If you’ve had a bad experience with a guest on Airbnb, chances are you did not screen that guest effectively. But if you know what to look out for and what questions to ask, it is fairly easy to determine which guests are likely to break your house rules—and which ones might be engaged in criminal activity like fraud or identity theft.

Anton Zilberberg is the Founder and CEO of Autohost, a new AI tool for screening Airbnb guests, and QuickStay, a luxury short-term rental (STR) management company out of Toronto with a portfolio of 100-plus properties. Today, he joins me to explain why it’s crucial to screen would-be guests and walk us through the questions he asks to determine intent.

Anton offers insight on the two types of risk, general and criminal, sharing the red flags to look out for and additional measures to take in minimizing your risk portfolio. He also weighs in on the pros and cons of different booking channels and discusses the risks associated with guests coming from Airbnb, Booking.com and VRBO. Listen in for the parameters Anton uses to establish a risk score for potential STR guests and learn how to handle cancellations for both instant bookings and booking requests on Airbnb.

Topics Covered

Why it’s crucial to screen your STR guests

Allows for sustainable business
Residential area not like hotel (e.g.: noise concerns)

Anton’s screening questions for Airbnb guests

What is the purpose of your stay?
Why are you interested in this property?
Where are you traveling from?
What is your experience with STR?

Anton’s tips for screening potential STR guests

Set expectations at booking stage
Make sure guest story makes sense
Get indication of intent (i.e.: birthday party)

Anton’s insight on the two types of risk

General risk (e.g.: rule violations, additional guests)
Criminal activity such as fraud, identity theft

Potential red flags for criminal activity

Out-of-province phone #, long stay + high ADR
Never answer phone but reply with SMS

The pros and cons of different booking channels

Airbnb good fraud detection, higher general risk
com high risk for fraud (establish processes)
VRBO high general risk, less payment risk

Factors to consider in determining general risk

Length of stay
Booking channel
Type of property
Number of guests
Average daily rate
Day of week

The benefit of using Airbnb Instant Book

No penalty for cancellation with valid concern
More information to run guest risk score

How Anton handles Airbnb booking requests

Run risk score with information available
Run again once booking confirmed
Establish strict rules if score changes
Invite guest to cancel for full refund

Connect with Anton

Autohost

Quickstay

Anton on LinkedIn

Resources

STR Legends Live

NoiseAware

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