phone verification & third party booking

[Anne355]

(question for airbnb not for hosts ...)

Hi, 

I am an instant booker (seems it is important to Airbnb given the emails you receive when you turn the option off)

On many instances I have had third party bookings. Often the phone number given fr reservation would lead to nobody, and at least not to the right person. 

It seems that, at least for 1st time users, the need for the host to have correct contact information is not clear. 

Can Airbnb do something to solve this issue?

(like a "just checking evreything's ok and this is your phone" SMS confirmation code sent before EACH booking)?

[Ana1136]

@Anne355 you can only get answers from hosts here. If you need answers from Airbnb I would suggest contacting them on the phone or Twitter. And sorry if my answers is not whom you wanted to hear from since I am a host but third party bookings are against Airbnb rules and you can contact Airbnb and cancel them penalty free.

[Sarah977]

@Anne355    Really, if you find that IB is creating problems for you that you feel you could avoid by requiring guests to submit an Inquiry or a Booking Request, just ignore those warnings from Airbnb, unless you are financially dependent on getting as many bookings as possible. IB does put you in better placement in the search rankings, but many of us are willing to accept that in order to have more control, especially if we are hosting in the homes in which we live.

I get consistently lovely guests, and while I don't have a full calendar, that's okay with me- quality, not quantity is what I'm interested in. And most of my guests have told me that they would never IB- they want to get a feel for the host whose house they are going to be sharing before committing.