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So I wake up this morning to a 3 day request to book from “X” who lives in Malaysia and has been a member since 2017 with no reviews. Message is “See you next Wednesday!”. I have instant booking but require 3 positive reviews.
Why would anyone make “X” their profile name? As a host, that really puts me off. Does this person think that it’s cute? Mysterious? If so, they should understand that hosts don’t want mysterious, and probably don’t want cute. If this person is that clueless or arrogant, I’m not sure I want them as a guest.
I didn’t accept the booking, but sent a message saying that I don’t rent to guests named “X” and they need to change the profile name, and that my insurance requires full names of all people in the party. Whether I accept it depends on the attitude in the reply.
Since our Legislature didn’t pass a budget during the regular session they went into special session, many legislators and staff were in rentals that ended on the 15th, the summer tour season has started, and every hotel room in town is booked for the next 3 weeks, so I’m not worried about renting the room.
Do you rent to guests with cryptic or obviously false profile names?
I have IB, I also rent on booking.
It does not really matter, I would rent to Mickey Mouse or abcde … and I do both classic Airbnb homeshare and an entire unit.
Like you, I have to collect names for city regs and insurance reasons.
Someone who is so evasive about something as simple as their name doesn’t “get” the trust part of home sharing. I don’t do much vetting of guests or question why they’re here, but not having a name? That’s too anonymous for my tastes.
I handle it similarly to how you have. I provide a message that states:
Thanks for your interest.
ABNB is a review based business and as such I do my best to ensure that my guest house and my guests expectations are in synch. Since you are new to ABNB and have no reviews, I would appreciate it if you would provide some information about yourself, your 2nd adult, and what brings you to Phoenix. I’d also like to confirm that you have reviewed the listing and house rules. In addition to the information about yourself, let me know what questions you have for me.
I also need to advise that ABNB evaluates me on how quickly I respond to your inquiry. If I don’t hear back within 24 hours, I will need to cancel the inquiry to avoid my own ratings getting lowered.
My house rules that I reference in the above note:
I don’t know about “obviously false.” Most recent odd name was “invisible venegence visits.” I’ve posted here previously about them. I was little disappointed when they changed their name to Brandon and Lisa or something. They probably tried to book with other folks who wanted “real” names. Another time the guest name was Man. I thought “no way I’m renting to ‘man.’” It turned out that was the real name of the guest, a female from China. Yet another time I had “new user” and I asked her to please correct that. She had no idea why it said that.
Now I think I’d rent to anyone, regardless of the name on the reservation; I’m sure someone could manage to cross a line for me. but if it’s not invisible vengeance visits I’m not sure what it would take. (I called the IVV when I replied. Didn’t blink an eye.)
Hi
It’s always wise to err on the side of caution when renting out your property. Profiles should give you some indication of who is interested in booking, so if you’re not comfortable with the information presented you are well within your right to steer clear of that guest.
It’s always a good idea to screen guests whenever possible anyway, just to be on the safe side.
I had a guest that had a first and last name of swear words - my daughters help monitor the emails (ages 13&15 at the time) and I was not very pleased. The guest instant booked, and their payment failed. I asked them to fix their payment, and told them that airbnb might flag their account since they did not use a real name. They promptly changed their name to be their real name (or very close to it).
Or maybe they have parents who wanted a child with a “cool” name? I went to school with a kid named Flash Flood.
I’d ask them to clarify the name. If they don’t have any reviews I ask them to upload gov’t photo ID. If they don’t want to do that, they can’t stay with me. I had one guy say that uploading ID was “a hassle.” Another one asked if I was a cop when I asked for ID and wanted to know who he was traveling with and the purpose of their visit. He got quite hostile and said, “Why are you being so picky? There’s a lot for rent in your area!” Luckily he cancelled and booked with someone else.
@NordlingHouse, I think you’re all being mean … X had probably been a poor abandoned orphan boy who nobody cared enough about to give a name to … and now you refuse to give him shelter because you’re prejudiced against people called X… What happened to the caring, sharing Airbnb ethos?
Well, he changed his profile name to his real name and requested to book since his request to book had expired. I approved his booking. He said that naming his profile “X” was an accident. He signed up in 2017 but had no reviews. He’s stopping here on his way to a summer job.
He got quite hostile and said, “Why are you being so picky? There’s a lot for rent in your area!” Luckily he cancelled and booked with someone else.
That’s what this forum is all about - learning from and sharing with each other.