This forum is dedicated to connecting hosts with other hosts. Sign up to get the latest updates and news just for AirBnb hosts! Note that we are not affiliated with Airbnb - we are just passionate hosts!
Saturday afternoon, we got a one-night reservation for that night. Two local people. No info in their profile. I got a very friendly vibe when I thought about them and looked forward to meeting them. I asked a couple of questions in the welcome message. Maybe they hadn’t read the listing at all and didn’t realize that we’d be in the house until they got my message. They canceled without a word. We got paid anyway.
Sunday evening, we got another one-night reservation for a couple for that night. The only profile info was that the one who reserved was local. No response to my welcome message. I got a very bad feeling about them. For no reason at all, I kept imagining them robbing us. I hoped they would cancel, too.
And yet they were delightful near-locals in their mid-20s. Both covered in tattoos. One lived about 40 minutes north; the other about an hour west. They stayed because they’d been somewhere and had a few drinks (really just that—they didn’t appear drunk at all) and didn’t want to drive home. They hadn’t responded to my message because they were driving. Responsible. Personable. Perfectly neat. Fun to talk with. We’d welcome them back.
This story reminds me of the time I was in bar around 1986. I had arrived early and stationed myself in a prime location at a stand up bar table in order to have a good view of the stage for the upcoming show. As it got crowded, a punk couple moved to the front of the table and the woman hopped up and sat on the table top right in front of me and blocking my view. I was steamed but they looked mean. Leather, piercings, spiked hair, black eye makeup… I really wanted to say something but as I was thinking about the best way to word it without causing a scene the girl turned to look at me and realized she was blocking my view. She said “oh sorry, I didn’t see you there” in a sweet small voice that didn’t match the appearance at all. She got down and moved to the side with an easy smile. Had I been angry and assuming based on looks I probably would have been sorry on several counts.
I think I’ve said here so many times that one of the reasons I use Instant Book is because I have absolutely no skills at all in judging people when they book. (Just one of the reasons). Whatever these so-called ‘spidey senses’ are I’ve no idea but I know I don’t have them.
I also don’t have these ‘gut feelings’ that other hosts have and I seem to be colour blind too as I never see any of these ‘red flags’ that I read about. And yet for some reason I never have a problem with guests.
I never have to worry about decline rates or any of that stuff either. All very weird.
I think that an undocumented feature of Air for hosts is that it probably helps to make us less likely to judge books by their covers.
My wife didn’t want to do airbnb hosting so the deal was that when she went back home to Africa in 2017 for 6 weeks I would do it while she was away to see how it went. I had some concern when our first guest turned up with piercings, tatts, what I now know as ‘lobe gauging’ and a T-Shirt sporting the logo Goth Metal with a rat.
Our experience to date is that the only guests to be somewhat concerned about are guests our own age - over 60.
