Post by High Priestess on Nov 7, 2017 18:52:04 GMT
Airbnb's limited means for screening guests...and ways to expand screening techniques. For Airbnb renting or for property rentals generally.
It's a topic that's come up on a few host threads over the years, and it came up again recently on a post in another host community group. The topic of how important it is to hosts that we can thoroughly screen guests who ask to stay in our homes...combined with the very limited means of screening guests that's available through Airbnb.
Consider...if I put an ad on other property rental websites, I can screen potential renters by
(1) Asking for their phone number so I can speak to them on the phone.
(2) Asking for documentation from them to verify something, eg, their stated purpose for visiting my area. (eg...they say they are coming as an employee of a certain company, or to attend a workshop...they can submit documents showing that)
(3) Asking for a link to a website that shows who they are and how they are employed.
(4) Meeting them in person if they are in the area.
(5) Getting a credit report, if needed for a long term stay.
(6) getting references from previous landlords, if needed.
(7) Check local court records and see if there are eviction records or other court actions involving the guest.
All of those methods of screening are difficult to impossible to do on Airbnb, however. Combine this with the fact that (1) Airbnb is pushing hosts more and more to use instant book, bypassing the screening process altogether,
(2) Airbnb often refuses to pay for damages to host property caused by the guest (just read another story about another very upsetting Air refusal to pay for damages, on another host group today) ...
(3) Airbnb refuses to allow hosts to collect a separate security depost direct from the guest...
and...this makes it seem all the more important to be able to screen guests more thoroughly.
How to do that?
Well in spite of limitations on the Airbnb site for obtaining info from guests, hosts if inclined can do online searches to try to find more info about the guest.
Doing online searches can be facilitated by knowing more about how to search on search engines. Recently I was told about some improved ways to search, which this site explains more fully:
www.lifewire.com/boolean-search-terms-google-1616810
This topic came up in an interesting thread, where after I said that the Airbnb profile photo of a particular guest looked like a "mug shot", someone else did a search and found an actual police booking mug shot of that very guest. I would not have been able to find this info without knowing a little more about how to search on Google or other search engines, This site link I"m including here explains more about how to do that.
For instance, if you have someone's name and want to see if there are any mug shots for that person online anywhere, you can search this way -- entering this phrase in the Google search box.
Example:
Or:
This then will bring up any mug shots of people with that name, if any such exist.
For instance for OJ Simpson:
www.google.com/search?source=hp&ei=_QAC*&!SOoTojwPi7pHYAw&q=%22OJ+Simpson%22+%28mugshot%29&oq=%22OJ+Simpson%22+%28mugshot%29&gs_l=psy-ab.3..0i22i30k1j0i22i10i30k1.1196.7540.0.8404.22.22.0.0.0.0.250.1743.15j2j2.19.0....0...1.1.64.psy-ab..3.18.1688...0j46j0i131k1j0i46k1.0.zn5wIN7USnA
And
www.google.com/search?q=%22OJ+Simpson%22+(mugshot)&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjTosKhka3XAhXDKGMKHf2EBr0QsAQIJQ&biw=1366&bih=662
It's a topic that's come up on a few host threads over the years, and it came up again recently on a post in another host community group. The topic of how important it is to hosts that we can thoroughly screen guests who ask to stay in our homes...combined with the very limited means of screening guests that's available through Airbnb.
Consider...if I put an ad on other property rental websites, I can screen potential renters by
(1) Asking for their phone number so I can speak to them on the phone.
(2) Asking for documentation from them to verify something, eg, their stated purpose for visiting my area. (eg...they say they are coming as an employee of a certain company, or to attend a workshop...they can submit documents showing that)
(3) Asking for a link to a website that shows who they are and how they are employed.
(4) Meeting them in person if they are in the area.
(5) Getting a credit report, if needed for a long term stay.
(6) getting references from previous landlords, if needed.
(7) Check local court records and see if there are eviction records or other court actions involving the guest.
All of those methods of screening are difficult to impossible to do on Airbnb, however. Combine this with the fact that (1) Airbnb is pushing hosts more and more to use instant book, bypassing the screening process altogether,
(2) Airbnb often refuses to pay for damages to host property caused by the guest (just read another story about another very upsetting Air refusal to pay for damages, on another host group today) ...
(3) Airbnb refuses to allow hosts to collect a separate security depost direct from the guest...
and...this makes it seem all the more important to be able to screen guests more thoroughly.
How to do that?
Well in spite of limitations on the Airbnb site for obtaining info from guests, hosts if inclined can do online searches to try to find more info about the guest.
Doing online searches can be facilitated by knowing more about how to search on search engines. Recently I was told about some improved ways to search, which this site explains more fully:
www.lifewire.com/boolean-search-terms-google-1616810
This topic came up in an interesting thread, where after I said that the Airbnb profile photo of a particular guest looked like a "mug shot", someone else did a search and found an actual police booking mug shot of that very guest. I would not have been able to find this info without knowing a little more about how to search on Google or other search engines, This site link I"m including here explains more about how to do that.
For instance, if you have someone's name and want to see if there are any mug shots for that person online anywhere, you can search this way -- entering this phrase in the Google search box.
"Name of person" (mugshot)
Example:
"Johnny Appleseed"(mugshot)
Or:
"OJ Simpson"(mugshot)
This then will bring up any mug shots of people with that name, if any such exist.
For instance for OJ Simpson:
www.google.com/search?source=hp&ei=_QAC*&!SOoTojwPi7pHYAw&q=%22OJ+Simpson%22+%28mugshot%29&oq=%22OJ+Simpson%22+%28mugshot%29&gs_l=psy-ab.3..0i22i30k1j0i22i10i30k1.1196.7540.0.8404.22.22.0.0.0.0.250.1743.15j2j2.19.0....0...1.1.64.psy-ab..3.18.1688...0j46j0i131k1j0i46k1.0.zn5wIN7USnA
And
www.google.com/search?q=%22OJ+Simpson%22+(mugshot)&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjTosKhka3XAhXDKGMKHf2EBr0QsAQIJQ&biw=1366&bih=662