guests who ask for discount yet have no reviews

[Anonymous]

We have received a booking request from a guest who has beeb ab airbnb member since 2016(according to his profile) yet has no reviews and says they are hidden by airbnb, He is asking for a discount but we feel a bit nervous as he has no reviews,

Help

[Alice595]

@Anonymous Did the guest mention why he asked for a discount? Longer term or book for multiple of your listings if you have? If I were you, I would reject the guest's request if he cannot give a reason. Cheap guests often are troublesome guests.

[Anonymous]

thanks Alice, this is our thinking too

[Anonymous]

Thank you, this is really helpful.

Also, any ideas on  how and why is it possible  to have reviews on Airbnb which are hidden????

This is ringing alarm bells for us, haven't heard of this before.

[Sarah977]

@Anonymous  As I said, I've never heard of hidden reviews. Either he is lying about that, or Airbnb is now pandering to guests by hiding their reviews at their request if the reviews are bad.

[Sarah977]

@Anonymous   Why would his reviews be hidden? I've had guests before who had been members for years with no reviews, but when I questioned them, it was either because they'd joined with the intention to travel, but their travel plans fell through, they had stayed a couple places but th host hadn't left a review, or they had stayed in Airbnb's but with their spouse and the reviews were under the spouses name and account. (They all turned out to be good guests)

People who start out asking for a discount are bad news- they are being insulting because they are basically telling you your place isn't worth what you're charging. Guest's financial situations are not our concern- if he wants a cheaper place, he should look for another listing.

[Ana1136]

@Anonymous as far as I know there are no hidden reviews, you either have them or not. As for the discount I have to agree with the other hosts, I also wouldn't offer smaller price. I am sure you have your prices set for a reason so you should keep them. Guests that ask for discounts are usually the ones who leave bad reviews since they feel your place isn't worth it from the beginning. 

[Mark1357]

Why is he asking for a discount?

[Emilia42]

@Anonymous, I wouldn't be concerned that he has no reviews; I would be concerned that he is asking for a discount. I've had guests with a handful of great reviews that have asked me for discounts. Nope, sorry.

[Rachel0]

@Anonymous You have a lovely listing with great reviews.  Don't even think about agreeing to a discount for this guest as it will only cause problems - more unreasonable requests etc and a miserable review at the end.  You set your prices for a reason, so you should stick to them.