Guests hometown

[Bethany7]

I'm starting to believe the default city where a guest is from becomes Lindenwold NJ. After nearly 20 guests, just a few of them say a different city other than Lindenwold.

But the majority of new requests (almost always new airbnb users with no reviews) say they are from Lindenwold NJ. I find it hard to believe this many of my guests are from there, especially when the guest says they are from Houston and their Linkedin profile confirms this. Another request's profile said Lindenwold, yet he told me he was from Florida and was going to school in Alabama, and social media confirmed this.

Has any one else noticed a recurring city that airbnb says new users are from?

[Lynn92]

As of today, I've had a total of 3 guests from Kellyville, OK inquire about booking with me.  I booked 2 of the 3.  None of them are actually from there.  The guest arrives tomorrow.  I'll let you know if there is anything questionable about their stay. 

[Alejandro119]

I actually just had 2 bookings from Kellyville, OK as well. Neither has any reviews, so I'm a bit suspicious. Did your guest check-in yesterday? Is everything going ok?

[Nancy61]

I've also had two inquiries from Kellyville, OK -- time for a Twitter DM to Airbnb!

[Nancy61]

I've just queried Airbnb via Twitter about the strange influx of Kellyville reservations/inquiries. Will post the Airbnb repsonse when I receive it.

[Nancy61]

Here's the response from Airbnb Support re:Kellyville 

Greetings from Airbnb!

Thank you for writing to us and bringing this to our notice.I'm sorry you've been having trouble. I am Queenie from the Airbnb Customer Experience Team. I will be glad to help.

I checked about the issue and noticed that it is a known one and our technical team is working to get this resolved. We’ve been investigating the cause of the issue, and working to resolve it as quickly as possible.

Thank you so much for your patience and taking the time to alert us to the situation. We apologize for any inconvenience this has caused.

[Annette33]

@Nancy61 , thanx for being so diligent about it and posting the official Airbnb response: disappointing how they are not telling us anything we don't already know, not even that Airbnb is using this as the default location for guests who have not properly filled out their profile, which is what we all figured out. just "it is a known issue" and "technical team is working on it....."

I guess it's not high priority to fix the glitches, they are busy constantly implementing new stuff instead.

[Lynn92]

Everything went great with my guests from "Kellyville, OK."  They were legitimate (actually from TX) and were actually one of my best guests yet!

[Nancy61]

Thanks for your reply, Lynn. I don't believe it's a scam, but it is a glitch that Airbnb needs to be made aware of.

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

I can't believe there is a default for hometown. Seriously?????

And why should hosts have to remind guests to select the right hometown? 

I haven't had the pleasure(?) of receiving any inquiries from Lindenwold NJ but this is so hilarious. 

[Lynn92]

I just hosted a couple from "Kellyville, OK" and they were not from there.   They were legitimate guests and were great!  I didn't get a chance to talk with them much, but I think they are new to AirB&B.  I think it's  a default city for those newbies who are filling out the info. online.  I don't think it's a scam.

[Annette33]

Lindenwold, Kellyville, what next? So Airbnb is arbitrarily using such locations as their default  fill in for location in guests'profile when they leave it blank. What is the point? It is only misleading us hosts, and only raising justified  suspicion and concern when we figure out it is incorrect!

Why would Airbnb not do a simple thing, either just leaving it alone, or going back to the guest and reminding them to fill out the basics in their profile? Yet they say such guests are verified.... makes me wonder about that process!

I  just got a booking from Kellyville myself, asked the guest about it, she changed it to her correct location, all okay. But if I hadn't tuned into the issue here in the CC, it sure would have made me slightly uneasy, perhaps suspicious. 

[Patti4]

 This has been going on for months now. I don't understand why they can't resolve it.  How is it that newbies are allowed to make reservation requests and inquiries without a complete profile? 

[Vicky61]

Just chiming in to say I'm experiencing the same Kellyville, OK issue - seems to be with new, unreviewed guests. Reporting it now.

[Fabs0]

I have had the same kellyville, OK,  issue last thurday and it turned out to be scammers they stole a few itmes in one of our home and trahed it, I just got another request Kellyville was very scared I had to even reverse check his phone number to make sure he was not another scammer he turned out to be  a Lawyer from Texas. Man the really need to fix this glitch.

[Nancy61]

Rob -- I'm so sorry to hear about your lousy hosting experience -- have you notified Airbnb support about these guests?

Please contact support about the Kelleyville default glitch as well -- if enough hosts complain, maybe Airbnb will remedy what appears to be a simple fix: eliminate the Kelleyville default answer and don't let new members register unless they complete the entire process.