I am a new host and, a few hours ago, I got a reservation request, without any message, from a guest who just joined Airbnb this month and who not only has nothing written on his profile about himself but has a picture of a cartoon devil as his profile picture. Do you have any advice for me on how to handle this situation? Urging the guests to fill out their profiles is actually not our business, and it is somewhat annoying. I have a template urging the guests who are sending booking inquiries to do so.
No ID verification - no booking approval! This applies to everyone! I am neither trying to be difficult nor am I keen on reducing my own business as a host. But I strongly believe that people tend to behave in a far more responsible manner if they know that they are NOT anonymous.
Protecting my own property is not the sole reason for the guest screening process I insist upon. I am trying to protect my forthcoming guests, and their bookings, too. If a present guest wrecks the property, and I have to go into a lenghty and expensive repair process, more likely than not, I will have to ask Airbnb to relocate my next guests.
These guests have planned their stay with the location and the facilities my properties offer. Relocating them is not only a loss of income for me but a disruption of their plans, too! I totally agree with Danny. It seems as though bad eggs target new hosts, and your experience confirms that in my opinion. You are absolutely right to need to know more about the person!
If you scan the community, you will find a huge plethora of similar issues from other hosts. I cannot say how educative this community board has been! Also make sure that your booking requirements state that ID verification is required. It's not a guarantee, yet extra work and submission of ID that may weed out most bad eggs.
