I got a booking request from a woman for tonight who says they are moving across the country and she wanted to know (post booking) if I had a gated driveway/would her car be safe with their belongings packed in it. She assured me they would be quiet and respectful of house rules, etc. So I check her reviews and those she has left for hosts and she had written a bad review for a host and then that host, after initially leaving an ok but vague review, slammed her in her response to the bad review. But sheās also left great reviews. I wrote her back detailing why I think my driveway is safe even though itās not gated and I expect things will be fine. But there is that tiny little wondering.
I also accepted a third party booking by a mom for her daughter. The mom had 4 good reviews and the daughter was perfect. She was just having spotty cell service so asked her mom to do the booking. Itās slow here, after tonight I have no reservations at all so Iām taking chances.
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In Los Angeles many people have an hour and a half or longer commute to and from work.
I would be wary of that. Iād be inclined to decline.
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How do you see reviews guests left for other hosts? I did not know there was an option
I know. But as I said, itās slow here. Iām glad I accepted. The 22 year old daughter (lots of people would have declined that) is traveling across country by herself visiting friends and relatives and camping. She had camped in Guadalupe National Park the night before and wanted to get a good rest and a shower. Broken record: travellers, not tourists. I did tell her mom privately that it was a violation of TOS and that some hosts would have declined on that basis. She left a review same day her daughter checked out. All 5 stars.
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Open the profile of the guest and you will see the reviews left by prior hosts for that guest. Click on the profile of the host who left the review. Scroll down until you find the review left by the guest for the host. This can take some time as hosts receive more reviews than guests do.
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No I meant the other one, the one who left bad reviews for the previous host.
I hear you on the slowdownā¦ Hawaii is so dead even the Hilton is giving away rooms!
It only works if the host left them a review as well. Click on the guest profile and go to their reviews. Then click on the host name and go read the review they left that host. Sometimes you have to scroll a long way down as most hosts have far more reviews than the guests do. Sometimes the review is years ago. Itās not super easy as was recently posted on another thread but itās possible.
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Thatās an important observation.
As was discussed on another thread recently, public stuff people wrote in Airbnb really should be linked to their profiles. Thereās no reason not to do so.
As @KKC observes, if the host doesnāt leave a review, thereās basically no link to any potential review for that host. So the guest may have left hosts a review, but we have no way of knowing, short of trawling through a zillion listings. Or unless someone has access to some fancy Airbnb API that can automate the job.
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Ah! Yes. Well 4 out of 5 reviews she left hosts were glowing and the one that wasnāt, well, there are two sides to every story. If there is a problem, donāt worry Iāll be on here crying about it.
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Other than it putting a damper on honesty. If I know hosts are going to be reading my reviews then maybe Iām not really honest about that host for fear that it will be used against me.
(Shrug.) Yes, @felixcat said something similar in the other thread. I donāt get it. Public is public. Why post something publicly online if you arenāt prepared to have the whole world read it? The basic rule of online posting is to never post anything online which you would not want to see on the front page of the New York Times. Or Slashdot/Reddit/Ichan/your favorite media outlet, if you prefer.
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Obviously a lot of people donāt think about or know that. Yana didnāt know.
What do you mean his race is a factor and that this has been an issue with BnB - do you mean you and BnB only welcome visitors of certain races. I certainly donāt want to be part of a hosting service that only welcome certain races 
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No, I think DC meant that air is looking at discrimination and even if she turned him down for a different reason it might be misconstrued. At least thatās how I understand it.
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I believe DC may have been referring to the recent cases which got national attentionā¦ When a black guy was repeatedly declined until he made a fake white profile, then he was accepted. That story made the national news.
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I have had two individuals try to schedule a one night stay. They both tried to book after 8 p.m. and wanted to come right away. Both lived within 20 min. of our cottage. Both young and looked like someone I didnāt want to have. I checked their facebook profiles and both had criminal records, one posting her first day out of jail. I donāt know what they wanted with my cottage, but I didnāt want to find out.
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I have had same-day guests in Hawaiiā¦ which is unusual. Whatās up if you are here and suddenly have no place to stay? I really want to know. Place was not clean so I had to turn down. The other who booked one night paid top dollar during Christmas week, only because literally no other place on the island had availabilityā¦ They were among my most charming guests ever and left an awesome review for only one night.
I can think of a ton of good, legit reasons for someone local to stay. Itās only suspicious if they ask to violate policy or donāt communicate the reason for their stay. For example, I have a refrigerated air unit in my guest room. Iām surprised no one has ever booked because their air went out.