Perhaps you’ve seen the reports. A young couple renting out their newer single family house for the first time in Calgary rushes back to home last Monday (with police) to find an absolute disaster. A total loss that includes furniture and clothes. It’s international news at this point.
While we certainly can’t prevent everything negative from happening as Airbnb hosts, here’s what I try to do with advance planning:
Verifications. I have the highest setting available on website. If a potential guest can’t fill out an entire profile, he/she won’t be staying in any of my homes.
Communication. Always review the tone, details and overall sense of what messaging is REALLY saying. Tell Tale signs of a problem guest include unusual or out of ordinary questions during inquiry phase.
Repetitive Information. What this means is simple – as people are getting worse at paying attention these days, the most important points regarding my listings are repeated throughout the page. In one case, I say it four times. This way there is absolutely no argument when a guest arrives without a house manual 5 hours before check-in (and many other things that happen!).
Instant Book Limitation. Only guests with positive reviews can utilize that feature.
Have a great month, everyone. Season is almost over!
GD
The Dexter Experience 