Airbnb Answers: Guest information and flagging guest behavior

[Airbnb]

You asked: Can Airbnb share more information about guests, like their ratings, full name, etc.? Can we get the ability to flag bad guests and make this information visible to other hosts?

More guest information

We're taking a close look at what additional information we can share to help you feel confident about the quality of every guest, every time you host. Currently, before confirming a booking, you can see a potential guest’s prior reviews and profile information (including hometown, education background, hobbies, and languages spoken). But in order to protect the privacy of both hosts and guests, we don’t share last names until after a booking is confirmed. If you don’t feel comfortable accepting a reservation with this set of information, you may message guests with additional questions. We don’t share guests’ home addresses because that information is not relevant or required to make a booking.

Every guest is required to provide their full name, date of birth, phone number, email address, and payment information to Airbnb before being allowed to book a reservation. As a host, you also have the option to require guests to provide a government ID before booking your home, which is just one feature of our ongoing effort to build trust in the community.

Flagging guest behavior

In the coming months, we’ll be adding more ways for you to report guest behavior that we might need to address. Stay tuned for more, but know that host reviews of guests remain the most powerful flagging tool for the community.

More than ever before, we’re using your reviews to signal both excellent and not-so-great guest behavior. We’re developing a Superguest program that will help you identify experienced travelers with excellent ratings. And for the rare occasions things don’t go well, your reviews will help us identify poorly behaved guests, issue more specific and strict warnings, and remove those guests who do not improve their behavior.

Be assured that when guests get negative reviews from hosts, Airbnb follows up. We make sure guests receive warnings about unacceptable behavior, and in some cases they can be blocked from booking entirely. We take the safety of you and your guests very seriously, which is why we require everyone in our community to uphold our community standards. Your reviews of guests are essential to establishing trust in our community, and we’re dedicated to taking action on your behalf to help ensure high quality experiences every time you host.

In the latest Host Q&A, CEO and Head of Community Brian Chesky answered top-voted questions during a livestream event. For questions he didn’t have time to address, we’ve introduced Airbnb Answers. Want to ask more? We’ll invite hosts to ask their questions before the next quarterly Host Q&A. We’ll keep you posted in Airbnb Updates.

[Mary996]

Airbnb... please remove this misrepresentative review!!

[Amelia75]

I did have one guest for whom I prepared a lot of travel information etc. and printed and put them on the desk in the room yet she still gave me a 4 star only because she couldn't find the main entrance of the building-she didn't even arrive at the correct address! I wonder how airbnb can prevent this from happening. Feel like the rating system isn't so fair for hosts. 

[Dan376]

to Deborah in Terragal: can you elaborate on your experience of the bond/security please? thanks

[Dan376]

By what i am reading (as i am new and just have had 1 bad encounter of the "space kind"ahah.. ) it seems that GUESTS are ALLOWED complain about issues that are NOT even "CONTROLLABLE" by the host,like there is road works, or the guest inability to find the correct address..is this for real?

i think there should be limitations and most of all EVIDENCE of what the guest might claim.. i mean if we had to make a claim because they broke items (check!)  WE would HAVE to PROVIDE proof... yet they can rate someone poorly because there is road works or the place was dusty (like really?!) meanwhile all our hard work to get the good rating goes in the trash.

i think we can all agree that  UNTIL people are reminded that these places that are renting for much less than a hotel, are actually someone's home and deserve respect ..Both the "someone" and the "home".. i believe this kind of behaviour will continue until a consenquential contingencies will be made active.. how about a star sistem for them too? to start.. if they felt similar pressure to behave or not be able to go from place to place as easily..well, i think that would be a great start in making them accountable for their end of the bargain..because...they are ..getting the bargain!!

[Alison288]

After a group ( not through Airbnb) trashed my house by breaking the bunk bed, ruining sheets with cigarette burns and  stains, spilt alcohol on the walls and floor along with other atrocities, I increased the bond from $500 to $1000 and also put in the terms and conditions that any group holding parties would face immediate eviction and possibly lose their bond. I haven’t had any such problems since,  though since being more strict in the T&C I am wondering if it has put people off booking. The more transparent guest behavior is, the better for everyone though I can understand hosts prefering their negative reviews of guests to be hidden for fear of reprisals 

[Dan376]

Hi Alison in Sydney,

there is a need for more imediate and real consequences to the guests..They would probably not behave like that in a Hotel, because of the same real regulations you 've put in place. The guest have too much power on what the host's place and hard work is worth, but not much is place on the guest's respect and most of all responsability towards their "rental" shall we call it? If you rent a scooter, car, van..anything..you have REPERCUSSIONS...here..they move on to the next, unsuspecting, hard working host!

[Rhonda34]

Guests that stay in place that's a stand alone rental can do as they please. Unfortunately they can misbehave because they have no consequence. A hotel holds money off your credit card. Most hood hotels it's a hundred a night. This is to discourage people from drinking the mini bar dry and stealing the towels. Our accommodation is part of our home. So we live here. We have other places we used to rent to holiday makers, we realised very quickly that when mommy is not watching the kiddies will wreck the place. 

[Payal3]

I agree some guests can really ruin your life after check in and message at odd hours for silly things like where is the switch of a particular light .. I had a guest who knew check in was at 2 pm he started calling me at 7 am when he knew that someone is staying at the villa . I told my manager to accommodate him in the other villa and yet he gave me 4 stars for check in ! Some people are not at all grateful despite what you do for them 

[Aneta9]

I feel like we all need to have the travellers vetted properly before they sign up to Air BNB, so that they understand that they are coming into your home and not a hotel. I do my best not to market to party goers and let people know it’s suited for families and couples and have on occasion not accepted bookings if they do not fall into these categories. Otherwise I’d suggest trying other OTA’s such as Beautiful Accommodation or View Retreats that seem to have a very trusted audience. I have 2 properties and never had any issues with these businesses. Don’t get me wrong, I have not had any major issues with Airbnb but I feel like the review system needs a major overhaul and start to favour property owners over guests.   Just saying, good to keep your options open and your property in tact. 

[Christine925]

I have to support the guests a bit here. The pefect guest is one who has a very enjoyable time or who finds peace and relaxation with a host. As a host I am paid to support he guest and to accommodate indvidual quirks and small inconveniences. That is the business of hosting. Eduard is correct and his cat is purrfect.

[Steve416]

Hi All,

I was interested to read the comments from everyone and unfortunately I can relate to all the challenges identified. I have been an Airbnb host for 10 months and a super host for 6 months. Like all of you I put 110% into my hosting - it is not just about generating an income, it is about welcoming others and providing a positive experience. When guests do the wrong thing not only does it have a financial consequence for the host, it is a breach of trust. I understood trust to be a cornerstone of the Airbnb experience. Likewise I have experienced the frustrations in trying to seek compensation and ensure that guests are held accountable. It is wonderful that that there is an Airbnb community and that there are forums like this for hosts to have a voice. However in light of my own experiences over the past months, and relating to experiences of other hosts, with respect, there are serious issues that need to be addressed by Airbnb. It is great that there are presentations by the CEO but it’s really not acceptable that there is no way to contact the CEO or any senior management to ensure that they are aware of all the issues at the coal face. Being an Airbnb host, I have have had some wonderful guests, but the bad experiences have been too frequent and totally unacceptable. I welcome measures to focus on protecting hosts and making guests accountable. It is sad to acknowledge that trust is something that cannot be taken for granted.

[Rod57]

I think the most important thing is accurate vetting of the person arriving. I have had people booking with a photo of a koala as their id photo. This seems to be perfectly fine with airbnb who ignored me when I queried this!!  Also have several instances where the person making the booking is not the person arriving and therefore the person arriving has not been vetted at all.  

The worst problem however is extra people slipping in depite the booking being made, and paid for, on the assumption it was for one or two people only. Recently we had three beds used when the booking was made for a couple and then also found plenty of evidence of a dog's presence(white hairs over the bedding and elsewhere and even a can of dog food in the rubbish bin!   These guests are disrespecting our efforts to maintain a high standard.  It is difficult to prove who has actually stayed and we are now in the process of having cctv installed to monitor the entrance!

[Claude169]

I think a good thing would be letting the hosts see what kind of reviews our guests wrote to their previous hosts. If there are often discrepancies it means something is fishy, like guests complaining about mundane things or failing to inform their host about issues that would have been easily solved and instead complain about it in their review.

[Manda5]

 To Melanie

Only leave the stuff for them to use for the number of  days they are staying. Lock up everything else.

We have a cleaner who comes in twice a week who will change the beds and give them clean towels and tea towels. Having someone coming in regularly deters them from making too much of a mess. They all want their deposit back,  so they follow to the rules, in case they lose it. 

Good luck!

[Bev32]

I have to say that I have generally been very lucky with guests; partly this is because I am on site as our rooms are in our home; partly people staying in a private home are usually pretty good. However,I agree that there are an increasing number of guests who don’t/can’t read the written information.

And how can reviewing a guest negatively lead to payback? You can’t see each other’s reviews until both have written them (after departure)!!

Hosts must be able to not accept bookings when they have concerns about a guest’s history or ability to read information.

And that is why have have real concern about a rating for “accepting bookings” being one of the criteria for Superhost!!!!