Changes in a Guest's Identity

Gary1054
Level 2
Stuart, FL

Changes in a Guest's Identity

I recently noticed that a past guest had changed their name, city, photo, and sex. I reported this to AirBnb and they told me that people are free to change their profile information and even assign it to another person.  I was told that AirBnb apparently only performs random identity versifications from time to time.  They told me that I could block this past guest or report a message from them (not a solution to the problem). This guest, whoever owns the account now, who I don't know, now has a history of staying at my place and even a great review from me (albeit the review mentions a different person). I consider this a flagrant violation of Identity and Access Management Integrity and requested that my complaint be forwarded to their Security Department. I happen to have a background in information security and wanted to speak with somebody who would actually understand the issue. My case was closed out and my concern was not taken seriously. How can a host trust the identity information of a guest? I now see many complaints of this in the AirBnb Community Center conversations. 

 

I do realize that people sometimes change their name, sex, photo, and city, but to have all four change at the same time on a profile that contains a review from me is simply fraud.  Other hosts will now depend on my review of an unknown person to determine their trust in permitting the guest to stay at their property. 

5 Replies 5
Ann72
Level 10
New York, NY

They can even assign it to another person@Gary1054?!  I never knew that and don't like it any more than you do.  

Debra300
Level 10
Gros Islet, Saint Lucia

@Ann72@Gary1054,

 

I can see certain situations when an account can be legitimately assigned to someone else.  For example, Keep Cool and my name are listed on my account so that we can both have the same access to the account that manages the listings.  If an event occurred where I no longer could or wanted to host he would/should be allowed to fully assume the account.

@Debra300  That makes sense.  But in the case of guests - why transfer to someone else?  Why not just have the new person set up their own account?  

Debra300
Level 10
Gros Islet, Saint Lucia

@Ann72

IDK, maybe the guest shared there account with a partner at some point, and then they broke up. Part of their agreement was that one kept the ABB profile, and the other kept the Hulu account. 

😂 @Debra300