‘Cringey’ Airbnb question that needs to go

Booking a stay at an Airbnb is a bit like joining a church. First you have to beg for mercy, then prepare for judgement.

Travelling is easier than it used to be. There’s no need for paper maps, payphones or letters. However, travellers have become used to certain new demeaning things.

Case in point? The message you have to send your Airbnb host when you book. Though it is casually entitled something like “tell your host a little bit about yourself and the nature of your trip” we all know what it really means: prove you’re not a weirdo. Justify your trip. Beg, Escape reports.

Despite being a useful filtering (and logistics) tool for hosts, as a guest it feels like you are being asked to plead your case. Like you’re prostrating yourself to the gods.

And even after doing this, if you get chosen to stay (lucky you), you will then be judged for how you leave the place, with reviews of your cleanliness posted online for all to titter over.

This normalisation of begging for a holiday was brought up on Twitter (now X) by user Mike Townsend, who wrote: “So dehumanising writing a little blurb about yourself to the Airbnb host when u request a booking.”

“Please sir let me pay a weeks wages so I can stay in your lodgings. I am but a humble, boring man, I am quiet as a mouse. I have no fun or disruptive friends. I love landlords.”

Another Twitter user then chimed in: “And then you’re paying to be judged on how exactly you left the place. I got a message from a host once because there was no recycling bin so I left the (rinsed) bottles etc next to the bin which apparently could have ‘got me bad reviews’ from other hosts.”

‘Dear sir … I am quiet as a mouse’: there’s one hilarious thing everyone does on Airbnb, without even knowing it …

Other comments ranged from hacks to make this process less time consuming (see: “I literally just write ‘hi I’ll be in the area to do x y and z, I look forward to staying here’ and get accepted every time” and “I mentioned my husband being an engineer and myself an author … We are quiet, clean, and follow rules or something like that”) and yet further questions: “Booked an Airbnb the other day and this was the weirdest step. He speaks Spanish. Which one of us is supposed to use the translator?”

When booking a stay on Airbnb, not only do you have to pay for the privilege, but you also have to beg for the host’s bendicion…

Another Twitter user recommended you “Go for the Instant Book listings” as “you just book and avoid the cringey blurb!”

Others pondered why such a step has become necessary. One wrote: “This seems…weird. We own a rental and don’t do this. Maybe that person has been burned before? IDK. I have acquaintances that have had their place essentially rioted in, costing a lot of money. Still seems unnecessary, except some ABB are within a person’s living space w/kids.”

Further comments included: “It’s the same energy as when you get pulled over for speeding” and “literally feels like begging!!”

Then a host chimed in, revealing – from their point of view – it’s not that big of a deal: “I am a host, barely lucky to get an approximate arrival time, let alone any other facts. Occasionally a bit more. You are obviously working too hard on a response. I do like to know a little bit about why people are coming here though.”

Whether you think this is an outrage or actually pretty reasonable, hopefully it gives you some ideas on how to write your next Airbnb stay request. And if you still feel aggrieved, there’s always this Airbnb travel hack that “feels illegal to know.”