Is Identity Verification a Joke, or is it Just Me?

[Joe3874]

OK, I’ve gotta vent, folks. Hear me out. 

The new identity verification setup on Airbnb is driving me absolutely berserk. It used to be that you could click on a guest's photo, zoom in, and at least get a halfway decent look at who was about to stay in your home. Sure, sometimes the guest would change their profile pic after ID verification to something useless (like a dog or a cartoon avatar), but hey — at least the photo existed and you could see it.

Now? You click the picture and instead of a larger image, you get a shiny little badge that says “Verified.” Oh great, a meaningless merit badge while the actual photo is now pretty in pink. I can’t even tell if the person arriving is the one whose name is on the booking — because the profile pic is literally unviewable at this point.

Seriously... is it just me, or has “identity verification” become identity obfuscation?

To make matters worse, I’ve always required ID from guests because my listing is a bedroom in my own home. That’s not an arbitrary policy — there have been two domestic violence incidents in the room. In one case, the person causing the problem wasn’t even the booking guest, and I had no way of knowing their name because ID wasn’t required or shared. Legit called the cops on a stranger in my house.

So, after that I required that guests of guests provide an ID and I was under the impression that as long as it’s clearly stated in the house rules, requesting ID is fair game. Now Airbnb’s guidelines make it sound like you can only do that if the law requires it — like if you're running a licensed hostel or B&B.

So... let me get this straight:

I can’t verify their face, I can’t ask for their ID, and I still have to open my home to them? What exactly is Airbnb doing to keep hosts safe these days? Because right now, it feels like guests are protected by layers of anonymity and "safeguarding," while we hosts are just supposed to cross our fingers and hope no one dangerous walks through the door?! That’s not just frustrating — it’s insane.

And before anyone mistakes my post for discrimination, you cannot tell if someone is dangerous by their photo. Absolutely not. However, if Airbnb does their due diligence and checks background, etc. of the photo on the profile against a government ID AND doesn't allow the former to be changed, then we DO know that the person in the photo has been vetted and is the not-likely-to-be-a-menace-to-society person on the account. THAT should be the process here. 

Anyone else on the same page? Someone please tell me I'm wrong, because right now I don't wanna be right. 

[Matthew1608]

The whole system is run by chat bots so can you really expect much?

[Drew10]

It's time for you to become a competitor top AirBNB by building your own website and service for everyone. My ID verificvation by AirBNB is failing no matter how highest quality ID I scan for the AirBNB. The problem is that they won't accepot a scan and use their own inferior scanner.

[Greystone0]

HI @Joe3874 ,

yes, it's a joke. There does not seem to be any vetting. Or really any human intervention behind this ID process either.

There is a service that used to be called Superhog, now it is Truvi that has a guest ID module. I have not done much research on it but I feel like it is in our near future to go this route. And we are not a house share like you, we are a whole home rental but if the platforms are putting up brick walls that allow for proper ID verification, there isn't much of an alternative.

I don't know if this would ever make sense from a cost standpoint for a shared space type situation. Interesting to think about.  If Truvi doesn't already have a simplified package to offer for this reason, they should.

On our end we need all the screening we can muster to keep our property from being booked for the wrong reasons so further scrutiny helps deter this so it is highly important for us.

Good luck!