Airbnb still not vetting guests

[Christine615]

 

 

 

Seeing a rash of fake guest requests in our area. Two of my colleagues got requests from a 14 year old. One declined her.  So she instant booked another host, Then the “parents” called demanding their money be refunded by the host.  Apparently this is a scam where people are using stolen credit cards to book then someone else demands refund in cash?

I was flabbergasted but thought it was an outlier. Then got this. Guest with no profile, no verifications, no location, no reviews and no photo. Wants to book for the next night for 2 weeks but wants to talk on an external app. I blocked the dates rather than decline.

Is Airbnb really serious about host safety or are they just letting anyone with access to a keyboard  book?

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Christine615 This is the standard scam where they offer to book and not stay but split the amount with you. The plan is that you refund their half at which point Airbnb find the credit card is stolen and take back the money from your account.

Just don't reply and report the user to Airbnb and they will take them down. Sadly in the current world there is little Airbnb can do to be more proactive

[Emilia42]

Luckily, this is only an inquiry so all that is required is a "no, thanks." Anyone can create an Airbnb account, it's as simple as "logging in with facebook." This is why it's so important for hosts to only accept guests with government IDs.

[Huma0]

Perfectly genuine guests often ask to chat to me on the phone or WhatsApp. That doesn't make them a scammer. I just tell them that it's against Airbnb policy to do so before a booking is made. But, yes, the total lack of info and verification on this particular guest's profile would be a red flag to me too.

I've also had a (genuine) request from a pair of 15-year-olds travelling on their own. How are they even able to create an account? 

Really, ID verification should not be optional on Airbnb but a compulsory requirement before being able to use the site, but it's not Airbnb's property or safety we're talking about, so why should they care?

[Sarah977]

@Huma0  Even if they are genuine, the fact that they are savvy enough to know that they should spell out their Whatsapp number or it will be blocked, sends up red flags for me. They're already trying to skirt around the policies before they've even booked. And why is it preferable to them to talk over Whatsapp, rather than use the messaging system that is provided?

[Huma0]

@Sarah977 

People want to use WhatsApp all the time because its just easier. They would rather use an App that they use already every day than have to check messages on yet another platform, plus the Airbnb App is extremely glitchy. The notifications don’t work most of the time.

But, most people ask not realising it’s against the rules so I have to explain. You are right that if a guest is already spelling it out, they know that already.

[Huma0]

That reminds me. I had a girl IB my room for a long stay. I have the Govt ID requirement checked so was surprised to see that it wasn't showing on her profile. She told me she had tried to upload the ID and it hadn't worked. So, she tried again but could not remove the ID she had previously tried to upload without cancelling her booking, so she was kind of stuck.

I called Airbnb and it turns out that they had not verified her ID because they said the photos did not match her profile picture, although the rep admitted this could simply be because her hair was up in one and not another!

I asked why, in that case, she was able to IB my listing and he really couldn't tell me, but didn't seemed surprised. What is the point in those check boxes then?

[Cave0]

I had a similar problem with this, upon calling Airbnb the usual platitudes were given and a vague promise of escalating the matter was given but a request for a specific time by which the matter would be resolved was refused.  I sent the guest to VRBO, I wasn't having my calendar tied up by Airbnb because of its failure to do its job in a prompt and customer oriented manner.  The potential guest was getting impatient so I provided the resolution.  It's an odd way to behave but Airbnb seems to consider it perfectly acceptable to have everyone hanging around whereas most of us would imagine that in the professional organisation, all the ID checks, credit card validation and all that jazz would have been done up front.  Seems not to be the case here.

[Sarah977]

@Christine615  When it comes in the form of an Inquiry, you don't need to block the dates or decline (never use up a decline on an Inquiry, as every decline lowers your acceptance rate) Just message back "No" and report it.

[Mark116]

Why does airbnb let people block your calendar with a request when they, airbnb, have not even verified the guest?  This  happened to us, someone wanted to book, said they were having trouble with their ID and so although their request blocked the calendar, I couldn't deny it or accept it???????  It was eventually cancelled, probably by Airbnb.  But, it can't really be difficult for them to make it go Step 1: verify user, and then Step 2: okay to book.  They  run this company like its some CEO vanity side project or a pilot or ancillary program that no one is invested in, not the primary business.

[Sarah977]

@Mark116  As you said in answer to another post, Airbnb doesn't care. They want to put zero obstacles in the way of guests' booking. Whether it ties up your calendar for 24 hours, sometimes resulting in payment not going through, is of no importance to them.

Hosts have to wait at least 24 hours after submitting a new listing before it goes live. Yet guests can open an account and book a place immediately before even uploading their information.

It's absurd-  guests should have to have all their info uploaded and their payment method verified before they have the ability to book anything. But that might mean the guest has to wait 24 hours, instead of the host-  can't have that now, can we?😬

[Yadira22]

@Sarah977 what surprises me is that if they put in place stricter protocols for new users (hosts and guests) since that terrible California incident last year, even with this pandemic they would have been better positioned for when (if ever) they do decide to go public. User friendliness is one thing but surely, safety should be just as important if not moreso. 

It bothers me that they have so many people saying "please change this, it's an issue for x and y" and they respond with a "thanks, but after speaking with a select group of hosts, we have decided to not do anything or do the complete opposite". All this free advice, ideas, etc wasted. SMH...

[Sarah977]

@Yadira22  I really don't get it, either- I know they want to put as few obstacles in the way of guests booking as possible, but it sure seems to me that if they vetted guests responsibly, and removed problem guests from the platform, they would end up with way, way less to deal with. There would be far fewer calls and messages to CS, damage claims, frantic "party!" calls, reports of house rules being ignored, extra guests snuck in, etc. etc. 

This would also hold true for scammy listings and horrible hosts who they don't boot off because they are big earners.

You'd think the reduced load on CS would balance out with a slight loss of revenue from getting rid of, or not allowing sketchy guests to book, or bad hosts to remain. 

Their present skeleton CS crew might actually be able to deal with the volume of cases they receive.

And all the suggestions we make that they ignore aren't simply for the benefit of hosts, they would benefit guests and the platform in general. 

[Stuart177]

whats the terrible california incident you are referring to please?

[Emilia42]

@Stuart177 Orinda shooting