A guest with no reviews wants to book. Should you accept?

A request comes in. The guest has no reviews, a short profile and a one-line message. It's tempting to decline and wait for someone with a track record. But every guest with fifty reviews once had zero, and if you only accept experienced guests you'll turn away a lot of perfectly good bookings.

No reviews usually means "new", not "risky"

Most guests with no reviews are simply new to Airbnb, or they've only travelled with a partner who did the booking. Young travellers, older couples trying it for the first time, someone booking their own trip after years of hotel stays: these are ordinary people. Treating them all with suspicion costs you bookings, and it can also cost you in your new listing's early weeks, when every booking counts. Our post on getting your first bookings explains why those early stays matter.

Look at the request, not the profile

The profile tells you little. The request tells you a lot. Things that are reassuring:

• A message that mentions why they're coming: a wedding, a work trip, visiting family.
• A group size that fits the property.
• Dates that make sense for the purpose.
• Normal questions about parking, check-in or the kitchen.

Things worth a second look:

• A one-night Saturday booking for the maximum number of guests, booked a day or two out.
• A local guest booking a large place for one night with no reason given.
• Someone booking "for a friend" who will actually be staying. Our post on booking for someone else covers that one.
• Pressure to accept quickly, or questions about how strict you are about noise.

None of these are proof of anything. They're a reason to ask before you accept.

Ask, don't interrogate

One or two friendly questions sort out most uncertainty:

Thanks for your request. Could you tell me a bit about your trip and who'll be staying? Just so I can make sure the place suits you.

A genuine guest answers in a sentence or two, often with more detail than you needed. A guest planning a party tends to go vague, gives a different group size, or stops replying. Either way, you've learned something without accusing anyone.

Keep your questions the same for every guest with a similar request. Asking only certain people for more detail is unfair, and it runs against Airbnb's non-discrimination policy. Decisions should rest on the booking details, like group size, dates and what they've told you, not on someone's name, photo or where they're from.

Make your rules do the filtering

Clear house rules put off the wrong guests before they ever request. If you don't allow parties or visitors, say so plainly in the listing and in the rules guests agree to when booking. Our house rules template covers the main ones. A guest who reads "no parties, no extra visitors, quiet hours from 10pm" and still books is accepting those terms, and if they break them you have a clear basis for a complaint.

If you decline, keep it short

You don't owe a long explanation:

Thanks for your interest. Unfortunately the place isn't the right fit for this booking, so I'll decline the request. I hope you find somewhere great.

Respond promptly either way. Letting a request expire without an answer is worse for your listing than a polite decline.

The bottom line

Accept most first-time guests. Ask a friendly question when the dates or group size look unusual. Decline when the answers don't add up. That approach fills your calendar, keeps you on the right side of Airbnb's policies and still catches the bookings you'd regret.