I love the idea of a Super Guest!
Did you ever consider that all the good places were rtb precisely because they are rtb, so they get appreciative guests who leave nice reviews and ratings?
Just a thought.
I can see that it would be a drag, as an experienced host and guest, to have to wait 12 hours for a host to accept. As a rtb host, I have always answered and accepted within an hour at the most, unless the request comes through in the middle of the night. And all my guests have been previous Airbnbers, so all their credit card info is on file and their booking gets confirmed almost instantly.
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No, all the good places are not RTB
Plenty of hosts here have awesome listings, excellent reviews and use IB
BTW, the Maui host just accepted my reservation and it only took about an hour.
I still prefer IB as a guest, and host.
RR
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You’re the one who said all the places that looked good were rtb.
I wasn’t insinuating that all the good places everywhere are rtb, of course not.
But there are areas and types of listings that tend to attract some sketchy types, and lots of partiers, and in those areas, hosts may have found that not using IB helped to weed those out.
I have certainly read quite a few posts from hosts in various places who found that to be true.
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Maui is phenomenal. Make sure to rent a convertible ASAP (they book up fast).
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You will actually need some warm layers, if you plan to head up the volcano (amazing drive) as it’s cold and windy up there - and like the surface of Mars - just spectacular.
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Maui has many micro-climate areas. The drive to Hanna (North side) is incredibly lush. Other areas are nearly desert dry.
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Have a great time! I recommend the fried chicken from the Star Market (assuming that chain is still there). Great Island to picnic on also.
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Oh … if it is still there and not paved these days, the “2ndary paved road” from Hanna around the far side is no joke. If it has been raining, one can get stuck there.
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There is a setting to require that they have uploaded a photo, and another to require that they have uploaded government issued ID.
That makes sense, Hollywood and Maui…
RR
Thanks for posting about this Sarah. I was wondering beyond the photo requirement (or not) if others required the ID. I’ve been hosting five years now I think and only since covid have I gotten requests with no ID, no photo, no bio, no reviews, nada. Got a request today for Fri thru Sun stating “business. Get there late Friday. Will leave at 8am Sunday”. I imagine they only said that much because there is a place to say booking message required. What kind of business? The by-the-hour kind? Or the gotta-hide-the-body-and-get out-of-dodge kind?
It feels a little sketchy. Maybe I’m paranoid. Or biased. Does it matter? I dont think a review of prior good stays is too much to ask to feel safe in my own house.
How do you respond to those you decline? I’m not sure how to handle it other than to say 'Unfortunately we cannot take guests without ID or prior reservations." Something like that?
I usually say WTTE “Fantastic. I can confirm your booking once you have entered your government ID onto the site for Airbnb to check. It would be great once you have done that to let me know. Hope to see you then”.
Yes, I’m well aware of that, although there is actually no setting to require verified ID unless you use IB, only a photo.
What I meant was that you have no idea whether their profile photo is a photo of their face, their dog, or a plate of spaghetti until after a booking is confirmed.
Even if it looks like a photo of their face, you still don’t know for sure. I’ve had numerous guests arrive who don’t look like their picture but I’ve never questioned it. A significant number of my guests think I’m male given my looks and name. I’m fine with it. In fact, I like the way it messes with people’s assumptions.
Not my place. 
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Yes, I’ve mentioned before that what I assumed to be a longish haired guy in his 30s ended up being a woman in her mid 40s. I could tell it was the same person, the photo was just taken from a weird angle. But almost all my other guests were recognizable from the photo.
Also many people, including me, aren’t at all photogenic. Something about the way the light hits the bone structure in a photo, or some features end up looking more prominent in a photo than in real life. . My oldest daughter is very attractive in person, but doesn’t look particularly pretty in photos.
Many models and actors are the opposite. They wouldn’t stand out in a crowd, but they are extremely photogenic and look great on screen.
I don’t know how many guests you’ve hosted but I’ve hosted about 800. I’m not exaggerating when I say that I wouldn’t be able to distinguish at least half of them from their photo. A big difference is that people tend to be much thinner or thinner appearing in photos. Many of the photos seem to be older ones, or the bearded guy has shaved, the guy with hair has gone bald… a lot of people look alike to me, and not just the ethnicities different from my own. Older blonde women (1% of whom are natural blondes) all look alike to me on first meeting.
As is well established, it’s not anything I’m going to spend my time on. But my anti photo bias remains unmoved. 
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Oh, you’ve had about 15 times more guests than I have. I’m sure I could pass right by a guest on the street, or even stand next to them in a line-up, whose photo I’d seen, and never realize it was that person. But when they arrive at my house, they do look similar enough to their photo that I can tell they didn’t have someone else book for them.
Like I said, I couldn’t care less what they look like, it’s more the principal of not trying to hide basic things like your face, if someone wants to stay in my home and share my kitchen.
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Yeah, that’s a whole different animal. When I did home share Airbnb still showed photos at the request stage so I never had to go through having any anxiety about that.
The only home share guest who made me nervous was the man who said he’d be arriving late and leaving early. He was quiet as a ninja and gone by 6 am when I got up. I went to bed at 9pm and don’t know when he arrived because I didn’t have cameras then. Only evidence that he’d been here was the mussed bed and the damp towel.
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I haven’t ever declined a request, although I’ve gotten a few inappropriate inquiries I just discourage and never hear from again. I pretty much get guests who don’t throw out any red flags, who send an informative and friendly message with their request. If the first message is scanty, I’ll prod a bit for more info.
I don’t care if they have prior reviews, and Airbnb’s verified ID is immaterial to me. If I got a guest who just signed up, had zero profile write-up, had nothing listed but a phone number, and sent a clueless message, I would dialogue with them to get a sense of them, to make sure they had read the listing info, and that they understood what booking an Airbnb was all about. I’ve just never had that situation.
If you really don’t want to accept guests with no reviews and no verified ID, then yes, what you proposed to say seems fine. But the reason hosts can set those requirements for IB bookings is because the guests can book without your prior approval. It’s a security feature for IB hosts.
For requests, because you have a chance to communucate with guests and read their profile and reviews before accepting, that’s what most hosts who don’t use IB rely on.
If no one is willing to accept a new to Airbnb guest, how can they ever get a chance and get some reviews? If my first guest didn’t take a chance on me when I was new, I would never have been able to host. No one would.
But I can understand hosts who’ve had bad guests, house trashers, etc, getting to the point where they just won’t accept guests who don’t have good reviews.
I took off Instant Book. I do chat with people before accepting the request, if I don’t have a feel for them/my stalking wasn’t successful. I want to know a little about why they are travelling, their group makeup and likes so I can customize their stay.
I used to like having a photo, but I only use it find them on Facebook or to recognize their message quickly.
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So if you can’t find a guest on social media you decline them? I have no social media accounts- no Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, etc.
Does that make me a suspect person who should be declined?