Investor · Idaho Falls, ID · Member since 2019 · 85 posts · 62 votes
I was hoodwinked by a guest with what I now presume was a fraudulent photo & home city - she had 4 positive reviews too!
Long story short... I live in a unit attached to my Airbnb. I could smell the weed through my AC vents. I could also see the people pouring in through my Ring doorbell.
The good news is they vacated immediately when I asked them to. No damage to my place other than the lingering smell of weed.
How do you prevent guests with bad intentions from booking? Since the covid outbreak I have seen a huge influx of locals trying to book my place for "game night" or to "play cards". Maybe some of them are genuine, but it's not a risk I'm willing to take out of respect for my neighbors.
Rental Property Investor · Houston, TX · Member since 2020 · 10 posts · 12 votes
6y
@Rachel Hughes I require almost every verification, especially an ID before a guest can book. I also have on the listing that there is surveillance cameras in front of the home for their safety. This has recently deterred someone from booking for the weekend which I’m fine with. There is also a minimum night stay. I bounce between two and three nights. I also mention no parties or overnight guests as part of the house rules. So far I haven’t had any problems.
Olympia, WA · Member since 2016 · 8k+ posts · 7k+ votes
6y
Sorry to hear about that @Rachel Hughes! I have avoided that kind of mess so far. I don't allow autobooking so I vet each and every guest.
I have found that AirBNB guests are the worst. I get 90% of our bookings through VRBO/HomeAway. Mostly families or a group of retired couples coming to ride the bike trails.
Last year we had 2 AirBNB bookings. One was quite whiny about having to walk down to the beach. About 5 minutes as I don't have a set of stairs right in front of my house. Gave me an overall 4.5 stars, but dinged me on the walk which I was totally clear about. The other guest broke a window. They were adamant they didn't do it, but it wasn't broken before they arrived and now it is. The glass was fine, but they tried to force it closed with the lock engaged which bend the locking bar out. Ruined the window. AirBNB did cover the cost of replacement.
Have you reached out to AirBNB about covering the cost of remediation of the smell? I think Service Pro or someone like that can clean the house to get rid of the skunkweed.
Investor · Medina, OH · Member since 2019 · 15 posts · 12 votes
6y
I already see a lot of good replies such as , 2 night minimum, Verified ID, Stating that there is a security camera for their protection etc so I will not repeat them too much. Someone also mentioned no parties on the house rules, which is a great idea and I take it one step further. I require a deposit and in addition state
*NO smoking, pets or parties allowed inside the Apartment
Pet Cleanup $300 Minimum
Party Cleanup $300 Minimum
Smoking remediation $500 Minimum
The dollar amount here is not what I am going after. You mentioned not wanting to take a risk of getting bad guests, out of respect for your neighbors, which is commendable in itself. The deposit and cleanup dollars do not deter good guests….as a matter of fact it often enforces the idea that you are providing them a nice, clean respectable place for their stay. In addition, the deposit and cleanup amounts do deter people with ill intent from booking.
Another more important strategy in deterring bad guests is to not be the low-price leader of the neighborhood. Partiers are often looking for the property which meets their basic need for the lowest price. If you are priced a bit higher than your competition, this will send the bad guests elsewhere. Of course not everybody agrees with this strategy because of the potential of loosing good guests to a lower price. This also necessitates giving your place a slightly better look and feel than the competition. This also may cost a little more money. The challenge here is finding the balance of adding enough value into your unit to justify the higher price, and finding the right sustainable price your guests are willing to pay. Guests willing to pay a little more for a nicer place, typically take care of it better as well as respect the property and respect you as the host, more than other guests. Your upside is peace of mind you are getting good guests, having easier cleanings and minimal damage and getting paid more for your property being justifying the price point.
Investor · Idaho Falls, ID · Member since 2019 · 85 posts · 62 votes
6y
@Michael Baum I haven't reach out to Airbnb yet. Trying to let the dust settle. I was able to get most of the smell out but I had guests checking in two days later so not much time for anything else. Current guests haven't mentioned anything so hopefully it's all good.
I've heard that VRBO guests tend to be more respectful. I haven't had much luck with it yet. Glad to hear Airbnb cooperated with you in the past!
Investor · Idaho Falls, ID · Member since 2019 · 85 posts · 62 votes
6y
@Bernie Cesareo Thanks for your feedback! I've toyed with the idea of adding a deposit but none of competition do so. To your point I do think I was one of the lower priced options for an entire house in my area. I went ahead and increased my weekend minimum so hopefully that helps.
If I continue to have issues I may add a deposit.
I reiterate several times both in my listing and in my automated messages that smoking and parties are not allowed. I also mention that I live on the property. It is amazing to me that someone still thought they could get away with throwing a party.
I was hoodwinked by a guest with what I now presume was a fraudulent photo & home city - she had 4 positive reviews too!
Long story short... I live in a unit attached to my Airbnb. I could smell the weed through my AC vents. I could also see the people pouring in through my Ring doorbell.
The good news is they vacated immediately when I asked them to. No damage to my place other than the lingering smell of weed.
How do you prevent guests with bad intentions from booking? Since the covid outbreak I have seen a huge influx of locals trying to book my place for "game night" or to "play cards". Maybe some of them are genuine, but it's not a risk I'm willing to take out of respect for my neighbors.
Interested in viewpoints from other hosts.
I have my offshore virtual assistants verify guest ID after every booking. It costs me basically nothing to do it and has turned out to be a great deterrent
After all, hotels and rental car places always ask for your ID, so there is no reason that I shouldn’t ask for your ID as well when you reserve my houses
Most people comply, every once in a blue moon someone will refuse to provide their ID and so we just cancel their reservation, no big deal, and someone else books the house instead
Also I mention in the listing that no parties are allowed and that IDs are required to book and that I have security cameras, I think when people read that they can tell that I am serious & I mean business
As I said every once in a blue moon someone will act shocked or offended when my offshore assistants reach out to request ID, and if they really don’t want to provide the ID then they are a bad apple and we cancel the reservation and someone else books it the next day
Rental Property Investor · Phoenix, AZ and Rehoboth Beach DE · Member since 2019 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
6y
The last beach place I rented asked me for the names, ages, and relationships to me of everyone who would be staying there. It would be easy to Google/Facebook people with that info to see if they're real and acceptable to you.
Rental Property Investor · Concord, GA · Member since 2015 · 3k+ posts · 3k+ votes
6y
My son has an airbnb in FL and discovered that if locals are trying to rent the place, it's usually with partying intent. He's had a few negative experiences but nothing "horrible". Well, bloody Gary was pretty bad...
Anyway, lots of good ideas in this thread but it's a risk that comes with this investment model. Other models have other risks like our long term renters not paying rent because they hear on TV they don't have to.
Rental Property Investor · Nashua, NH · Member since 2014 · 598 posts · 477 votes
6y
@Rachel Hughes I’ll play the devil’s advocate here and say you don’t prevent guests with bad intentions. All the ideas above are good and minimize your risk for getting a bad Apple, but ultimately you cannot completely prevent it other than, as you indicated, being right next door or having neighbors who know they can call you at the first sign of problems.
I had some kids with great reviews stay in one of my rentals with security cameras at the front door. They rolled a keg in the back, dropped in the tub, and my cleaners spent an additional hour of the turnover cleaning out the empties and scrubbing the tub down from all the beer.
My first indication that anything was wrong? The instant five star review on checkout and request that I reciprocate.
For rentals at a distance you can also look into noise alert products like NoiseAware or Roomonitor that respect guests’ privacy while
alerting you for noise levels above X decibels, but at the end of the day it’s just risk mitigation versus outright prevention.
Hope this helps and glad you caught this one before there was any real damage.