Guests with Zero Reviews

[Andy48]

Hi - I am getting a lot of inquiries from guests who have no reviews and often no / minimal social proof also.  Beyond the instant booking settings, is there any way to best-practice encourage inquiries from guests who have reviews at other properties?  While I know there is insurance with AirBnB, I am most comfortable with guests who have a reasonable track record at other hosts.

Thanks!!!!

[Karla14]

So where is the answer to this inquiry?

[Emad0]

Hi, where is your post to review ?

[Gerry-And-Rashid0]

You can state that guests must go through verification in Reservation Requirements. However there is no setting that only allows guests with reviews to contact you.

You could put this in your description, which may stop some enquiries and requests coming through, but we all know potential guests don't read everything.

Bear in mind that you will probably alienate at least 50% of your potential guests as that's roughly the number who are first timers with us and other hosts - everyone has to start somewhere!

[Andy48]

Thanks Gerry & Rashid!  Do you find any different experience overall (damage, cleaning, etc) with zero review guests, and do you screen them in other ways (eg Facebook verification, etc)?

[Gerry-And-Rashid0]

No, touch wood, we have had a year of fantastic guests of all ages, both new and existing users.

About 50% of our guests have been newbies - we were happy to take them based on the email exchange, and gut feeling. You can tell a lot about people by how they express themselves, etc.

Once or twice I have looked someone up on FB, but usually I don't as unless you are a 'friend' you really can't see very much (unless they have left their profile set as public).

[Emad0]

Do you have anything to be rented in London in order to recommend it to one of my friend who will go to London

[Helen3]

London is a huge place and it would depend  on your friends requirements and budget. Do they want a room in a penthouse apartment or a terraced cottage near the river. Do they want to in a leafy suburb or to enjoy city centre living?

I'm a Londoner. Whilst I can't recommend a host, if you give us an idea about what they are looking for and an approx daily budget I can recommend areas that might suit them.

[Stephanie6]

Hi @Andy48, My experience may not be typical, but most of my newbies have been great guests.  I have had 2 bad guests, both of whom had positive reviews.  I recommend not accepting bookings for guests who live near you since they have been the source of my bad guests (parties, extra people, noisy).  

When I receive a request from a newbie with few verifications saying "visiting with friends" or similar, I send a response before accepting.  I start with a "looks like you are new to airbnb - welcome!"  "Please let me know the names of the other guests who will stay with you."  I may also recommend that they complete their profile.  I just started doing this and so far the response from the newbies has been positive and I accepted the requests to book.

[Andy48]

Thanks @Stephanie6!  How about the scenario where the AirBnB member is booking for someone else, not themself?  Eg - I'm booking this for my (friend, parents, cousin, sister, etc).  So there is really no direct connection of the AirBnB user and the actual guest - do you take those commonly too?

Andy

[Helen3]

It's against BnB rules for a member to book on behalf of a third party and you won't be covered by their insurance. Just let the BnB member know this and the guest can sign up for themselves.

[Stephanie6]

@Helen3 is totally correct on this.  Before I knew the rule, I let a young woman book for her parents to attend her college graduation (they were visiting from Indonesia).  Everything worked out fine and they were very nice guests.  However, there was an issue.  On the last morning the young woman texted saying her dad loved the place so much that he wanted to stay another day.  I texted that I had another guest arriving, so they would need to check out.  The young woman went silent.  I had no way to contact the parents because they had not booked and I had no contact info.  I knocked on the door and explained the situation to the parents.  They were only a bit late checking out, so it was ok.   

[Michelle140]

I do the same as Stephanie. It is very easy to add a profile to Airbnb without much detail. I find most people didn't even know there was more to do. One person I got didn't even say where she was from. As Stephanie said, I welcome them to Airbnb and suggest they do more with their profile. More verifications, profile description, etc. I had one guest who actually sent me a link to their website, which I really appreciated.

[Liz-And-Steve0]

Hi, we accept newbies but insist they are verified.   I've had one person query why they would have to do that but seemed happy to go through the process, and this future guest has travelled and used airbnb in the past.   If there is scant information on their profile i will ask them to tell me about themselves and the reason for their visit to our area.  I've not had an issue with this in the 7 months we have been hosting and we've had 30 odd stays since January.  We've met some great people and loving the whole airbnb experience.