Guests home address

[Jason-and-Nicole0]

The NSW Governement has today banned travellers from Victoria entering the state due to renewed Covid-19 Lockdowns. The bans are for specific post codes (zip codes) in Victoria. How do we as hosts easily  verify where guests are from without going into each profile manually. Is there an easy way to check where all forward bookings reside?

[Anonymous]

@Jason-and-Nicole0 The relevant information won't be disclosed in the profile, so the easiest way to handle this is to disable Instant Book (if you were using it) and screen your requests to verify that their travel plans are compliant with the law.

I suppose someone who's determined to get around the restrictions could tell a fib about where they're traveling from, but if an issue comes up later, you'll at least have the paper trail to show that you did due diligence. 

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Jason-and-Nicole0 You need to look at the specific law that has been passed. As written in your post the NSW has banned the Victorians from travelling not you from hosting them so it is for the guest to comply with the law not yourself. 

[Jason-and-Nicole0]

Thanks but unfortunately in Australia the Governments are de-risking themselves by passing liability onto the private sector. Huge fines and liabilty are threatened if we 'know or ought to have known' a traveller was from a lockdown area. We need to identify and cancel travellers from the lockdown zone. The rest of the world may punish the rule breaker, but in Australia we punish the owner of the house they stay in instead.

[Helen3]

I would imagine the easiest way as suggested is to disable IB and ask them to provide you with bill/driving license showing proof of address. @Jason-and-Nicole0 , having made it clear in your listing and house rules that this is a condition of booking for those from this area.

It does make sense to me that the liability rests with the business owner ie you, the same as it does with hotels and STRs in many countries in Europe and other parts of the world who have to collect photo ID of any guests staying with them.