Awaiting verification

[Cheryl619]

Hi,

I have someone trying to book a reservation and the status from Airbnb states, “awaiting verification”.  There is a message which in short states Airbnb is resolving some details and should do so within the next 10 hours.  The dates are being held during that time.

This is the first time if seen such a status and I don’t know how to direct the requesting “guest”.  I’m assuming it’s simply to confirm identity as it looks as though the profile was just created.  

Thank you for any help! 

[Maia29]

Airbnb might be waiting for the guest to upload their government ID, and the guest hasn't responded to their request yet.

[Yiwei3]

I am getting the same!!  Did they actually book though?  I don't think they should be allowed to book until payment & verification has been completed!

[Helen744]

@Cheryl619  If it is instant booking then of course this can occur but the issue will be a back and forth with the guest maybe as to uploading a photo if the host requires it or other things required by the host not for Airbnb booking but for the host. If it is not ib then it maybe that your guest simply put in a request and even though you agreed to the booking the guest has not gone ahead and booked and what you are looking at is only a pending reservation and not an actual reservation. The guest may not have paid and maybe wanting you to book off platform .Sometimes people try to hold a reservation until they decide which is cheapest or something or if they can get an extra discount. Do not in this circumstance ever refund money you have not received. If this is the case others will still be able to book H

[Jackie1]

@Yiwei3 I agree I have received this same notification today. In the mean time my calendar is blocked stopping other potential guests from booking. How long do Airbnb keep these dates blocked?

[Yiwei3]

@Jackie1 It says on the reservation how many hours are left.  I think it's about 10 hours.  I got one when I was sleeping and it showed 5 hours in the morning.  Mine ended up booking after the verification period.

[Jackie1]

ok thank you. I don't see any remaining hours on mine but I will continue to monitor it.

[Helen744]

@Yiwei3  this sounds not true . Sorry . a reservation is a reservation and the host accepts reservations or requests not Airbnb . it could not happen while you were sleeping at all unless you send the guest an invitation to book . H

[Nanxing0]

This happens very often. It's not awaiting for anything from the guest, but Airbnb is taking their time processing the verifications. The "verification" takes anywhere from a few minutes to 1-2 days. The most annoying thing is that sometimes a guest requests for same day and they put "awaiting verification" and block my calendar. I can't even cancel it. 

[Jesse-B--0]

This has happened to me close to 20 times already and it is really infuriating. I agree that the verification is important and that the process needs to run its due course how ever long that may be. However, there should be a minimum on how many days-out the arrival date can be for these non-verified guests. For example, last night I needed to reject a guest check-in because he arrived under-the-influence, thus I had a very last minute cancellation to fill with only (5) hours until 12 midnight. Friday night in my town was on “fire” with booking demand soaring, and I get stuck with the one guest who needed an ID verification & they gave him 12hrs to complete it. Assuming he took 12hrs to complete, it placed him verified at 7am the next day! Checkout is at 11am, so no way the guest was gonna keep his initial request. After pleading with Airbnb to release my calendar they did absolutely nothing to assist me. They did allow the guest to withdraw his request though at 5am! leaving me $200 loss and no ability to fill the room they commandeered during peek last minute booking hours. Total inefficient process (especially when the “timing-math” is so evidently illogical & could be fixed with an simple algorithm that prevents these results)!

[Helen744]

@Jesse-B--0 Requests are not reservations and your calendar is not blocked , just do not push the button to give them 24 hours . Communicate with the guest and clarify . The booking did not block others as it never happened . If you are doing one nighters then drunks would be par for the course.Most trouble turns up late and stays one night . H

[Eulalia9]

Hello, I have the same problem. The dates are blocked and the guest appear in grey on my calendar and its saying awaiting for verification. I texted her but she is not replying for more than 5 days and I have been waiting for this for more than one week. Airbnb saying that it will hold for a week. I think it’s not normall this... don’t know what to do, I’m not even sure if the guests are comming or not...

[Becky224]

Same! This is just wrong that I can't control my own calendar and I can't book dates that are just sitting there.

[Lynda129]

It is plain SCANDALOUS and OUTRAGEOUS that Airbnb is keeping our calendar HOSTAGE !!!

Guest verification is NOT my problem.  AIrbnb can verify as much as they want, but our calendar dates should NOT be blocked for 12 hours or more (without even ANYTHING being booked).

While the dates are being blocked by an unverified potential guest, NO ONE else can book these dates.

After 12 hours, the guest might not even be eligible for the booking, and meanwhile we have lost multiple opportunities of being booked.

Additionally, when this happens, we have NO CONTROL whatsoever as far as keeping or canceling this temptative booking.  We are STUCK with a FICTITIOUS reservation that might OR MIGHT NOT translate into a solid confirmed booking.

I am appalled at the fact that Airbnb feels it is perfectly fine to take the liberty to have FULL CONTROL on something which is NOT theirs: OUR OWN calendar!

I urge all of you to send feedback (as I did) to Airbnb for this system to be revised, and our calendar ceased being blocked during a guest verification.

I guarantee that NO OTHER booking platform is blocking your calendar for verification.

This is NONSENSE.  Airbnb does NOT own our properties or calendar.  They are only a booking engine.  Nothing else.  They have NO RIGHT whatsoever to block our calendar.

I urge all of you to send feedback, petitions, protests, law suits, etc, against that QUESTIONABLE (in terms of legality) process.

I just don't believe Airbnb has any right to keep our calendar HOSTAGE.  They do NOT OWN our properties!

[Shelli13]

I submitted a complaint and would like reimbursement because I would have most likely booked those days: When a guest does not have a payment method set up or something has gone wrong with their payment, Airbnb should not block the host calendar for that guest. I am very frustrated because this has happened multiple times where I end up having an empty room because it is blocked. Most recently (today) this has cost me $50 and possibly $150 because there was a day one either side of it that could have been booked. Denesha in my demotivator room who has not paid has tied up that room for 2-days. This is wrong. That room should have been available to a paying guest. Where can I put in for reimbursement?