Guest verification now involves only a phone number??

[Christine615]

Really, Airbnb? Really?

While booking a space in Washington DC I got a request. No ding. No sound notification. Sigh. New user. Just joined. ONLY verification is a phone number. No bio. No photo. No reviews. No city or state. Just a phone number. 

And oh - he has one more person than my max capacity of 5 (a family) and wants to know if 6 people are okay. But only put 4 in the search engine.

Asked him to create a bio, and upload a verified ID. Explained the price would be higher to account for the missing headcount but he was pushing my max capacity

Honestly - this is how we do host trust and safety? We don't block new users until they have verified credit cards and identity.

Why not be up front with local governments and tell them that your background checks are just "Seems to be breathing, has a phone which may or may not be a burner phone!"

With a blank profile and not track record I have no way of knowing if they are real people or not. (expletive deleted.)

Airbnb quality has gone down quite a bit.

[Sarah977]

@Christine615 Just part of Brian's proud new announcements bragging how guests will be able to book a place in 60 seconds or less.

There is no trust and safety for hosts. But you can get your listing suspended if a guest simply claims they "felt unsafe."

[Christine2476]

I have security camera on my home and stated in the listing.  The guest complained and said it was not in the listing.  My listing was off line for 3 weeks and several severallllll phone calls to get it back on.  No new people saw my listing.  Good thing I already had several bookings.

A complaint should not lead to removal of searches by potential customers automatically!!!!

Need better system.  Not botttssss removing listings.

[J-Renato0]

No. It depends on your settings!

If you want reviews, you can have only guest that alread have at least one good review.
There are more options to set as well.

I do not think Airbnb quality has gone down. 

If you take a time to learn about the platform and you will see that lots of improvements has been done.

[Sarah977]

@J-Renato0  Why are you responding to @Christine615's posts in such a condescending manner? Her Airbnb profile dates from 2012- I'm quite sure she doesn't need to "learn about the platform". 

You can't require that guests have reviews unless they are Instant Booking. And if they don't qualify to IB they can still send a request. Maybe it's you who needs to learn about the platform.

[Matt682]

@Christine615 @Sarah977 

That’s a really interesting distinction. I’ve got IB switched on, so the Govt ID works, but if I turned it off, I still wouldn’t want people staying without it… So I would rely on my house rules, and whether it’s because of where they are buried, or lazy / ignorant guests, or new speedy booking process we all know from this forum… The average guest doesn’t read the house rules.

I’ve still had people request with no ID. They get frustrated when told they have to do it when they thought the process was all finished. Some have lost rooms, some have point blank refused to register it, wasting everyone’s time.

@Lizzie  @Quincy 

Can this not be a feature you roll out for all hosts please? It will be minimal Dev work cos you already have the code.

On the flip side, you get hosts with better protection - less issues, better reputation for Airbnb, and more likely to retain hosts. You also get better service - guests don’t waste their time enquiring at properties they won’t get to stay at, they can do the ID at the beginning of their search so there is time to process it, and they don’t have to see another process after they think it’s all sorted.

Give hosts tools to help protect themselves and their property. Those hosts will look after your guests.

[Emilia42]

@Matt682 When you click this link, is the box checked?

https://www.airbnb.com/hosting/requirements

[Christine615]

@Matt682 

You’re correct. I have IB on and require a government ID to book. My concern is that NO guest should be contacting hosts without a full profile on board. A new user who signs up that day with only a phone number is an example of Airbnb not doing due diligence and putting the onus in hosts while hiding the name, photo, city and phone number from us.

Then demands we respond in 24 hours.

I turn those requests down but it’s still time out of my day responding.

As proof Airbnb is not doing any vetting, I’m now having to cancel a booking for my own travel because the “super host” (female) responded as a guy (with no profile or reviews) claiming to be the property manager asking for me to send them my photo with a clear image of my ID by email, send them $250 refundable fee outside the platform and sign and fax or email a rental agreement outside the platform.  Note I’ve already been approved and Airbnb took the payment. But the host won’t provide checkin info until I comply with the extra steps above.

vetting fake guests and fake hosts is becoming a full time job.

Maybe Airbnb should pay us for the work.:-(

[Emilia42]

@Christine615 I used to get Requests from unverified people all the time (because they weren't meeting my IB government ID requirements) until I checked that box in the link I posted above. Is that box checked on your settings? It was a game-changer for me. 

[Christine615]

@Emilia42 

I might have to toggle it on and off. I’ve always had it checked but recently Airbnb has allowed anyone and everyone to “request” regardless. 

New guests with no real verification should be blocked from any actions. 2 years ago I was walking my editor through the signup and she had to build a bio, upload a photo and an ID and have her payment and phone verified before she could contact a host. All those requirements are gone. 

[Jennifer1773]

Thanks @Emilia42 , I have been getting a lot of requests from people without Government ID lately even though I have it as a requirement through Instant Book. I clicked your link and saw that my box was not checked. However I was not able to check it because to my surprise I have never verified my own ID! I thought I had when I first signed up for Airbnb. They are walking me through those steps now... So you can't require ID verification if you haven't verified your own self :). Now that makes sense.

[Colleen253]

@Matt682 “I’ve got IB switched on, so the Govt ID works, but if I turned it off, I still wouldn’t want people staying without it… So I would rely on my house rules...”

All hosts can require guest identity to be verified, even non IB hosts.

https://www.airbnb.ca/help/article/272/can-i-require-guests-to-be-verified-before-booking

Checking that box means a guest can’t send 

a request unless they’ve completed the process. Though it really means nothing to me that a guest has verified their ID, as it is ZERO guarantee of anything, I feel it’s a useful added layer in the vetting process. Certainly, if a guest doesn’t want to comply, I’m fine with them not booking my place. Possible bullets dodged. In addition, Airbnb required it of me to continue hosting on this platform, even though I was already a proven  legitimate, reliable host by the time they required it. It’s only fair that if I must, guests must, too. 

[Christine615]

@Colleen253 

but that’s the issue. It has suddenly stopped working post pandemic. I have never allowed people to request to book me without verification. Now it seems something is overriding that. But why is Airbnb even allowing them to contact hosts before they are verified regardless of setting?

the great post pandemic Airbnb attempting to increase revenue mystery. 😞

[Colleen253]

@Christine615 I was wondering about that. My calendar has been closed for a bit, thus I haven’t taken new bookings recently so can’t report my own experience. Overall though, it seems there are subtle and not so subtle changes afoot. None of it bodes well.

[Emilia42]

@Colleen253 Though it really means nothing to me that a guest has verified their ID, as it is ZERO guarantee of anything, I feel it’s a useful added layer in the vetting process.

Yes, exactly and well-said!