AIRBNB HOSTING: SHOULD YOU ALLOW PRE-VISITS TO GUESTS BEFORE BOOKING
Hello friends, Airbnb super host today's video is a common question that we've all received and that is hey I'm in the neighborhood. Can I come check out your property before I book it. So, based on the hundreds of questions that we continue to see in the Facebook group. This is really common guests want to come take a look at the property before they book and commit to it. Host don't really know what to do. Should I say yeah? Should I say no? Is it good? Is it bad? What do you think and I'm gonna share with you. What my thoughts are the good the bad the ugly and also what I do so let's first break it down. Why do they want to come check it out well ? They want to come check it out to make sure that the pictures are the same or that the location or there's a something that they're worried about coming to physically. Take a look at your property is theoretically going to address that concern give them. The comfort to go ahead and lock it up right well.
My question is this are those the kind of gas that are going to be good guests? What are they worried about? Why is this such a big deal? I mean Airbnb is a transactional platform. It's designed to be online there is no intermediate step where you go physically to the location and walk around and tour and you know walk with muddy shoes in the house or have a maid come meet them. That doesn't exist so why do they want to bother with it and ultimately my own personal belief is these are tend to be people that are either doing something that. They want to make sure will fit there whether it's a party or a celebration or they want to film something or maybe they're not being really clear with us like why they want to be there but whatever it is they really need to be there and I've sort of put a little bit of a red flag on those type of guests and said maybe they're not a good fit. I run my business online and I'm transaction oriented and so people that want to transact with me online those are the kind of people that I want to attract so look I'm not saying that everybody who wants to come look at the place is a problem in fact there's a lot of benefits to them coming to see the problem.
It's like what you see is, what you get, they can't really complain after the fact if in fact they've toured around and they've checked it out and they saw that. This was under repair or that the couch didn't fold out or whatever it is that they're concerned about but at the same time there's a cost of doing business right. You have to physically be there. You have to meet or make your made available to let them in and that's just sort of off market. I've never gone to a hotel room and toured the property before I've booked it.
I've never gone and looked at seek 13d on an airplane before I booked it. I'm used to booking and so I'm therefore a good guest of the hotel and a good passenger on the airplane and I'm looking for perhaps more experienced people on Airbnb. That are also prepared to transact online without the added cost and inconvenience of coming and strolling my property me making small talk and so on and so forth it's just off market in my opinion. Now, obviously there are special cases and they're exceptions to everything. So, I don't want to suggest that this is a hard and fast rule but if somebody did in fact want to have a commercial photo shoot and they wanted to check the light and they were willing to pay a premium and I have another video that talks about how I price commercial shoots and so on well.
That's an exception because I'm also charging a premium and so therefore I'm being compensated for my time or for the maids time to let them in but the concept of hey I just want to come by. Can I come check it out in my personal opinion where I've grown to is that's not necessary today. There's somebody else who's willing to rent it behind them. That isn't going to stop and inconvenience me.
They're going to trust the reviews. They're going to trust the platform. They're gonna trust Airbnb or VRBO and those are people that I think are gonna be better guests in my home and so consequently more often than not probably 95-98 percent of the time. I just say we're unavailable and the other thing to keep in mind is there could be a guest in residence. You do not want to disturb your current guests to show somebody else the property. That's a no-no. So, it's just you have to check the calendar you have to make arrangements. You have to calendar it. You have to meet them . You have to let them. You have to walk them around yet that's a lot of time. It's not necessary if you're doing your Airbnb job properly and you've got good reviews and you're a good host.
Chances are you can book the place at the same price shortly after this person goes away and find somebody else's place to rent. There's somebody else behind it to rent your place. So, it's unnecessary in my opinion. So, should you allow? It well it's up to you whatever you want. You're in business for yourself . However you would like to do it all. I'm trying to do is give you the perspective that it not necessary don't feel pressured into it. Don't listen to the oh. I love it but this and that I can't do it until like stop pause breathe relax. if this person that might be a problem or has these special needs isn't able to book it. It's okay.
There's a whole Internet of people all over the world that might book it and just do it online. So, keep that in mind so please go ahead and share with us in the comments below. Do you allow people in how often under? What reasons? How do you do it? Does it make any sense? Do you still do it maybe you did it . You stop doing it. That's kind of like what I think is happening in the meantime. I'd really appreciate if you liked the video I'd also really be grateful. If you went ahead and subscribe to the YouTube channel. Thank you very much happy posting!!