Fake host

[Sandra483]

Hi, I got a reservation to go to Paris in August with a host without any reviews. I got carried away with the location of the property, and I ended up booking without thinking. But now I'm very worried because I checked into his facebook, and it seemed to me to be a fake profile, with no friends, work contacts, no information. My question is: is there any way for Airbnb to verify the identity of the host? I contacted him, and he gave me the information on how to get to the property, his father's phone (who will receive me), and everything seems normal, but the facebook account and the lack of review on airbnb make me worried. Should I cancel the reservation? help me!

[Bárbara5]

Oi @Sandra483

Acredito que tu sejas brasileira, então vou escrever em português. Caso você queira cancelar, dê uma olhada na política de cancelamento do anfitrião. Caso ele tenha a política rigorosa você não terá reembolso total do valor.

Além disso, o pagamento que você fez só será repassado ao anfitrião 24h após a sua chegada. Então a chance de alguma "fraude" é nula, pois se ao chegar você constatar algum problema é só ligar para o Airbnb que eles irão te realocar. Sobre a questão do facebook, nem todo mundo tem perfil na rede social, acho que não dá pra se basear só nisso.

Mas se você não estiver se sentindo confortável vale ligar para o Airbnb e expressar sua preocupação.

Boa sorte

[Sandra483]

Oi Bárbara.

O meu problema em cancelar é exatamente este. A politica de cancelamento do anfitrião é bastante rigorosa, e eu não gostaria de ter o prejuízo do cancelamento. Por isso mesmo que gostaria de saber se há uma forma de o próprio Airbnb verificar a identidade do anfitrião, mesmo que fosse exigindo digitalização de documentos, por exemplo.

Mas eu vou conversar mais com o anfitrião, se eu continuar me sentindo insegura eu ligo no Airbnb ou cancelo.

Muito obrigada!!

[Macarena27]

I would contact the AirBnB team immediately. WHY ARE THEY NOT ENSURING THAT THESE HOSTS ARE ACTUAL HOSTS? The screening process needs to be rigorous. It's ridiculous. They are going to run into lawsuit after lawsuit if they dont make changes.

I am a new guest user to Air Bnb and given their domination over the market, I am disappointed in the quality assurance. This site is for bookings all over the world which is amazing, however, it is extremely clear that many "hosts" are stealing pictures of hotels and rooms that are not actually available. On top of that, they are adding significant inflation to the pricing. This is extremely misleading, fraudulent and not a good reflection of a business. My question is, why are there not stricter screening processes for hosts? This should not be a craigslist type of site where you dont know what you're getting, if you're getting anything at all. I have had two people book through AirBnb that have shown up to the property that looks NOTHING like the photos, as well as not having a reservation AT ALL after paying extremely inflated rates. SCAMS. This is not good business practice and therefor I have not booked through AirBnB and may not ever get to enjoy the hype of this new company. Regardless of the manhandling AirBnB indicidents that the media has brought to light (as though incidents can happen anywhere at anytime), the most disheartening part of these bookings false advertisement. I hope the AirBnB can get it together and revamp a stricter process that ensures guests ARE GETTING EXACTLY WHAT THEY ARE PAYING FOR! To the AirBnB team, if you were a consumer like us, would you want your entire trip to be ruined? Empathy goes a long way and if you can't conduct an honest business you're going to lose your place in the market.

[Macarena27]

By the way, with a lot of research I am sure you can find the exact place you booked on any other travel site and find out the name of the "hotel", as most of them are hotels being rented out by people which I have no idea how that is even possible.. and once you find it you can compare the pricing, the availability and dates and see if what you booked does not match up. This is how I saved myself the agony of booking here and being disappointed or scammed. Scouring the internet for the best deals and rates opened my eyes to realizing people are stealing pictures and pretending to be hosts and renaming the residences. It is ashame how much scamming occurs on the internet and especially on here. I thought this site was amazing at first and am sadly disappointed. Good luck to you and enjoy your trip!