ID verification

[Louise-Ann1]

so I tried booking an experience and then airbnb prompted me to take a selfie to further verify my identity. I took selfie as asked, with good lighting etc as much as I can. However, it didn’t seem to work. My booking got canceled after 3 days because of it.

I rebooked the experience again and until now, my booking is still on pending. It is quite unfair as they already deducted the payment from my account. I reached out to airbnb support but they couldn’t help much and actually told me “I don’t understand how can I help you”. Is there anyway I can resolve this problem? I really wanted to book the experience!

[Luana130]

Selfie? Apart from your profile picture never heard them ask for a selfie... Take a picture of your ID and put that on the system. That is usually what they ask for. Try and fill as much as the vericications you can, like verified phone and email...

[Susan17]

@Luana130 

Yes, they do ask for selfies in some instances.

@Louise-Ann1 

Unfortunately, the third-party company to which Airbnb outsources ID verification is notorious for the unreliability and instability of their verification system. If you have nothing better to do, you could spend several hours/days re-uploading your selfie and having endless futile conversations on the phone with customer service attempting to resolve the issue. Or you could simply withdraw your current pending request, and contact the person running the experience yourself, and ask to book directly with them. Not your fault that Airbnb hasn't got an efficient or competent verification system in place.

[James2166]

I'm having the same issue and the helpdesk claim it to be an "isolated incident" which it clearly isn't given all the help topics on this.

I'm stuck in an endless loop with them where they keep suggesting retaking the selfie with a variation of:

"Change the lighting"

"Shave stubble off"

"Change profile pic to match selfie"

"Change device"

"Wait 24 hours"

"Clear cache / browsing history and retake"

"Restart device and try again"

This really needs looking at as it's not fit-for-purpose at the minute.

[Jason1432]

Hi @Louise-Ann1 @James2166 

Did Airbnb give you a refund?

I booked an unit for long term stay using paypal, they deducted the money and need my ID verification. 

I took more than 20 selfies but still cannot verify. Can share your experience?

What happened in the end?