Name of town of person requesting to book does not match

[Susan10]

Person requesting to book volunteers that they live in "Anytown" USA - in their brief introduction and purpose of trip. But, when I go to the profile; it lists a completely different town as residence.  This happens a lot.  Just curious why the town listed on the guests profile would not match where they say they are from?

[Pat271]

I get these sometimes. It could be that they moved and have never updated their profile. I always let guests or potential guests know if I see an oddity in their profile.

[Helen350]

To say you live in "Anytown" USA sounds like the enquirer is being evasive re. who they are.... Which would put off some hosts from engaging further, wondering if they can trust....

But Yes, people move, and like with any social media, profile holders can be who they want to be, which may or may not be the truth... 

[Laura2592]

People don't change their profiles. I had a guest who said they were from a city in China, and I responded to the inquiry saying "We are so excited to host our first guest from China!"  To which he responded "Oh I live in Rockville" which is a city about 45 mins away from our cottage and decidedly less interesting.  The guest said he hadn't changed his profile since he had done a year overseas for grad school.

I would just verify with the guest as follows "I see your profile says you are from Pittsburgh but your message said  Philadelphia. Could you verify where you are coming from? We like to watch the forecast this time of year to see if we need to provide our guests with any info on getting to us. Winter can be very unpredictable!" or something like that. 

[M199]

Here in Canada, I had a guest whose profile address was in Russia, the phone  number was from Toronto Canada.  After he checked in I mentioned it to the guest.  Guest was open and honest about the address and had immigrated about a year prior.  He and family were awesome guests, just wish they had had more time to tell me their immigration story and history.  Just tells me that little quirks like this can be a great opportunity to learn about guests.

[Sarah977]

Although Anytown USA sounds evasive, or maybe they just thought it cute, people do forget to update their profiles. Some probably don't even realize that hosts look at them.

One of the best guests I had I had felt iffy about and thought about declining. He had had an account for 3 years, but no reviews, his profile said he was a student, his profile photo was of 3 guys holding up wine glasses.

Turned out he'd opened an account, but never booked anything, he was no longer a student, but the manager of ten Dominos pizza outlets. I encouraged him to update his profile and left him his first review.

[Helen350]

....yeah, but "Anytown" isn't a real place, it's what you get on pretend credit card forms etc for illustrative purposes.....

And they said in the messaging "Anytown" was where they currently live.... hence the Red Flag...

@Sarah977  

[Sarah977]

@Helen350 Yes, I understood that- I agree it seems evasive. And may very well be. But I know a lot of people are also wary of posting personal information online, so it could be something like that, not necessarily nefarious.

[Helen350]

...ah yes, but "Anytown" was not on his profile, it was stated in the pm, with a real town on the profile..... , so less of a privacy issue....  (not being argumentative, just tweaking out the plot...!) @Sarah977 

[Suzanne302]

@Helen350 @Sarah977 I read it as she was simply holding back the name of the town, and not that the guest actually put "anytown" as the hometown.

And @Sarah977 like your guest, I had my profile for at least a year, maybe two, before I ever booked a room.

[Helen350]

@Suzanne302 Exactly! Me too!

[Ann72]

I get those guests all the time, @Susan10, even had a host once who was shocked when I told him his place of residence was different than the one he mentioned in messaging.

It's a concern nowadays, because in Maine where I host people from most states need to get tested before they come and present proof of a negative test on check-in.  And of course because of this issue I've had some guests who don't need to do that because they no longer live in "Anytown" but in a town in Maine, and others who do need to do that because they no longer live in Maine but in Somewhereelseville.  

So many companies where we keep online profiles do ask us to update them periodically; Airbnb should do the same, especially because of place-specific travel restrictions.

[Alexandra316]

Just to add another point to this... Airbnb seems to put completely random info on profiles, so it may not be the guest's fault if the location is wrong. My profile says I live in Toronto: I have never lived or hosted in Toronto. My location used to be correct, then one day it was randomly different. My address has never changed. 

[Susan10]

Yes, this is what I'm trying to articulate.  It is tiresome and frustrating because my initial reaction is always going to be one of suspicion - that they are not going to be a good guest.  It is one more step to take to verify in a message whether they are being truthful in their message and it's Airbnb's mistake....  It creates unnecessary stress to evaluate from a short message whether the guest is going to be a risk or whether it is going to be a non-issue.   When the guest in question has plenty of reviews, the evaluation is way easier. 

*** When the guest is a first time user of Airbnb with no reviews, well honestly, Airbnb isn't doing them any favors and isn't making it easier on new guests.

[Fred13]

Say, remember that Airbnb glitch when so many people were showing as from Kerrville, Ok?