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We do this at the INQUIRY stage for those who make one, and at the REQUEST stage for those who go straight to REQUEST without forst making an inquiry. “Make sure the property is a good fit…” is a good way to describe the conversation.
There is an added bonus here – it builds trust and goodwill with guests if they see the host saying “before I let Airbnb take your money, I want to pause and make sure you will be happy here” rather than just saying yes without engaging like this. It tells the guest “my agenda is your satisfaction – I’m on your side, this isn’t just about getting your money into my pocket.”
I do much the same, but only if a guest hasn’t made it clear in the message accompanying the inquiry or request that they have read the listing info. Most of my guests tend to be seasoned travelers and have 5*, informative, written reviews. They also tend to send an initial message that in some way makes it clear to me that they aren’t listing info skimmers.
For the ones that don’t make that clear, my return message is along the lines of “Hi XX, Thank you for your booking request. I would be happy to host you, but before I accept, I just want to make sure you’re aware that…”
The … part is a few things they would have had to really read the listing info to know, as it’s not in the first section of the description, and could be deal breakers, like that there is a cat on the premises, and that it is a 20 minute walk to town and the beach.
Interesting. Well, they should certainly replace the “a place all to yourself” text with exactly what you quoted there. It is VERY unclear. In fact, I personally thought “entire place” means the whole house or apartment. I wouldn’t have considered it to mean “the whole basement”.
Yes, it is definitely something that would be misunderstood by many. But the word “place” is not synonymous with “building”. If it were, calling an apartment an “entire place” would include the whole apartment building, which of course is absurd.
And if someone shared a house with roommates or lived in a basment apartment, they wouldn’t say “Come on over to my place later for a drink” if place actually meant an entire house or apartment.
In my head, there’s a difference between an apartment, and someone’s basement. Might just be me. But either way, Airbnb should make this definition of “entire place” more clear, for sure.
