To not want to justify my existence just to stay in an Airbnb

[CanILeavenowplease]

I have had a difficult few weeks and wanted to take my children away for a few nights. I found a lovely property on Airbnb which I haven’t previously used. That seemed to put me into ‘risky’ category and the owner had to approve my booking. Fair enough. Except said owner wanted a low down on my life, the universe and everything before agreeing to rent to me. Is this how it works? We now have to justify who we are before staying somewhere? Or am I correct in wondering if the 1 adult, 3 children booking made him assume it was a single parent booking and he assumed I am in some way unsuitable as a result? I have cancelled the request to be allowed to book so if you’re reading this, middle-class professional here, able to afford your cottage without any problems whatsoever. Also clean, tidy and quiet. I have given my money to someone who was happy to accept the booking with no further questions.

I mean this kindly, but I think you are being over sensitive. Airbnb started as people renting out their own rooms/spare rooms, so it makes sense that owners would want to know who they were renting to. Although it is now mainly more commercial lettings, the company still wants to maintain that personal connection. I don’t think many owners are expecting much information from potential renters. I hope you find somewhere nice for your break.

Well AirBnB isn’t a hotel - it’s someone’s home. So if you hadn’t someone staying in your home wouldn’t you want to just double check they were ok?

Hope you have a nice time away and manage to chill out a bit.

Some of them are quite chatty, almost nosey. But if the place is what I want....meh, let them quiz me, I don’t have to go into great detail.

What info did they actually ask for? I don't think it's unreasonable when it's someone renting out their home or holiday home, and to me says they actually care about the property vs. A boring hotel of commercial let.
Hope you have a good time away.

Well i didnt have to be approved when i made my first Airb&b resently.

I booked it as i would a hotel ok i did message the owner (where it gives you option too at the end) just to say i was looking forward to my stay. I didnt have a single question back even though i had literally set up my account to book the apartment.

My parents are airb&b hosts, they don't vet any one, (admitadly they do say the place is unsuitable for children anyway) but again they just get messages of looking forward to my stay. Or any neogations (bringing pets, staying for an extended period, lefts to and from public transport, sbort notice bookings)

This sounds like something this particalar host has set up

What did they ask you OP?

Yes what did they actually ask?

Agreed with PP’s, depends how much they wanted to know really.

Literally everything I read about Airbnb puts me off more. Fuck that it would irritate me too. But that's why I use hotels.

It's quite doubtful that the host in question is reading Mumsnet.

It's not about you being a first user - some listings allow auto book, some don't. I've been using Airbnb for years and this sometimes crops up, it's just the preference of the owner.

You can filter properties to avoid this if you want, but you're reading too much into it.

What DerelictWreck said. I've had a couple of failed Airbnb bookings in recent years because the host didn't have the automatic setting on and hadn't been checking their email to approve or respond.

Youre being a bit unreasonable OP. Some of the owners do have it set up so they have to approve people, but from speaking to the ones I've used that do this, it tends to be to screen out hen/stag parties or groups of single sex people. Some can be a bit nosey but given that a lot of lettings are people renting out their home whilst they are away it's understandable that they want to know a bit about you.

Most of the commercial lettings dont require owners approval to book.

I've done 5 bookings with Air BnB, and the booking needed to be approved by the owner every time. When booking I write a short blurb saying something like "DH, DC and I are going to be in town for a wedding, looking forward to visiting." No one's asked me any further questions. What did they ask you?

You’re being a bit sensitive. AirBnB is people sharing their own private properties, so they will be more precious over them than a commercial entity would. It’s totally reasonable for them to want to collect information from potential guests so they can make an informed decision.

I rent a room in my house via AirBnb and whilst it works well, I would guess 50% of the people don't bother to read the advert properly. Folk often don't tell us what time they are arriving meaning we're waiting for them, try and check in at 6am, or arrive and announce they are allergic to cats, despite it clearly saying, 'don't stay with us if you are allergic to cats'. I have had people sneak in a guy they met in a bar and steal new towels. So if you're asked for a bit more info, it's because she's trying to discern if you're a suitable match to her family. Don't take it personally.
And read the house rules, please just read the basic house rules.

We can't really comment unless we know what they asked, OP.

I have booked a fair few places in air bnb. It is fine of you are just booking a bed to sleep in. But I am sick of too many amateurish people on air bnb who do not charge amateur rates.

I can't say I'm an expert, but in outer London and a lot of us hate AirBnB because of the volume of hen/stag parties etc and also in flats, the problems of noise etc.

I would be interested to know what questions made you think it was something to do with being a single parent

You're being over sensitive, this is someone's home. It's totally normal they want to know a bit about you.
What did they ask that got your back up?

We've just booked a house through a similar website for a holiday in America and the owner wanted to know a bit about me so I told him mine and my husbands ages, our sons age and what we do. I also sent him a family picture.

Depends on what they asked.

Oh God ginswinger I once had an Airbnb guest literally message me every 10 mins with questions that were stated clearly and could be answered in the welcome letter. It was exasperating. Everything from WiFi to check out times and everything in between. But that's another thread.

Or am I correct in wondering if the 1 adult, 3 children booking made him assume it was a single parent booking and he assumed I am in some way unsuitable as a result?

so if you’re reading this, middle-class professional here, able to afford your cottage without any problems whatsoever. Also clean, tidy and quiet.

After reading that, I'd say it's you who's a bit prejudiced against single parents.

Or at least that's how you're coming across, otherwise why would you even imagine a non middle class single parent would be unable to afford the stay, or that they may be the opposite of clean, tidy and quiet?

Lots of people have had their Airbnb accounts hacked lately, someone was interviewed about it on the radio earlier. I suspect that’s made owners uber vigilant.

And yes op... would a working class, single mother who worked in a shop for instance be a worse prospect than you? And why?