Your property is valuable, so it’s important to vet the guests who’d like to stay in it. So here’s how we vet potential guests for you, to make your life easier.
Airbnb guests must give careful consideration when choosing a property to stay in. For example, does it look clean enough? Are the reviews plausible? Are the amenities up to standard?
Airbnb hosts, on the other hand, also must give careful consideration into who they are opening their doors to. What are potential guests’ reviews like? Does their profile look legit? And most importantly, what is the purpose of their stay?
The importance of vetting potential guests is something that is often overlooked, because, understandably, hosts want to get guests through their door – it’s business, afterall! But having a vetting process in place could be what protects your property from damage, theft or other risks. Find out how we do it here.
What is vetting?
Vetting simply refers to ‘assessing’ potential guests before they book your property. You could call it a background check. Hosts do this to simply ensure whoever is coming to stay in their accommodation is genuine, trustworthy and not there to cause any trouble. Airbnb has built in multiple feature that make vetting potential guests that little bit easier.
Check their Airbnb profile
Checking potential guests’ Airbnb profiles is the first and most simple step of the vetting process. A genuine Airbnb profile tends to have verified contact information, like a phone number and email address and the ‘about me’ section may also be filled. If they do not have this sort of information available, alarm bells might start to ring. Nonetheless, an incomplete profile doesn’t always mean this and likewise for a complete profile, which is why there are other vetting steps following this.
Check for past reviews
We completely understand how easy it is to make a fake, yet believable Airbnb profile, so this is when checking for previous reviews and references from other hosts comes in handy. Remember, potential guests are guaranteed to be checking your reviews, so don’t forget to check theirs too. Reviews from other hosts can give you a good idea about what that guest is like and if there have been any issues before.
Don’t be afraid to ask questions
Some guests may not even have reviews, which could simply be because they’ve never used Airbnb before, or other hosts have never left them a review. Don’t be afraid to ask questions to get a better idea about their intentions. Some common questions every host has the right to ask includes:
Why are they visiting here?
Are they bringing anyone else to stay, and if so, who?
Are they aware of your house rules?
Meet and greet
Finally, if you’ve accepted a booking but still feel a little apprehensive, personally meet and greet your guest upon arrival. Not only is this a good way to put your mind at ease, it’s a chance for you to run over house rules, check-out procedures and any other important information. Additionally, if you have suspicions, you’ll know to stay alert during their stay.
Not every genuine Airbnb user will have a complete profile and they may not have any reviews either, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they will be a ‘bad guest’. It’s up to you to go with what your gut tells you, but this vetting process can certainly help. If you feel they aren’t the right guest for your property, don’t be afraid to politely refuse their stay.
Want to know how BNBHOST can help you? Get in touch with a friendly member of our team who will be happy to talk you through our Airbnb management process!