Verify ID now required for all travelers?

[Ramona11]

Has anyone else run up against a requirement to use Verify ID no matter who you are booking with? For security reasons I do not with to keep my ocs on file and link my airbnb profile with my fb page. So I have not been able to book with any hosts now, and the hosts are not the ones imposing the requirement. as a Super Host myself, I think this is going to really hurt my business. Anyone know anything? Thanks!

[Dawn93]

This often keeps me from booking on AirBnb. It's a huge security liability to have this company store so many government IDs. and with all the security breaches that have been really well publicized, just within the last year, I'm surprised people are willingly uploading photos of their IDs to the site. 

A few more notes. As someone who loves the spirit of Airbnb 

-I'd be happy to upload a pic of my credit card, as someone mentioned in the comments before me. Definitely not the same as my government issued ID. 

-I'd be happy to upload a photo of my government ID with sensitive information obscured/blurred out. AirBnb does not allow this. WHY?

-I'd be happy to show guests my ID upon arrival. 

Please rethink or reimagine this requirement. I imagine there are better ways to ensure guest/host safety that aren't a privacy violation. 

[Barbara519]

Please everyone, post your complaints on social media!  Start a movement to have this reversed!  All they care about is the bottom line.  They are selling this information to a third party "partner" with no real privacy policy!

[Staycie0]

Everyone needs to put this on their facebook page.  This new policy is completely suspect. 

[Loic11]

Hello everyone,

This new verification ID has stopped us from booking a couple of homes in Indonesia this year. It was something new we had just encounter from Airbnb.

I had used Airbnb for good many years now. My family and I had enjoyed staying in many beautiful homes around the world. Now sadly we will not be using Airbnb again.

We do not believe in giving every details of our ID or emails movement or contacts to anyone as it is private. Already in today's world our privacy is already well being invaded by hackers etc.......

However we do understand hosts who wish to have their clients verify etc...... before accepting a booking. We wish you all the best.

This will be our last contact using Airbnb. Good luck!

[Luca237]

Same here.. People must be idiot to provide their Official ID to this website... Way better to pay 100 eur more for a decent hotel... There are some AirBnB alternatives out there, even though i am not sure how reliable are they...

[Amanda300]

This is insane and such a shame for both hosts and guests. I have used air bnb so happily until now - they have all my details on my account but now I want to book a lovely place I have had to upload photos of my drivers' licence.... Which I did....but then I am supposed to take a photo of myself... Which I would be happy to do.... But it keeps telling me my device doesn't have a camera. Which it does! So I can't progress unless I download the App. Pretty sure that is the purpose of the whole demand. Off to a hotel instead and won't be using air bnb again.

[Helga0]

@Amanda300, if your browser believes, that your device has no camera, it means that it has no access to it. Maybe a long time ago, you got one of those requests "can Google / Firefox / Safari access your camera?" or your photos or location data etc and you clicked Refuse. Which is principally a sensible decision, but if you want to take the picture whilst being on the form on the browser, the browser needs that access. As would the app, if you download it. 

If it's a phone, check the parameters, if it's a computer, check the system parameters. There is somewhere a chapter called "Authorisations " or "Confidentiality" or it may be in the chapter Photos. You may google it for your device. When you found it, give the browser permission to use the camera. When you are done, you may forbid access again. 

If you are on a phone, the app is more comfortable to use. I use both, depending on purpose. It's not a big app in terms of storage, on my iphone and as a host with listings, it uses 177 MB, much less than newspaper apps or a few simple games. I can't remember even one crash of the app and it never crashed my phone (whilst my local newspaper app crashes daily.)

[Nina148]

I live in Norway, and here companies can not require our social security number, which is on our passport and drivers license. 

If we give it out, and it gets misused, we personally are responsible for the damage. 😞

So I'm also a formerly happy Airbnber. And tomorrow I will look at hotels for my next vacation. 😕

[Margaret206]

Hopefully air bnb is letting the hosts decided whether they'd like to require id verification.  I'll continue to air bnb if they provide a filter which allows me to screen out rooms which require id verification or only select those with a id verification requirement.  I wonder if hosts are being enticed into requiring id verification or if they are unaware of the implications of such an action.

[Aogán0]

 I have to say, as a new host (and also Airbnb traveller) I really dislike this change. I have always tried to limit the amount of information about me that I put out onto the internet - my cousin is an investigative journalist, and says that pretty much evertything we put out there is discoverbale by anybody who really wants it.... This change has already put off one potential guest of mine from booking. Airbnb need to listen to this feedback and work out a new way, as has been suggested above (I favour the offical ID with critical data blurred out).

[Barbara519]

Likewise.  I've told lots of friends and relatives about airbnb, but some who decided to try it have told me they've decided not to participate after being faced with this.  Sad.  I'm going to warn people about it so they don't waste their time looking for a place only to discover this.  I'm sure that money is at the root of it, not protection of hosts and guests, or the partner that gets this info wouldn't have such a useless privacy policy.