How to Identify Problem Airbnb Guests in Colombia Before They Book

Strategies to Identify Problem Airbnb Guests in Colombia Before They Book

Here are five strategies to identify problem Airbnb guests in Colombia before they book.

1. See if They Have a Completed Airbnb Profile

There are eleven parts to complete an Airbnb profile. Below is a 100 percent completed profile.

Let’s examine each section:

1. The profile photo is a close-up of me, and it’s not blurry. As I’m the author of the best-selling book for Airbnb hosts, I have decided to forgo a normal portrait for this.
2. I listed my full name.
3. I created my profile many years ago (note: this is automatically populated in any profile; however, it’s an important piece of information).
4. I am a Superhost
5. I have hundreds of reviews (as you’ll see in both 5a and 5b, they come from both hosts and guests)
6. I verified myself with an official identification
7. My description is more than 100 words.
8. I identified my current city or where I’m from, the languages I speak, and my work.
9. I provided additional information to verify myself and increase the trust score of my profile
10. I am an Airbnb host of multi listings
11. I created at least one Airbnb guidebook.

Now, let’s look at an incomplete Airbnb profile—one that can’t be any less complete.

An incomplete Airbnb profile

2. Watch Out for Incomplete Profiles

How many sections are complete on this profile? Trick question. The answer is zero.

The profile photo (1) is not ideal because we cannot see the person. The name (2) does not count because, well, “J” is not a name. The guest wrote a single word for their description (7) which I’m not going to count as it’s less than 100 words. The verifications (9) are incomplete because you must verify an email address to register with Airbnb. If a person with this profile sent me a request, I would deny it.

3. Importance Of Each Section In an Airbnb Profile

Before I discuss how you can encourage Airbnb guests in Colombia to complete profiles, I rank each profile section in order of importance. The numbers inside the parenthesis refers to the section of the profile as identified above.

1. Reviews (5/10/4) – If other hosts reviewed the guest, this gives you a clear indication of who they are as a guest. If they have reviews from other guests, it means they’re also a host— this is the holy grail of good Airbnb guests because they knows what it’s like to be a host. Obviously, you should ensure the reviews are positive or that they responded appropriately if the reviews are negative. Being a multi-listing host (10) or a Superhost (4) doesn’t give me any additional comfort as to the quality of the guest.
2. Date (3) – Though the profile automatically populates this field, it’s extremely important when it comes to bad Airbnb guests who may be thieves trying to rob you—thieves don’t plan months or years in advance. Neither to party-throwers. Let’s say you lost your wallet, a thief recovered it, created an Airbnb profile, and even verified the ID. If the thief were smart, he would put up a nice photo and fill in a name, location, and description. However, with a recently created account, the profile may still lack reviews. Profiles without reviews raise red flags for me! Unfortunately/fortunately, Airbnb gets so many new guests every day that profiles without reviews are common. In scenarios like this, review the remainder of the profile for completeness.
3. Verifications (9) – The bare minimum verifications are phone number and email address. When you start seeing Facebook, LinkedIn, American Express, Offline ID, and so forth, the guest went above minimum standards.
4. Verified ID (6) – Verified ID is important but because a thief can verify any ID, it shouldn’t be as important to a host as other elements of a guest profile. In conjunction with a completed profile that’s a few months old, a verified ID is a powerful piece of information.
5. Description (7) – You can tell a lot about someone through his or her writing. A profile without any writing raises a sizeable red flag, whereas a profile with a description of less than 50 words raises a small red flag (think “I like to travel and looking forward to staying with you.”). Anything around 100 words is great! For reference, my profile is 177 words and probably on the longer end. Learn how to craft a perfect Airbnb profile description.
6. Photo (1) – A photo is not as important because anyone can add a photo, and Airbnb does not verify identity through photos. However, is the photo blurry? Is it a group? Is it the sunset? Is it a drawing? If it’s anything but a clear and up-close photo of a guest, this would raise a red flag.
7. About Me (8) – Has the guest taken time to fill in his work, location, and language? If not, it might raise a red flag, depending on what else he completed on the profile. If he completes the About Me section, he went above and beyond the minimums. It’s great if this section is complete but if it’s not, I would scrutinize the rest of the profile. Regarding location, if you live in a volatile Airbnb market like New York, Barcelona, San Francisco, etc. then I recommend you change your city to someplace nearby that’s pro-Airbnb. This is especially true if you have multiple listings. You never know who’s scrapping the website for data on hosts in certain cities.
8. Name (2) – Although this is not as important, a red flag should raise if the guest’s name is something like “xyz” or “J”. The guest can type any name, and it’s not necessary to match the profile name with the verified identity. Overall, this would give you another bit of information about the guest if the name is anything but, well, a name.
9. Guidebook (11) – This is only applicable if the guest is also a host. This section means the host created a guidebook for their Airbnb guests. It’s not highly used or highlighted on Airbnb, so a lot of good hosts do not use this feature. If the guidebook is there, it would give me increased confidence in the guest.