New host - ID question

[Jigisha0]

Hi all, I am a new host. I set up instant booking with the ID requirement and that has been working great so far. But sometimes, I get requests from people and I have to accept or decline the request. Why do I get these requests? Are these people who did not provide their ID? I only want people who have provided their ID to stay at my property. Is it possible to set this up? And without having to manually accept or decline requests? Thanks. 

[Lisa723 · Accepted solution]

@Jigisha0 yes, these are people who have not verified their ID. You can reply with a request that they do so, but you can't make it impossible for them to request.

[Sarah977]

  Are you sure these are booking requests? Or are they Inquiries? You need to understand the difference. If they are booking requests, you have 24 hours to either accept or decline the request, and before that cut-off time, you can message with the guest. If they are Inquiries, you do not need to either pre-approve or decline- simply answering the guest's message within 24 hours is all you need to do if you don't want to pre-approve it.

Also, just because a guest sends a Inquiry rather than uses IB does not necessarily mean the guest hasn't provided ID or any other of your IB requirements. Sometimes guests have questions, and sometimes a guest wants to get a sense of the host before making a booking commitment. Some guests have encountered non-responsive hosts, listings that were not as advertised, scam listings, etc. and are cautious.

Just because IB is available doesn't mean all guests are comfortable using it. 

@Jigisha0

[Jigisha0]

The emails that I get are either "Pending: Reservation Request" or "Reservation confirmed." For "Reservation confirmed" I do not have to do anything and it is perfect. For "Pending" I have to manually accept or decline the request. I am unclear why about the differences between these reservation statuses and if it has to do with identity verification. 

[Lisa723]

@Jigisha0 yes, guests who don't meet your instant-book requirements can still request to book.

You can click on the guest's profile to see their identity verification status.

I have the same set up and I just reply and say I'll be happy to approve their request after they verify their ID with Airbnb. I provide a pointer to the instructions to do this, and assure them that I will not personally see their ID. Nobody has ever declined to do it.

@Sarah977 I very rarely get an inquiry, except when people want dates that aren't available. I'm sure shared spaces are very different.