Awaiting verification

[Adrienne67]

Recently in the past month I have had two guests book my apartments. The booking did not go through because they were waiting verification. one was for a credit card payment the other one was for a driver's license to be uploaded. Neither guessed end up booking. The guests have been there request the day before their stay. The verification process puts a hold on the property for 12 hours. Both times the guest withdrew their request after several hours or the time ran out after 12 hours.

This left me with two empty apartments.

Is there any way that Airbnb may consider producing this allotted time to complete the reservation? I think 4 hours would be reasonable. I realized that without new guest and new accounts Airbnb would not survive. New customers are very important. also when I have spoke to customer service about this issue they have said they are unable to reach out to the guests and help them complete the reservation because the reservation is not confirmed. Is this something that could be changed as well?

Of course both times this has happened I have pleaded with the guest that hijacked my listing for the night to please finish processing it or withdraw the request an entirety. I absolutely love the Airbnb platform and this is the only thing I would change about it. It's a very frustrating scenario. It also leaves my apartment blocked so that other potential guest traveling cannot book last minute. 

I sure would appreciate it if someone could review this from Airbnb.

Thank you so much!

Adrienne

Chattanooga Tennessee

[Emiel1]

@Adrienne67 

These are known issues, but Airbnb seem not to take action to resolve them.

The solution is IMO simple: guests with incomplete profiles should not be able to make a reservation at all and block calenders for upto 24 hours, just to complete (or not...) verifications

[Adrienne67]

When an inquiry is sent from a guest that is already registered with Airbnb and is able to book if they want to, the reservation is still available and open. if someone has an updated all of their information why can't this just be an inquiry? That seems like a simple fix. 

the way the system is now it's actually a way for a guest to hold the property to themselves until they decide if they want to book it or not. I don't think that's the way Airbnb is set up. It's first come first serve unless the host decides they want to reserve the reservation for somebody until they make a decision.

if enough people comment on this as it being a problem perhaps Airbnb will change it?

[Ann72]

@Stan-And-Juris0 and @Julieanna0 recently posted about the same issue!

[Julieanna0]

@Adrienne67 and  @Stan-And-Juris0     I'm curious if Airbnb has always done this or if this is something new.  By this I mean in the past was their algorithm set to send guests with no verified ID's to hosts who have policies where this is okay?  With many listings shut down due to COVID and hosts leaving the Airbnb platform due to non/slow-payment, perhaps this has become more difficult for them to do.

I don't know if this is the case or not,--but I've asked @Sarah977 to weigh in as she's had a lot of experience hosting.

[Emilia42]

@Julieanna0 Airbnb has always done this. You may never have noticed unless you have constant eyes on your calendar. Some guests will take one hour to verify. Others will get hung up in the system and take over 12 hours. I've seen this happen a few times on my calendar. Sometimes the unverified guest will disappear after a few hours and never end up booking. Sometimes I have to call Airbnb before the verification hold lasts longer than it should. 

[Julieanna0]

@Emilia42  and @Adrienne67 This sounds like a very plausible reason as to why this is suddenly becoming a more "apparent" issue, not necessarily a new one.  I'm now wondering if I will get penalized if I clearly state on my profile that prior to a booking request, I require that a potential guest be verified or I will arbitrarily reject their request?  This seems to be fair to me as Airbnb has such an unreasonable policy.  

[Stan-And-Juris0]

@Ann72 Any update on yours?

[Ann72]

@Stan-And-Juris0  I've had the "awaiting verification" once or twice but don't at the moment have any problem bookings.  Thanks for asking, though!

[Adrienne67]

@Stan-And-Juris0  @Julieanna0  @Emiel1  @Ann72 

This is not a new policy. It is been around for a while. I have been hosting now for about 3 years and as far as I know it has always been the policy.

the reason it is become a problem recently is because people are not booking in advance where I live. They are booking one to three days in advance. Previously my units would be booked two weeks out. 

Both times this has happened it is not been a positive outcome period my units have set empty. I think that 4 hours will be a very reasonable amount of time for someone to complete the reservation process. I understand that new customers are extremely important to me and to airbnb. The 12 hours is too long! If this hasn't happened to you yet it will

[Julieanna0]

@Stan-And-Juris0 @Adrienne67   I have just added the following wording to my listing:

ABOUT ID VERIFICATION: I do NOT accept any booking requests or host any guests who have not verified their ID. Please read the following carefully: If your ID is not verified and you send a request to book my home, I WILL decline your booking request. The reason for this is due to Airbnb's policy of blocking my calendar for the entire time it takes to verify your ID. This means that other guests who already have their ID verified, are unable to book my guest suite. This is not fair to other potential guests who have already gone through the ID verification process. Therefore, if your ID is not yet verified and you wish to book my home, PLEASE MAKE SURE YOUR ID IS VERIFIED BEFORE SENDING A BOOKING REQUEST.

[Karen700]

This is a good idea if guests actually read these things, however with this "Awaiting Guest ID" thing there was NO WAY to decline the reservation - I checked and tried and even called AIRBNB to say I will decline this reservation even if they get their stuff together because there were red flags all over them - on Airbnb since 2016 - 5 years! - no reviews and lives in my area - so they've had plenty of time to put their credentials up - anyway Airbnb said there wasn't anything they could do but block 12 hours to give them the opportunity to come up with the necessary credentials.  We don't do same day booking but I can see how this would pose an issue with a  host and lost income if the "guest" doesn't provide the information.  There is a flaw in this system.  NO guest who doesn't have all their ID information in the system should be able to book. Period.

[Stan-And-Juris0]

@Adrienne67 @Julieanna0 @Emilia42  It is nothing new.  
We had experienced this twice with new guests, but the longest wait for one guest was about 24 hours; the other one was within the same day.  That time, the status didn't go back and forth a number of times  to "awaiting verification to guest withdrawn" until it stopped after 3-4 days of waiting.  @Julieanna0 I don't think you'll be penalized for stating your booking requirement which I believe is already stipulated in Airbnb's requirements for accepting members.  

Thanks, and best to us all,

Juris

[Moises45]

Awaiting payment and awaiting verication status are fine if the reservation is in the future. But airbnb shouldn't block reservations for the same night for more than an hour. Especially if guests show no interest whatsoever in finalizing the reservation.

[Lezlee0]

I’ve been a host for 4 years and have only started experiencing the “awaiting verification” hijacking of my listings this year.     It’s happened to me at least 20 times and each time it’s same day bookings.   Occasionally, the booking will go through but most of them time it just stays on my calendar 24-72 hours which is days after the booking has ended.  Airbnb won’t acknowledge the defect that allows it to stay past what would have been the checkout nor are they concerned with the lost fees.   They tell me they have a 12 hour verification process policy and send a link for me to provide feedback into the black hole.   I will say though that the first time it happened they did reimburse me for the list night.  When I reference it they tell me they don’t reimburse.