Are you aware of the difference between an Inquiry and a Booking Request? If it’s an Inquiry message, all you have to do is message back within 24 hours- you don’t ever need to click on pre-approve or decline. If it’s a Request, you do need to Accept or Decline within 24 hours, but if it’s one of these scam messages, as KKC says, just report it.
Declines do count against you- they lower your Acceptance rate, and some hosts think it affects your search ranking, but I’m not sure about that.
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Hi Dan,
Welcome! New Hosts are usually targeted by scammers, even in normal times without Corona.
ABB may not be the best place for you, as you are mandated for 30+ day stays. This creates a landlord-tenant situation. The last thing you want is some bonehead in an Air Call Center having any say if things go badly. Worse yet, no real deposits and no real lease.
We have been landlords for many years. Any short term tenant who can’t put up “1st month, last month and 1 month security” is not worth having.
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Posted in Error…,
If you have the option to pre-approve, I believe that it is an inquiry. You can pre-approve but put in your message that it has to be through AIrbnb. Then the guest can accept or not accept your rental terms. Airbnb DOES pick up these conversations in messaging. I was cautioned once a long time ago when I had a brief message conversation with someone who wanted to do this. Once a person has stayed with you, you have the option of exchanging personal email contacts and phone numbers with the guest for future conversation. The protections through taking bookings through AIrbnb are important. The guest may simply want to avoid the Airbnb fee.
We do not feel “protected” at all by Air. The list would go on and on. They do not validate Guests, do not have a proper security deposit for damages, constantly look to side with guests despite written and video evidence.
It is even worse than useless for long-term, as they can get in the way and it all falls under tenant-landlord law.
Air has it’s place for short stays, and market awareness. We do not see them as anything more than a Guest Centric booking platform.
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I certainly see your points and have do not feel supported as I did when I started in 2012. I do primarily short term so that does work better for me than longer term renters. The thing I like best is the market awareness. We have had guests from dozens of states and countries which could never have reached on an insignificant marketing budget.
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I don’t believe that any hosts should and I’m not really sure why they would feel protected. I’m very happy using them as my primary advertising source though.
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Well we “should” be covered by the $1 Million Host Guarantee. The last word must have a different meaning in San Francisco 
And we should get fair and fast compensation for damages, etc. When we re-open, it will be with a new strategy …
Ha, Jeff 
You know as well as I do that we run our businesses ourselves.
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Racism much?
202020202
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Interesting how people get so riled up over calling a virus one name or another … poor consolation to the massive economic damage, loss of life, etc. I guess all that is “ok”, right?
Gosh forbid we all acknowledge where it comes from, or that it would not exist at all if a particular government had taken measures over the last decade from the precursors.
Then again, no one seems concerned about any “offense” associated with MERS - still the standard name for Middle East Respiratory Syndrome 
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No one cares what you do, say or think away from this forum; however, posting in public here is a different matter.
Posters comments from here have been quoted in main stream media (in relation to Airbnb) and there are often folks on here trawling for content, private blogs, freelancers etc. The last thing the forum needs is a “Angry racist Airbnb hosts call coronavirus… …19” type of headline, in some click bait publication, attributed to a comment on here.
Please don’t go down the freedom of speech route, this is a privately paid for forum, with Community Guidelines relating to content.
https://airhostsforum.com/guidelines#be-civil
Nothing sabotages a healthy conversation like rudeness:
- Be civil. Don’t post anything that a reasonable person would consider offensive, abusive, or hate speech.
- Keep it clean. Don’t post anything obscene or sexually explicit.
- Respect each other. Don’t harass or grief anyone, impersonate people, or expose their private information.
- Respect our forum. Don’t post spam or otherwise vandalize the forum.
These are not concrete terms with precise definitions — avoid even the appearance of any of these things. If you’re unsure, ask yourself how you would feel if your post was featured on the front page of the New York Times.
This is a public forum, and search engines index these discussions. Keep the language, links, and images safe for family and friends.
The bold typeface is mine.
JF
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Would you like to be part of the solution or part of the problem? Are you willing to ask yourself what your motivation is for using a name that you know damn well is intended to be derogatory?
"On January 10, Zhang’s team in Shanghai published the DNA sequence of the novel coronavirus on open platforms and courageously recommended immediate public health measures at a time when Chinese officials were doing nothing. The Chinese government closed his laboratory within days.
The publicized genome helped researchers develop tests for the virus. And assuming we one day have a vaccine for COVID-19, it will be because of Zhang’s pathbreaking work and political courage. If the disease is to be identified with China, let it be associated with a Chinese scientific hero."
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Moderators have been saying this for a long time. I probably bang on about it way too much. But members here should definitely be aware when they are posting here that anyone, anywhere in the world, can read what we post here.
There are some posts in the depths of this forum (not having a go at anyone in particular) that give a bad impression about Airbnb hosts. This can effect all of us negatively.
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Clearly some people want to spread their lies and disinformation so they see that as a positive. This moderator will continue to delete racist posts.
RR
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Good point. Luckily almost ever member here will react to racist posts in the manner they deserve.
There, too, was a time that “no one” was concerned about schools, public buildings, streets being named after confederate war heros. Those times are gone, I hope forever.
Trump brings out the worst in people, having just referred to the virus as “Kung Flu”. He has pushed the pendulum very far, and now it is swinging back in response. Those on the right side of history will continue to stand up to racism.
Look no further than George Wallace and his supporters, to see what History will say about Trump and his ‘Base’.
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Here’s an idea. Why don’t you two have this conversation (if you really, really need to) via private messaging and not on the public forum?
I understand that people are confused and probably frustrated and angry too, so want to vent. But a public forum devoted to the trials and tribulations of STR hosting is hardly the place.
Duvets, electric kettles…
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Really is that why the Spanish flu is called the Spanish Flu then - even though it originated in the US? @Jefferson
Dress it up whichever way you like calling something by a made up name ie. ALA Trump Chinese virus or your version ‘Wuhan-19’ when it is called something else is offensive and designed to incite hatred.
No-one yet knows how it actually developed. Do provide links to evidence which demonstrates that it would not exist if the Chinese government had taken measures over the last decades and what you are saying these measures should have been.
MERS is what the virus is called why would anyone be offended. It is not some made up name like the one you created.
Your comment is offensive and racist "Trump has repeatedly tried to term Covid-19 as the “Chinese virus” or the “Wuhan virus” which has prompted outrage from many civil liberties groups, who have warned that such language can inspire racism and violence against Asian Americans.
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