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One technique some people use is to ask some questions to get an idea of what the person wants and is doing and then if it doesn’t seem like a good fit just decline them or block off part of the days so they can’t book. Then when they move on, unblock the days.
I had a guy recently ask a few questions and I finally got him to tell me exactly why he needed to know the things he was asking about. I decided he just wasn’t worth the trouble and so I block the day he wanted.
Great idea!! I usually just tell them things to deter them from booking but it doesn’t always work!! I told her point blank that I don’t think she’ll like our cabin. Her response was, “Oh I’m sure I will!”
Ha ha ha! I had the same thing happen to me. Someone wanted to book but needed air conditioning. I told them we have it, but it won’t keep the house at 72F like they are used to in Minnesota (due to style of the house it only cools the bed area by a few degrees and we are in the Caribbean). They came back and said they would be ok as long as it was at 73F (that’s a direct quote). I then told them how to find a place that had better AC than ours. They told me they wanted to book because “you care so much about us having a great stay!” I eventually chased them off, but it took far longer than it should have.
I’m glad I’m not the only one low-key doing this. I am sure I’ll get over it with more experience but I kind of look for reasons to decline vs. looking for reasons to accept … and I blame (“thank!”) all of you/this forum! Don’t get me wrong, I accept most requests. But I’m not frothing at the mouth to book people.
Real example…
Prospective guest: “Are you within 10 minutes of [place]?”
My brain: Why the hell are they trying to book a place in the country if they want to be 10 minutes from things? [Place] is a good 15 minutes away from here.
My actual answer: “No, we’re at least 25 minutes drive from there.”
Prospective guest: ghost
We include phrases such as:
We advise those groups who are not comfortable or familiar with a cabin experience to seek a more suburban retreat. Leaves, wood stains, or bugs are an inevitable part of the California outdoor lifestyle that we love.
It has helped keep those not fit for the home at bay.
Another reason I chose to disclose all the possible “dangerous animals” a guest may potentially see in our part of the country. They may never actually see one but certainly only because they didn’t look closely enough 
and if they’re put off by the possibility I’ve surely scared them off by writing out the words “scorpions”, etc.
I just did this with an inquiry for our desert home. Guest wanted to book for 11, we can only accommodate 10. But the real reason I declined her was because she sent requests for multiple different quotes that included or didn’t include early check-in and late check-out, then just assumed 11 guests were fine. She had a 3.5 star rating which mentioned she didn’t obey a very important house rule and left a negative comment about someone’s listing that caught the host off guard.
Oh my! That is multiple reasons. 3.5 star alone is a no from me.
I agree, in principle. But I’ve been caught out with guests IB’ing when travelling though Europe and bad reviews have only popped up after the booking was confirmed.
The funny thing is - they were all stellar guests! Either they were chastened by the reviews and amended their ways or it was because I had the chance to say ‘Oh, I see that you did xyz at your last place. You can’t do that here’. Some Air guests, especially newbies, don’t actually realise that they get reviewed as well.
This is yet another reason for hosts to be honest and factual in their reviews. I just had some last-minute guests who had 4* rating for cleanliness and house rules. The review said “Great guests. Welcome back” WTF? So why mark them down??
They were a bit weird (think they were high as kites) but all was fine.
But it pisses me off when hosts mark down on categories and don’t say why.
I actually think it was a pretty rude review. Looking through the pictures, a potential guest gets a very good sense of the place due to your awesome pictures. If it’s not their idea of luxury, oh well…you would think they would know that in advance and not have to leave a snarky comment about it.
I can almost guarantee that something went on during this trip for that guest that has nothing to do with you or the house. Sounds like she maybe just had a blah time overall, maybe fighting with a spouse or issues with the kids.
I wouldn’t worry about it, especially if they gave you 5 stars. The rest of the review is really nice. It looks like it qualifies as a luxury cabin to me, but that’s a very personal opinion. Maybe it’s the first cabin they have ever stayed in and they don’t realize what cabins can be like.
but if you got less than 5 stars overall, you might consider asking the guest what they felt could be improved to make it a 5-star experience.
I always do that in these cases, to let future hosts know what to expect. If it’s less than 4 stars, I additionally mention the number of stars given, especially when someone writes a great comment but dings stars (which is invisible to anyone unless I explicitly mention it in my response…and that’s exactly why I do that 
How do you do that since you’ve already left a review for the guest?
I respond to their review on my review page. Many hosts not only look at the reviews their prospective guests have received from other host, but almost even more importantly they look at the reviews these guests have left for other hosts. If their comment is great, but the rating is shitty, I’ll make sure their prospective hosts will know (if they look that up, of course).
Thanks for explaining. It’s definitely tedious looking up the reviews a guest left for other hosts. I guess that’s where the “AiReview” plugin comes in handy. I still need to get it, but haven’t yet had the need.
Many hosts don’t do either. Just pointing it out …
Naturally. And naturally, the information I leave is for those who do, like myself. By doing that and “hand-picking” my guests, I almost entirely got rid of those annoying nitpickers who expect 5-star-hotel value for 2 or 3-star-hotel-money. This works for me (superhost for almost 5 years in a row, with one interruption), it may not work for everyone.