woman of character.
I have to disagree with the 3 of you. With IB on hosts can cancel penalty free if uncomfortable with a guest. With IB turned off my listing drops from view. I am different than many of the hosts here because I accept everybody, I do not ask why they are coming or what they are doing and it works for me. I get a copy of guests ID and thatās enough for me, and every hotel I have ever been to anywhere in the worldā¦
Get cameras NOW. Blink cameras on Amazon 40% off, at least they were yesterdayā¦
RR
Iāve twice had young people IB for 2 people then cancel a couple of hours later. One said she didnāt realise it wasnāt the whole house. The second that āsomething had come upā and needed to cancel. Guessing she sent the link to her friends for the partaay that weekend and one of them actually read the listing and realised I live on the property and it was only the ground floor.
I agree with you on using the Instant Book cancellation feature if the host is uncomfortable. I have it.
For me, I needed to host for a while to determine what made me feel comfortable with a rental and maybe more importantly uncomfortable. I think there is a wisdom to gaining some hosting experience before activating it.
There isnāt a one size fits all when it comes to hosting @RiverRock.
I think itās always beneficial when you are a new host as @kzim2182 is, not to use IB until you become more familiar with how Airbnb works and to help you become experienced with vetting guests. Thatās why I suggested she turned it off.
I didnāt use IB for my first year and a half of hosting and was able to have all the bookings I wanted fortunately (appreciate that wonāt be the case in all areas).
@Joan and I host in our own homes, so are in a different situation to you. I am not a hotel, and I vet guests so I am comfortable with who stays in my home. I donāt take ID as that is not a requirement where I live, but only take guests who have uploaded photo ID.
Of course not:)
If a host does not use IB they will get fewer bookings. In my opinion new hosts would benefit MORE using IB where they can cancel without penalty.
Vetting guests is not a science, no real rules apply. I do not see any benefit of vetting. I take all comers and it works for me. I am prepared to kick someone to the curb if I have to, I have not had to though:) one of the worst guest I had recently had 7 glowing reviews, yet she snuck in a unpaid guest and left a disgusting mess in the kitchen. Now she has 7 good reviews and mine:)
RR
You are right vetting is not an exact science @RiverRock . Yet I have had hundreds of guests over the last three and a half year and apart from my first guests, I have had no problem guests.
Iāve never had to make a claim for damages, never had to ask Airbnb to cancel a booking, never had guests sneak extra guests in (even when let as a whole listing), never had anyone leave a disgusting mess in the kitchen or elsewhere.
And what percentage of guest do you decline/accept?
@GutHend - Iāve had the same experience as @Helsi more or less. I say āmore or lessā because I have had to chuck one set of Airbnb guests out and I have had guests sneak extras in once or twice (but I donāt care about that) but otherwise, everything has been fine.
And I use IB because Iām crap as this āvettingā malarkey. So Iāve āacceptedā everyone.
Just mentioning this for any potential hosts reading this - there is good news as well as bad 
Airbnb says Iāve accepted 100% in the last year, and Iāve only asked Airbnb to cancel 2 bookings in the last year (I think 4 or 5 total for my 5 years on the platform) and I also donāt have problems. I donāt even screen as Helsi does, I have IB. 600+ guests and no major problems and only a handful of small problems. Basically only 2 guests who were somewhat unhappy about something. One gave 3 stars the other 4. I took into consideration their issues and fixed them. The key is that I have a different guest type than many and I live here but they have a separate space. If you ever move and start over try getting a space where you can give the guest their own unshared space with separate entrance but you are close by like next door or in the house above.
I believe it it
Instant Booking
With my current listing it is 100% @GutHend
I decline third party bookings (asking them to rebook directly), those with pets and those with children under 8 or who in other ways donāt meet my house rules. (they normally inquire rather than IB).
I use IB so accept the vast majority of guests but ask for photo ID, why they have chosen my place, plans for their stay, who is accompanying them and for a check in time. I also make it a condition of booking that they provide a clear profile photo of themselves. If they donāt provide this information I chase up with the guest. If they still donāt provide it, I ask Airbnb to chase.
If they donāt reply, I chase and then if no reply i ask Airbnb to get the guest to respond. If they didnāt I would then ask them to cancel the booking.
I do believe that vetting my guests helps ensure a good fit.
You are a firm believer of vetting your guests, but in the end you just accept(ed) all of them 
. If that is the case, I would like to argue that your āvettingā isnāt the reason for your āsuccessā. Success being that you never had any real problems.
I think itās more the fact that you just attract the right kind of guest with your well written listing and house rules. And the fact that youāre a live-in host also helps a lot. As for the vetting itself, are there any reasons (apart from TOS and house rules) why you would decline a guest? in other words, are there wrong answers to the questions āWhy have you chosen my place?ā and āWhat are your plans?ā
To me, if there is a reason vetting contributes to your success, it has to be for the fact that you present yourself as an assertive host and not because of the information you obtain. Could this be or am I missing something?
No I donāt accept all guests @GutHend. That is just your incorrect assumption
I said 'with my current listing my acceptance rate is 100%. (only live since November).
I respond to but donāt accept or reject inquiries, which means although I have declined these bookings, it doesnāt affect my acceptance rate.
I would consider rejecting people who intend to hang around my home all day (I work from home), I would consider rejecting people who arenāt happy staying in an inner city area (they will mark me down for location and wonāt be happy). These reasons by themselves may not be enough to not accept their booking, but are indicators that they wonāt be a good fit.
Yes part of it is having a well written listing and managing expectations. However, I think in part it is due to the fact that I donāt accept all comers. I also think that knowing they have to answer my vetting questions, means that problem guests are less likely to want to jump through these hoops in order to stay.
I am not sure that being a live in host always protects you. There was a regular who used to post here who comes from the same city as me and is a live in host. She regularly had problems with guests breaking her house rules, being messy etc And I know you are a live in host and have mentioned problems too.
@kzim2182 Three weeks ago we had this same thing - a guy rented my place last minute on a Friday night (he took two nights because that is my minimum). Long story short I had $12,000 in damages.
The place is usually booked 4 months in advance for weekend but I had a last minute cancellation. I had a strange feeling about this guy so I checked him in personally. He kept pushing back the check-in until almost 9PM. Iām sure he was hoping I would just give him the codes and not show up. At check-in I stressed my extremely strict NO SMOKING NO PARTY policy and he said it was only him and another friend.
What ended up happening is he had re-rented this to another group who through a party - my basement door was opened more that 60 times between 1 AM - 6 AM. I have an alarm on the house and outside cameras so I was able to capture all this. At 4 AM when I notice the Alarm notifications I started the process of getting the evicted. I also went outside and took a video of all their license plates and then did the same as they were leaving from the eviction.
Only two bad guest out of more than a hundred. Both were last minute rentals - wanted late check-ins. Wanted one day on the weekend. The first one used a stolen credit card so I also ate the $600.
I tried IB, and turned it off. In almost 6 years of hosting, and 100% 5* ratings, Iāve had only perfect guests - except the ones that came in with IB. It is not worth it to me to use IB. The guests who are willing to be vetted are the terrific ones. IB guests who came here all broke the rules. Iāll take the lowered search and enjoy the spectacular guests who come with proper intentions.
The bogus payment method is a well known racket in STR. This is why I no longer take same day reservations. There is no time for the payment to clear on a same day reservation. It is not worth the risk.
Being a live in host has definite advantages. I would not do it any other way. I keep an eye on my property, am there for the guests as a āconciergeā and have had no problems with properly vetted guests, only wonderful experiences. My house would be a perfect āparty houseā if I did not live here, and that is not the sort of chance I am ever willing to take with this unique and valuable home. Being off grid is also tricky, and guests who lack the skills to operate an off grid dwelling is asking for confusion and damage. Besides being my beloved home, it is a very unique, fragile and very valuable property. There is also the risk of injury to unsupervised guests. This is another risk I am not willing to take.