Does anyone else here get booking inquiries that seem to be full-on parties but are described as “Mom’s 70th/75th (etc) Surprise Birthday” I have received three inquiries now…and not sure why a 75 year old mom wants to party til 11PM with a DJ and over-capacity too. LOL
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I’d get inquiries for a baby shower and ask if they could rent overnight and ask if the pool is open. I’d get an inquiry saying it’s his 21st birthday party, I’d decline based on the number of people he wanted, then months later, it’s still his 21st birthday party again and he promises to keep the number near 50…
I used to have an event listing and took it down as it was such a hassle. I’d get inquiries disguised as something else. After the news headlines in my area with houseparties spiraling out of control and multiple police agencies having to come to break it up and looking up potential renters and seeing that they advertised for parties on social media, I thought that I’m just waiting for something to happen. If you have more of a commercial space, there’s less likelihood that this will happen.
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We specifically don’t allow DJ’s and alcohol dance parties, but yes, we’ve had people try to rent our space under a different context and then end up throwing an out of control party. Once someone scheduled a memorial service for 20 people, but ended up as a 50 person dance party. You just need to be vigilant with trying to vet people (you can ask for supplemental insurance and photo IDs, etc), and then document everything with video surveillance cameras so you have proof if a rental goes south. If you feel unsafe for any reason, don’t hesitate to call the cops. Plus, don’t shy away from leaving a bad review that can help warn other renters (not that they won’t try again with a different name, but until PeerSpace requires photo IDs, this is the best we can do).
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People try this, but, after getting burned 2x early on, I’ve gotten good at vetting. Sometimes I can tell right away. Other times it takes a couple of messages. Haven’t been caught out in years.
The biggest give away is people who want to book “close family” events but don’t care to come see the space before committing. Usually means they’re focused on partying and couldn’t care less about the actual venue. I simply have the right price, size, location, whatever for them.
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Oh, photo ID would be such a great idea. I use airbnb a lot and I guess I never thought about the vulnerability until I became a host! If they supply their first and last name I at least try to look them up on social media. 
Sounds like a baby baptism in the pool rather than a shower LOL
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This is the Ops Director for Graham’s listing, for our part we don’t do DJs or any outside amplified audio (included in our Host Rules), no dance parties and no rentals period past 1:00am (with guests out by 12:30am), so that keeps most of the scammers away, plus of course no instant book, and a qualifying phone call prior to accepting any booking request related to a social event
We don’t do this, but I’ve read some hosts who rent out their homes require their renters to share their social media accounts and won’t rent to people who post tons of party pics. Just an idea.