Suspicious name

[Ian84]

Hi community

I have been a host for 3 years and to keep my Super Host status I have to provide the instant book option.

I have received a booking for a group of 5  guestsfor a couple of weeks away. 

They have been members since 2015 and have no reviews and im pretty sure the Name of my guest is made up. ( Dayno Insano ) 

I have contacted the in a message but no reply as yet and Im a little worried.

Your thoughts would be appreciated.

Cheers Ian ( a modern river retreate Sidmouth Tasmania Australia ) 

[Anonymous]

@Ian84 You don't have to use Instant Book to keep your "superhost" badge. How did you get the idea that this was a requirement? 

[Ian84]

Hi Andrew and thank you for your input.

I was of the understanding a while back that you had to be signed up for instant book to remain 

a super host. If this is not the case  and it may have changed over the past few years , then that would 

give me a bit of flexibility with unusual bookings.

I will try and confirm with airbnb as to the current ruling.

Regards Ian 

[Mike-And-Jane0]

I think you can cancel if you have IB on penalty free

[Jennifer1421]

@Ian84As @Mike-And-Jane0 have suggested, you can certainly use a "penalty free" cancellation option, as you are not comfortable with this reservation (assuming you have not cancelled 3 previous reservations in the last year). Keep in mind, though that "penalty free" means that you will not be financially penalized, nor have the "host cancelled this reservation" review appear. You MAY, however, find that your will lose Instant Book for a period, and future bookings for that period will all come in as requests.

Moving forward, you might wish to consider adding all of the IB requirements, such as verified id etc., that appear in your booking settings tab, if you haven't already. Be sure to also go to the "Reservation Requirements" page (which you will only find by doing a help search for "can I require guests to be verified before booking", following the link, and checking the box to require verification. This is seemingly a different requirement than what you will find in your booking settings. These additional requirements will help, but will not "guarantee" that your booking guests are who they say they are. Nothing other than personally checking identification will do that.

@Anonymousis also correct - you do NOT have to enable Instant Book to be a "superhost".

[Ian84]

Thanks heaps Jennifer.

I will follow all of those ideas up.

Interestingly. Airbnbs take on it is that it is my responsibility to contact my guest and request that he provides a photo of himself , not a kid on a motorbike with a helmet on,

It is also my responsibility to try and coach the guest to change his name form Dayno Insano which I am pretty sure is fake..

They claim they are not allowed to contact the guest directly and suggest that I cancel the booking 

and they will refund his money and I will not receive any penalty and when they contact

him to let him know why he has lost his holiday home by the river they will explain about the fake name and Photo.

That is so reactive and I actually thought Airbnb was more of a pro active company.

Thanks for your help.

Ian