Identity Verification Issue, same day booking penalizes hosts

[Cheston0]

Hi fellow hosts,

I'm writing to share concerns relative to Airbnb's identity verification policy as it relates to bookings.  For hosts who require that only verified guests book, when a guest has NOT verified their ID they may still submit a booking request and then your calendar will be blocked for 12 hours.  During that time, other guests are not able to make a reservation. This EVEN applies to same day bookings!  In the case of same day bookings, you can lose money because the guest is still given 12 hours and Airbnb STILL holds the calendar, preventing other guests from booking.  You can lose money for that reason!  This just happened to me yesterday.  An unverified guest, new to Airbnb, submitted a booking request.  Airbnb blocked the calendar and gave the guest 12 hours to verify ID.  Due to the timing of the request, and the guest's lack of response, the guests did not book AND I lost one night's rental revenue because other guests were prevented from booking too.  I really do not think this policy is fair to hosts or other guests.  Just like a guest should not be able to confirm booking until payment is successfully made, the calendar should not be blocked until the guest successfully completes identity verification.

[Emiel1]

@Cheston0 

This is a known issue and yes, it is annoying. i experienced it tiwce, in one occassion i could message the guest to retract the booking request. The solution is indeed simple: guests without ID verified should not be able to book anyway.

BTW Every recent request or inquiry which showed me a guest exposing potential trouble or already violating Airbnb rules (like wanting to pay outside Airbnb)  was made by unverified guests with new accounts !

I do not report them anymore to Airbnb.

[Linda-And-Richard0]

@Cheston0 This same thing happened to my twice just yesterday.  As this moment, my calendar is blocked by the second guest request.  Once the first guest awaiting verification was finalized I sent her a message asking a few questions as her profile was blank and she had zero reviews.  Also reminded her of our house rules of no smoking, no pets, no parties and stated hosts live next door to the listing and meet & greet all guests for check-in.  After just a few minutes without a reply I see the request has been withdrawn.  So now I am stuck waiting for request #2 to be verified and my calendar remains blocked.    These new guests should no be able to submit a booking request prior to being verified.  Totally unfair to the hosts.