When a girl in her early twenties requested to book Vicky Borman’s one-bedroom Heritage-listed cottage within the English village of St Neots last summer, something didn’t feel right.
The user had no reviews on her Airbnb profile, so Borman, who has ‘Superhost’ status on the platform, took to social media to analyze.
There it was — an commercial on the lady’s Facebook profile for a celebration in St Neots. The intention was clear: the party was to happen in Borman’s cottage. She declined the request.
Half an hour later, Borman received one other booking request through Airbnb, this time from an older woman inquiring on behalf of her son. Suspicions raised, Borman checked out her social media profiles too, and pieced together that the second requestor’s son was friends with the would-be party host Borman had previously declined. She declined this booking too.
The experience has made her more selective about who she allows to remain within the cottage, Borman said. She said she feels checking potential guests’ social media profiles is warranted if she thinks their stay could cause problems.
“I do know there are some Airbnb hosts that literally stalk every guest. I did wonder if I used to be turning into some form of super detective, but I’m definitely not that person,” said Borman.
“If someone has good reviews, I do not feel I would like to do anything apart from make certain they’ve a pleasing stay. But unfortunately, over the previous few years, there have been not less than three situations where I felt the necessity to examine people’s social media beforehand.”
Digging through social media
A survey of 247 rental property managers from the UK, United States, France, Germany and Canada by home safety company Minut shows that Borman’s instinct was right.
Some 43% of property managers had handled noise complaints at their rentals, while 25% have had the police called to a property due to noise.
Borman, nonetheless, is a component of the 8% who said they give the impression of being at guests’ social media profiles prior to accepting a booking. It is a key a part of the vetting process for Sebastien Long, CEO of the Texas-based company Lodgeur, which offers short-term, fully furnished apartment rentals across Houston.
“We delve into social media as a more advanced check when we’ve suspicions about someone,” he said. “We’ll look to see if their story matches as much as the data that they are giving us as to why they’re booking with us.”
Long said he also performs a web based news search of potential guests to examine for negative headlines and even arrests.
Bank card problems
Long said his company takes these steps to resolve one in all its biggest problems — people using stolen bank cards.
“There are numerous individuals who will stay just a few days, then leave before the actual cardholder has a probability to dispute the bank card transaction,” he said. “One among the large things we’re in search of, is whether or not the one who is booking is using their very own bank card.”
Long said Lodgeur’s vetting process has meant blocking about 2% of nearly 1,200 bookings —a small but crucial step in its commitment to uncovering bank card fraud. The corporate’s efforts have resulted in around 10 arrests out of some 9,000 guests previously five years.
“There is a trend of ‘digital shoplifting’ where someone will just have a weekend away on another person’s bank card, principally petty criminals living it large,” he said. “The primary time it happened in 2019, we were outside one in all the properties waiting for the police to point out up, and we watched them go in and arrest the guy, dragging him out in his underwear.”
A 4.5-star rating is not enough
Airbnb superhost Crystal Shell, who manages short-term rentals in Alabama under the management company Bailey-Trace, doesn’t check renters’ social media profiles, she said. But she is strict about only accepting bookings from guests with five-star reviews on Airbnb or similar platforms.
Shell learned her lesson, she said, after initially accepting bookings from guests with 4- or 4.5-star reviews, only to seek out they didn’t adhere to the check-out procedures, like stripping all linen from beds and placing it within the laundry room, or exiting the property by 10am. It’s one in all the explanations she arrange her other business, Hello Guest Screen, which provides check-out and other relevant information on property TV screens.
Sebastian Long, CEO of the Texas-based short-term rental company Lodgeur.
Source: Sebastian Long
“One of the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior. If a guest breaks something or tears up your house, it takes perpetually for Airbnb to pay out any insurance claims. Then if you could have back-to-back bookings, which mine generally are, then you could have to cancel one other reservation, because something needs to be repaired. So I put in my listings, ‘please don’t try to book if you could have lower than five stars, or zero reviews’,” said Shell.
An Airbnb spokesperson told CNBC Travel: “Stays rarely result in issues, but we provide free AirCover for hosts and for guests, and have 24/7 support and strict policies in place.”
Airbnb also said .03% of worldwide bookings resulted in a property damage claim that exceeded $1,000, that it encourages hosts and guests to get to know one another by reading their profiles and past reviews, and to speak about their trip before confirming bookings.
Shell said she requires her guests to send a message before booking, so she will be able to confirm the character of the stay — something she advises all hosts to do.
“Having people message before booking has saved us as a rule,” she said. “I decline not less than three inquiries a day based on the response which normally involves wanting to have a celebration. We also don’t allow locals to remain for that reason.”
‘Looked good on paper’
Yet for Borman, no amount of social media vetting could have prevented the worst guest experience she’s had, she said. She accepted a last-minute booking request from a person who said he was dining out in the realm along with his wife and desired to stay within the St Neots cottage relatively than drive home.
The pair left the identical night that they arrived, after the person complained that the mattress was broken and demanded a refund, she said. Borman said she immediately went to the cottage and located the bed sheets soiled with obvious remnants of sexual intercourse — and a coaster set was missing. She sent photos to Airbnb, who declined the person’s refund request, and demanded he reimburse Borman for the coasters, plus the sheets.
Borman looked him up online afterwards, to seek out he was a widely known and revered London businessman. The search also suggested that the lady wasn’t his wife.
“Had I looked this man up beforehand, I’d probably have gone and gotten him a bottle of Champagne,” said Borman.
“He was a fellow Airbnb Superhost with an excellent track record, so looked great on paper. I didn’t think I’d find yourself cleansing up after him with rubber gloves on.”
