Thoughts on booking requests flagged as risky by Airbnb

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Thoughts on “flagged as risky” Airbnb requests please. I’ve had an inquiry where someone first asked if I ever did single nights (I usually have a two night minimum) but as it’s January, with not much going on I thought, okay, why not, and altered my calendar for a specific date so they could book one night only. And they had one good review as a member of a group reservation booked by someone else.

Then they asked for a discount (:roll_eyes:) …I said no. Then when they finally went to book, Airbnb declined the request as it was flagged as risky. My initial thoughts were it’s down to algorithms and probably because it’s one night only, and they’ve only one review. It’s not a last minute booking and they are travelling a fair distance to get here to do an outdoor activity popular in this area.

Can you ever work around an Airbnb risk flag (apart from taking a direct booking, but as it’s a first stay with me I’d rather have Airbnb fallback)? Or does Airbnb know something I don’t? My partner thinks it must be something serious to cause the flag. At this point the booking feels like more trouble than it’s worth, but I do feel bad. I’m an old softie right? Has anyone ever appealed a flag or is it that once Airbnb says no, that’s it?!

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As you know Airbnb has an algorithm to pick up Potential party-goers . @Silver

If you look at at the policy it will tell you the criteria - normally young, less than three reviews, one night etc.

Personally I wouldn’t bother taking a booking from someone who wanted to reduce the minimum nights and asked for a discount .

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While the flagging algorithm can be faulty, I would tend to trust it as being most often for good reason and not take a risk. Not sure if hosts can override it.

If the booking request doesn’t fit the party algorithm parameters, it is most likely that the guest has been flagged for being reported as a scammer or house wrecker, or there is an issue with their credit card, or maybe even a criminal record popped up. You wouldn’t necessarily know this just because they had one good review. The issue could have arisen later.

And I don’t know if the party algorithm requires that the request meet all the criteria, or just most. Those criteria are under 25, booking an entire place for only one night, and being local. Just because a guest tells you they are coming from elsewhere and for some event doesn’t mean it’s true. Partiers tend to be savvy about misrepresenting their intentions.

I highly doubt that Airbnb would flag a request just because a guest asked if you’d rent for less nights than your minimum, nor would they flag due to only one review.

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A few times when I saw the flagged guest, next thing I knew Air had cancelled the reservation.

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I’ve never come across the flagged guest thing - probably because I use IB with minimum restrictions.

So I can’t comment on that.

I do want to say though, for readers or new hosts, that one-night stays, just a single review, and asking for a discount doesn’t necessarily indicate a troublesome guest.

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I’ve never had the flagged guest thing either, and I’ve never used IB, so I don’t think that’s a factor. I know that bad guests and scammers often target new listings, assuming the host is naive or desperate for bookings, but other than that, I don’t know why some hosts have gotten lots of these and some hosts get none.

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