Screening your guests on Airbnb is the first best step you can take in protecting your Airbnb. The reason screening your guests is so important, is because you want to mitigate any form of damage that could be done to your property and to protect your reviews as a host.
Having a guest that throws a party can really damage your property and leave a sour taste in your mouth and the neighborhood that your property is in. Which brings me to my first point, be wary of guests that book the property locally. Parties can also be mitigated by having more than a one-night stay (we suggest three night stay minimum depending on your area), but finding out about the party two or three days later could be horrible. The question you should ask yourself is why would a local want to book my property for one night? Intentions matter and you should ask the guest in order to understand the bigger picture, but know the risks involved.
High maintenance guests could almost be worse due to the impact they have on your reviews and your ability for your listing to be seen (i.e SEO). A big reason we don’t allow discounts on any of our properties is because the people who ask for them come with their own problems. And really this comes from any high maintenance requests that guests have. Asking for an earlier check-in is a reasonable request, but a request to offer an air mattress that you don’t have/offer or to have specific pots and pans (outside of what you already offer) is out of the question. Avoid these types of guests at all costs.
Next, is the actual settings in your Airbnb listing for instant bookings. Now you want to have your instant booking feature “On” in order for your listing to be seen better, but you don’t want to attract the wrong guests. So make sure you check the boxes to require instant bookings to have the following: Government-issued ID required, Host recommendation required and a pre-booking message requirement. If one of these categories isn’t selected, the reservation will come across as a “Request to book” allowing you more time to look into their background. Highly suggest if a guest does not have their ID verified with Airbnb, that you ask them to do so before accepting their booking.
By having the pre-booking message required, the guest will most often tell you their reason for visiting. This will allow you to understand if the guest will be a good fit for your property or not. You can also require a profile picture from the guest, which means they are completing their profile and invested in becoming a good guest. This is important because it means it’s also not just a throwaway account.
It’s fine to accept guests without reviews, but make sure you are more cautious and take your time in vetting them. You don’t have to accept people into your property that aren’t a good fit, so make sure you have these precautions in place.
Greatly appreciate you taking the time to read through this article. Make sure to comment and let me know your perspective on screening guests.
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