When a woman in her twenties asked her to close Vicky Borman’s one bedroom heritage listed cottage in the English village of St Neots last summer, something was wrong.
The user had no reviews on her Airbnb profile, so Borman, who does “Superhost” status. platform, took to social media to investigate.
There it was — an advertisement on the woman’s Facebook profile for a party in St Neots. The intention was clear: the party would take place at Borman’s country house. She refused the request.
Half an hour later, Borman received another booking request through Airbnb, this time from an older woman inquiring on behalf of her son. Suspicions raised, Borman also checked her social media profiles and gathered that the second applicant’s son was friends with the would-be party host Borman, which she had previously denied. He rejected this reservation as well.
The experience has made her more selective about who she allows to stay at the cottage, Borman said. He said he believes checking potential visitors’ social media profiles is justified if he believes their stay could cause problems.
“I know there are some Airbnb hosts who literally stalk every guest. I was wondering if I was becoming some kind of super detective, but I’m definitely not that person,” Borman said.
“If someone has good reviews, I don’t feel like I need to do anything other than make sure they have a pleasant stay. But unfortunately, in the last few years, there have been at least three occasions where I’ve felt the need to check people’s social media from in advance”.
Digging into social media
ONE overview of 247 rental property managers from the UK, US, France, Germany and Canada by home security company Minut shows that Borman’s instincts were right.
Some 43% of property managers had experienced noise complaints at their rentals, while 25% had the police called to a property because of noise.
Borman, however, is part of the 8 percent who said they look at guests’ social media profiles before accepting a reservation. It’s a key part of the vetting process for Sebastien Long, CEO of the Texas-based company Lodgeurwhich offers short-term, fully furnished apartment rentals throughout Houston.
“We delve into social media as a more advanced check when we have suspicions about someone,” he said. “We’ll look to see if their story matches the information they’re giving us about why they’re booking with us.”
Long said he also conducts an online news search of potential visitors to check for negative headlines and even arrests.
Credit card problems
Long said his company is taking these steps to solve one of its biggest problems — people using stolen credit cards.
“There are a lot of people who will stay a few days and then leave before the actual cardholder has a chance to dispute the credit card transaction,” he said. “One of the big things we look for is if the person making the reservation is using their own credit card.”
Long ago, Lodgeur’s vetting process means around 2% of nearly 1,200 bookings are excluded —a small but critical step in its commitment to uncovering credit card fraud. The company’s efforts have resulted in about 10 arrests out of about 9,000 visitors over the past five years.
“There’s a trend of ‘digital theft’ where someone will just have a weekend on someone else’s credit card, basically petty criminals living it up,” he said. “The first time it happened in 2019, we were outside one of the properties waiting for the police to turn up and we watched them come in and arrest the guy, pulling him out in his underwear.”
A 4.5 star rating is not enough
Airbnb superhost Crystal Shell, which manages short-term rentals in Alabama under the management company Bailey-Trace, does not check tenants’ social media profiles, he said. But she is strict about only accepting bookings from guests with five-star reviews on Airbnb or similar platforms.
Shell learned its lesson, he said, after initially accepting reservations from guests with 4- or 4.5-star reviews, but found they were not following check-out procedures, such as removing all sheets from beds and putting them up in the washing machine. room or check out at 10am. It’s one of the reasons she created her other business, Hello Guest Screen, which provides check-out and other related information on property TV screens.
Sebastian Long, CEO of Texas-based short-term rental company Lodgeur.
Source: Sebastian Long
“The best predictor of future behavior is past behavior. If a guest breaks something or tears up your place, it takes forever for Airbnb to pay out any insurance claims. Then if you have back-to-back bookings, which are generally their me, then you need to cancel another reservation, because something needs to be fixed, so I put my listings, “please do not attempt to book if you have less than five stars or zero reviews,” Shell said.
An Airbnb spokesperson told CNBC Travel: “Staying rarely leads to problems, but we do offer free AirCover for hosts and for guestsand have 24-hour support and strict policies in place.”
AirCover provides damage protection to hosts, and claims are paid, on average, within two weeks or less, the Airbnb spokesperson said.
Airbnb also said that 0.03% of global bookings resulted in a property damage claim exceeding $1,000 and that it encourages hosts and guests to communicate about their trip before confirming bookings.
Shell said it requires guests to send a message before booking to confirm the nature of the stay – something it advises all hosts to do.
“Texting people before booking has saved us most of the time,” he said. “I reject at least three questions a day based on the answer which usually includes wanting to have a party. We also don’t allow locals to stay for that reason.”
“Looked good on paper”
But for Borman, no amount of social media control could have prevented the worst guest experience she’s had, she said. He received a last-minute booking request from a man who said he was dining in the area with his wife and wanted to stay at his St Neots cottage rather than drive home.
The couple left the same night they arrived after the man complained the mattress was broken and demanded a refund, he said. Borman said she immediately went to the cottage to find the sheets stained with the obvious residue of sexual activity – and a set of coasters missing. He sent photos to Airbnb, which denied the man’s refund request and asked that he return Borman for the coasters, plus the sheets.
Borman looked him up on the Internet later, only to find that he was a well-known and respected London businessman. The investigation also showed that the woman was not his wife.
“If I had looked this man up beforehand, I probably would have gone and gotten him a bottle of champagne,” Borman said.
“He was a fellow Airbnb Superhost with a great track record, so he looked great on paper. I didn’t think I’d end up cleaning him up with rubber gloves.”
