+- Airbnb Host and Investors Forum (https://thestrsite.com)
+-- Forum: General (https://thestrsite.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=17)
+--- Forum: Advice (https://thestrsite.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=13)
+--- Thread: Dodging demanding guests (/showthread.php?tid=194)
Dodging demanding guests - dagohh - 07-20-2025
In June I had a cancellation (1 week) and I was disappointed. June is high season and it was a last minute cancellation so the odds of someone else booking was really low. At the last minute (2 days prior) someone started asking information (not booking request) for that 1 week. We check his reviews and some are positive but some were red flags. We answered a question the potential guest had which resulted in him asking more questions, which we are fine with. But then within minutes he started to demand we book an event for him. Our gut feeling was that the guy is trouble so we blocked the dates so he could not book and advised him to contact a travel agent or stay at a hotel with a concierge for this requests. Today we are reading his reviews again and we see that he booked with someone else and he caused a lot of problems. Very demanding, treating the host like his personal assistant and requesting refunds over silly things.. so we dodged a bullet! We didn't get any money for that 1 week because nobody else booked, but we also avoided what could have probably been a disaster. These guests that have crazy demands during the "booking request" are just not worth it.
RE: Dodging demanding guests - moretimeoffguy - 07-21-2025
It really also depends on their prior review history, I sometimes get these oddball requests / questions but if they have a decent prior stay history and supporting host feedback that isnt left by a bot or property management site I would still consider them. If its a totally new account, most likely not.
RE: Dodging demanding guests - JohnL - 07-25-2025
Agree, sometimes the more "communication" I get during a booking request the more red flags. Usually most guests just drop a few lines in their booking requests .. "here to visit family", "here for a convention". It's those that write an entire essay starting off with "how great my place looks" and asking simple questions which are already answered in the listing that present the red flags.
RE: Dodging demanding guests - RatherBTraveling - 08-24-2025
It would also be way easier for us hosts to spot these trouble guests if hosts weren't always so scared about leaving guests terrible reviews for fear of "retaliation". I will call them out every time in my review but I know many of you wont.