This was an actual enquiry on Airbnb

I guess some guests are a bit… demanding?

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:rofl: That’s a doozy all right.

There must be something in the air lately. I’ve been hosting since 2016 (private room homeshare) and had never gotten a really weird demanding inquiry before.

But 2 days ago I got an inquiry asking if I accept nudists. Guy’s profile is blank, doesn’t even say where he’s from, has two 6 word reviews (5 stars, though!). I replied that no, I have neighbors, he couldn’t walk around nude on the property.
He replied that he didn’t care if the neighbors saw him nude. (Completely missing the point)
He also sent his whatsapp number, doing the sneaky dividing it into 2 messages thing.

When I replied that the neighbors would care (I would certainly not want some guest parading around nude in my shared kitchen, either, of course,) he then asks if I can whatsapp him. I say why? He says so he can send me a photo of himself. I ask why I would need a photo of him. He says for verification and that he’s had to send a “head to toe” photo of himself to his last two hosts, and asks again for me to whatsapp him. I reply “No.”

Then he writes “Why?” and “Huh?”

At this point I’m bored of him (although all these exchanges only took about 3 minutes) hit Decline (I’ve never declined an inquiry before) and report him.

But if anyone wants some dick pics, I can send you his whatsapp #. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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Tooti, wonder if it was a teenager. I can’t imagine an adult being that dumb. LOL

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I read it different. As a non English speaker they may be asking is the beach free to use, if they stay at the apartment. I don’t see it they are asking to stay at your apartment for free, even though strictly in English that is what they wrote. Some beaches have restricted access, especially for hotels, so it seems reasonable to ask is the beach able to be used freely (and meaning for free) if they stay at your house.

Certainly puts the request into a different perspective if you read the more likely meaning than the words themselves :blush:

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Valid point.

We had a few reservations from Turkish guests recently and Airbnb’s auto translation was abysmal. I had to reconfirm a couple times if I understood their messages correctly and I did my best playing around with the words in my head (based on the 3 languages I can speak).

In hindsight, I should have turned off auto translate to see the original message so I can use a 3rd party online translator which would have made things a lot easier.

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Yes, Airbnb must use Google translate, which is notoriously bad. Much of the translated listing info is obviously poor. Of course they would cheap out on a translation app, just like they do on customer service.

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@Chris_Cooper, I think you have a very valid point there.

I’d never rely on the Airbnb translation. Many years ago I downloaded a really great translation app (free) which over the years (hosting and travelling) has proved to be invaluable. I’ve always had a great proportion of guests from non-English speaking countries.

But even if you don’t usually, having a good app is a great idea.