I am desperate being a rookie on Airbnb I don't understand why is it so difficult to book a room ?

[Marcelo866]

Hosts asking me what is the name of my employer. So acting accordingly with the law seems to be suspicious ? 
I provide the name of my employer but I must tell people that this information is confidential.

I am totally off grid ? Thanks for you thoughts and comment

[Ann72]

@Marcelo866  Why are they asking you that - are you booking for work, or are you booking for someone else for work?  I don't know of many hosts who ask for your employer's name.  You could fill out your profile, complete with a government-issued ID, and send a message upon attempting to book saying why you are visiting the area and describing who might be coming with you.  This level of communication is required by many hosts.  If you're off-grid, that only matters if you don't have any kind of ID, otherwise, there is no point in mentioning it.  

[Huma0]

@Marcelo866 

I've never asked a guest for this type of information. However, I do want them to have verified Govt ID and a profile photo, which I can see you have. Also, I like them to have a brief description in their profile or to send me some information about themselves and the purpose of their trip. It's just reassuring to know a bit about the person who will be staying in your property.

So, I would suggest that you write a short description on your profile and also include this in initial messages to hosts you approach. Hopefully other hosts will then be more open to accepting your booking. I really don't think it's necessary to give the name of your employer unless you are trying to specifically make bookings for that company, which anyway would normally involve being registered as a business booker with Airbnb.

[Debra300]

@Marcelo866, @Ann72, @Huma0,

I have asked for employment information when a newbie is trying to book my long-term rental apartment.  I have also asked for a refundable security deposit to be paid via Airbnb's Resolution Center.

Huma, I know you also host long-term stays, but it's a home share.  There are periods when I am not onsite at my apartment, and I need a little more traceable detail about a guest.

[Huma0]

@Debra300 

If it's a long term stay and an off site host, then sure, it makes sense to ask more questions. I am not sure I would do long term stays if I didn't live here as I would be worried about guests gaining tenants' rights/squatting my property. As it's my own primary home, they don't have any such rights under UK law.

When I rented to regular lodgers/tenants, then employment details was something I definitely asked for, including a reference from the employer.

I don't know how long a stay @Marcelo866 is trying to book but, yes, I guess it makes sense for the host to ask if it's going to be a long one.

[Debra300]

@Huma0,

We are essentially home sharing, too.  Our apartment is a cordoned section of our primary residence, but there are times when we have guests staying and we've gone to the guesthouse or on holidays.  I do think that having the rental space connected to our home and prohibiting mail delivery have been great deretants for a guest trying to squat or claim tenant's right.

We sometimes host traveling medical professionals who are new to doing contract work.  If they don't have an existing profile with acceptable reviews, I will ask for their work agency 's information, and contact them to verify job title, the contract duration and location.  In the US, that's all an employer is legally allowed to share without written permission from the employee.

We've also had guests who received an unflattering review, and have required a refundable deposit.

[Huma0]

@Debra300 

What are your local laws regarding renting out a section of your primary residence? Here, the renter would be classified at most as a lodger/licensee, rather than a tenant, so they don't get tenants rights. I can ask them to leave for whatever reason, providing I give them 'reasonable' notice, which usually means one rental period, i.e. if they pay weekly, a week's notice, if they pay monthly, a month's notice. 

By now, I've hosted a lot of long term guests and have only once asked one to leave (with Airbnb's help). I've not been in the position where a guest has refused to leave, but this did happen once with a regular long term lodger before I started doing Airbnb. Knowing the laws around this (which were on my side, not his) was a great help. As soon as I started citing these laws, he backed off and agreed to go. However, he then cancelled his last month's rent, meaning I was out of pocket. He left damages, which technically were not covered as his deposit went to covering the unpaid rent. After that, I became a lot more cautious about vetting lodgers and having everything clearly written down. I have not since had similar problems.

However, I have been much more casual about it with Airbnb guests. Most of them seem to understand they are simply temporary visitors in my home. The girl who was asked to leave was one of the few that didn't get this.

[Debra300]

@Huma0,

In the state of Georgia, transient persons who rent a room in a hotel or shared house for less than 30 days are considered guests and not tenants.  This classification can be easily changed so it's imperative to disallow guests to have postal delivery or use the address for registration or licensing of anything. There are no state regulations for short-term rentals.  This falls under the jurisdiction of the local cities and  counties.  Currently, my county hasn't passed any requirements for short-term rentals, but I do see it coming down the pipeline.  So, at this time I don't have to obtain a license, nor are there any limitations to the number of days that I can rent my space.

I've allowed stays that for longer than 30 days only when we are onsite.  Right now, we have a traveling nurse staying with us for 92 days.  Thus far, we've not had to ask anyone to vacate.  I am in agreement with you, Airbnb/Vrbo/Furnished Finder guests seem to understand that their stays aren't permanent.  However, I have considered requiring guests to sign a short-term rental agreement for future stays, just to have an extra layer of legal protection against folks claiming tenant's rights or squatting.