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Once a reservation has been confirmed, I occasionally text the guest if I need to communicate as opposed to an Airbnb message, especially if it is about a timely matter. I made baguettes and bagels in my downstairs apartment this morning and wanted to give one To my guests who arrived last night and are leaving this morning. I sent a text asking them if they would like a baguette warm from the oven. Here is the response:
“Please keep all communication here in the app.
I didn’t know that Airbnb would give you my personal info and am not happy about that.
Unless it’s an emergency related to this rental do not contact my personal number again.”
No it isn’t inappropriate. Guests’ and hosts’ phone numbers are given to each other as soon as a booking is confirmed. Plenty of hosts and guests use texts or phone calls for things like you did.
Guest sounds like a jerk, to respond like that to a generous offer.
I use almost exclusively texts after reservation is confirmed and I get their number. I have never had a guest that requested to stay on platform messaging. The one guest I had problems with Air Cs accepted screen shots from my phone and sided with me. If I thought a problem was brewing or if they don’t respond to a text, I go to messaging.
In almost 8 years I have never had a guest object to a text before. Sometimes they don’t bother reading Airbnb communication. And sometimes the phone number is old and then I really get nowhere.
Don’t worry about it. They are bizarre. Like who wouldn’t want a warm bagel or baguette from the oven. People never cease to amaze me!
And though the best practice would probably be to just ignore it I think I would have to follow up with another message, after I got a review so as not to further inflame this unstable person:
"Dear xxx,
Given the importance of privacy that you expressed in your text to me during your stay I thought I would let you know that I got your last name and your phone number off your reservation. Airbnb includes it on every reservation in case we need to reach you in an emergency. Their app often lags or is down completely. In addition, many hosts use last names and reverse number lookup to research their guests before letting them into their homes. Other hosts require that guests show them a government ID on check in for the same reason of protecting their property. You also should know that Airbnb conducts random background checks on some guests in the US and India. I hope you found this information helpful and I assure you that you won’t hear from me again."
I ask guests to reply to my welcome message with a text saying ‘got it’ to my phone number; I tell the guests that doing that makes the smart lock code active. That way I get their CURRENT phone number.
I do not want to have an emergency and not have a way to contact a guest ‘on the road’. As we always find, guests do not always have their app responsive.
Just speculating, but perhaps this was an assignation and the guest was afraid that his phone would contain evidence when the wife/gf/bf saw your text on their phone. Seriously, if they went to a hotel they would have had to show their drivers lic, and a credit card.
I will not let someone stay in my private rooms if they have a ‘problem’ with me knowing their contact info.
Communicate with your guests using the method they prefer. Some will want texts, phone calls, WhatsApp, face-to-face, email, or the Airbnb app…
It sounds to me that these are guests who still believe in the Airbnb insurance and that everything must be in the message system so that there’s written evidence in the event of a dispute. That’s not a very good way to start a host/guest relationship.
@Rolf is probably right though. Our rentals are both one bedroom/one bed and I get plenty of ‘assignation’ guests.
Mind you there are also people who are paranoid about privacy (yet bare their souls on bloody Facebook), think that Alexas are sending all your information to the mother ship and that Bill Gates is injecting us with microscopic transmitters when we have a shot.
I have an upcoming guest whose account says “phone number not available”. I’ve never encountered that before. However, she was immediately forthcoming when I asked her for her number, explaining that there have been instances where the airbnb site goes “down”, meaning hosts and guests wouldn’t be able to communicate, or there can be messaging glitches, or emergencies where getting in touch right away might be crucial.
I had that happen too. They accepted screenshots of texts as well as sound files of the voicemails the same guest left for me. He initiated the off-platform communication. He was harassing me so I imagine he thought it was “safe” to do so off-platform but Airbnb had no issue accepting all of that communication as proof.
I haven’t either. And the way that @Cozy2018 's guest said “Please keep all communication here in the app" really sounds more like something a host would say. @Cozy2018 was this guest also a host?
I’ve occasionally noticed “phone number not available” or “email not available” here and there through the years. I think that at some point at least it was possible to sign up without providing both. Maybe it still is, I don’t know, but no one has ever been resistant when I asked for it.
The guest who had ‘not available’ had phone number ‘checked off’ on their profile, so the assumption is that airbnb HAS it but there was a choice to make it unavailable.
I’m sorry, I wasn’t in any way directing that at you. I was just combining my responses. I thought it was just generally good advice but as a separate thought.
I was asking you if your guest was also a host. I was just curious. I’ve never seen a guest be weird about that, but a lot of hosts are. But then again I’ve seen anyone be rude about being offered a baguette either so I suppose your guest was just weird (and very rude too).
