7 Big Tips for Guest Screening at Your Vacation Rentals

If you own or manage a vacation rental property, you know all the work required to keep the revenue rolling in. Cleaning, guest communication, and home maintenance are just a few tasks to keep track of. We hate to add another item to your to-do list, but we promise it’s vital for a successful vacation rental business: guest screening.

You might require guest IDs upon booking. After all, you’ve likely completed ID verification on sites like Airbnb and VRBO as well. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to guest screening.

Here at SaferVRs, we create and share resources with vacation rental owners to keep their properties safe and secure. Let’s break down the most important parts of guest screening and how you can perfect your guest screening process for maximum safety and efficiency.

1. Don’t Rely on Booking Channels for ID Verification

You might leverage multiple booking channels to improve your occupancy rate. However, each channel comes with different terms, processes, and guest screening protocols.

For example, Airbnb requires an identity verification from guests upon registration. But that speaks to one account, not every additional guest that will be present in the booking. Similarly, VRBO offers guests the option to verify their identity, but they don’t require it.

Our advice? Don’t rely on a booking channel’s security measures. Take the initiative and request photos of all guest IDs prior to confirming the booking.

2. Conduct Criminal Background Checks

Identity verification platform AutoHost estimates criminal background checks to cost around $6 per person. It’s in your best interest to Invest in the check, especially if you have a more luxurious property with the potential for higher-cost damages. You might come across someone with a record of mischief or theft, in which case you wouldn’t want them on your property.

Background checks can also help you identify any guests with violent backgrounds. What if you come across a convicted sex offender, and your vacation rental is in a neighborhood with families?

Background checks can also protect your business from fraud. If you find any inconsistent information from a guest when compared to a background check, they might be trying to use someone else’s identity.

3. Look at Guest Reviews

Vacation rental platforms offer both guests and vacation rental owners the opportunity to review each other.

Before you accept a booking from a potential guest, check out their reviews. If they have one mediocre review amongst many good ones, chances are you’re in the clear. However, if you notice consistent complaints from other homeowners citing issues around cleanliness, deception, or property damage, you might not want to accept their booking.

4. Don’t Automatically Accept Bookings

Airbnb is well-known for their auto-approved bookings, which help hosts maximize occupancy and streamline their businesses.

While you might only accept auto-bookings from 5-star guests, that’s still not a bulletproof measure to screen them. We recommend you review each vacation rental application for red flags before you accept and ask questions about the following:

• Number of guests: Even if the booking notes a number of guests, we recommend you send a message to your guest to confirm that number.
• Reason for traveling: Vacation, work, or family vacations are all reasonable purposes for travel. If your potential guests can’t share their intentions for their trip, you might want to reconsider accepting their booking.
• Reviews: Check the booking channel you received the request, as well as other channels, by asking the guest to share links to other reviews.
• Occupation: Your occupation makes you more accountable for your actions. For example, a lawyer wouldn’t risk his reputation or career by participating in criminal activity within your property. Similarly, someone in a more entry-level position for a notable company wouldn’t risk their reputation and career trajectory to do anything illegal, either.
• House rules: Confirm with the guest that they’ve read and understand your house rules, and invite them to ask any questions for clarification.

5. Leverage Vacation Rental Guest Screening Tools

Software continues to evolve, even in the short-term rental industry. These days, you have a variety of tools with the functionality to verify a guest’s data and bring you peace of mind.

Here are a couple of examples of tools you might use to add an extra layer of protection to your guest screening:

• Safely: With Safely, the tool will automatically run the guest through a number of databases, including their own, and give you a guest risk score so you can make an informed decision if you want to proceed with the booking or not. They also provide a report, covering you legally if you decide to cancel a reservation.
• Superhog: This guest screening tool screens guests with its API in seconds and also handles your security deposit, check-in instructions, and other guest communication tasks.

Pricing isn’t listed on each platform’s website. However, you can expect to pay a monthly subscription fee depending on how often you need to use the platform.

6. Check Guests’ Social Media Profiles

Most people have Facebook, and some people even have open profiles that you can easily view. On top of that, you can look at guest profiles on Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn to get a better feel of their character, lifestyle, and any potential risks.

Notice a bunch of Instagram stories of potential guests attending or hosting loud parties? Or you may notice photos of heavy drinking and substance use. While a little entertainment is normal on vacation, you can view social media content and make your own judgment call about what you’re comfortable with.

7. Require Guests to Sign a Rental Agreement

This is the final step in a healthy guest screening process. Once your guests check all your boxes, seal the deal with a rental agreement that covers all the house rules of your vacation rental.

You might even include safety guidelines, as well as statements about costs the guests are responsible for if they leave anything damaged.

Here are some more items to include in your rental agreement:

• Maximum occupancy
• Rental period
• Cancellation policy
• Local laws and regulations

Why Guest Screening is Vital

Bad guests don’t just leave a bad review or mess to clean up. They have the power to cost you thousands of dollars in damages or legal issues. Meaning? Guest screening is essential to protect your rental business and investment.

Rental insurance provider Proper Insurance shared that the average damage claim value from short-term rental owners was $13,000. If you’re covered, that’s great — if not, you’re in a pickle. Plus, dealing with insurance providers adds more time to your day, slows down your occupancy, and affects your bottom-line revenue.

But what if you could predict and mitigate the risk of damages? Guest screening does exactly that by helping you act on red flags before you rent out your property.

Protect Your Vacation Rental Business with Safer VRs!

Bottom line? Intelligent guest screening isn’t optional anymore; it’s paramount for a safe vacation rental business operation.

You might have a packed calendar of bookings, but that revenue can quickly turn into expenses if you don’t screen your guests for potential issues and risks.

The good news? Short-term rental (STR) safety is attainable with a little bit of research. Safer VRs offers courses to help vacation homeowners like yourself make their businesses safe and protect their investments.

Ready to take your vacation rental business to the next level?

Sign up for Safer VRs’s 9 Life-saving Rules for Vacation Rentals.