Limited info from guest

[Frank731]

I'm new here.  How do you make sure the guest is legit?  I mean, the person that just booked only has a first name and no info about himself.  He joined the day he made the reservation.  It shows his IDs were verified.  Should I be worried or is this the norm?  

[Mike1034]

@Frank731  That is all you get from Airbnb when a booking inquiry or request comes.  You can click the user profile, it may show you that the user provided phone number, email and government ID. 

You our only see the photo, full name and phone number after you accept the booking. It is bad, right?

[Frank731]

Thank you Mike!   This makes me a little uneasy but if it is the norm, I guess I'll go with it.  I appreciate your reply.  

[Brittani7]

It is pretty normal.  A lot of guests that book my rental are new to Airbnb.  I probably get more new guests then I do seasoned guests.  

My recommendation is collect as much info about their trip/ stay as you can.

For example, I always send out these three questions to guests:

What time can I expect you to arrive?

How many other people will be traveling with you?

Are you here for vacation, family, travel, ECT...?

This will help you get a better idea of who the guest is and why they are booking your place.

Sometimes you can't avoid bad guests, even if they seem like awesome guests and have all their verifications.  

[Frank731]

Very good advice!  Thank you.  That will make me feel better.  Appreciate it!

[Juris1]

Hi. I'm in the same doubts.
The first name and checkmark about verified ID are all about the person who is going to live in my house next 3 weeks and will share my bath and kitchen and everything. With a verified ID he is qualifying to instant booking option, so I even can't decline. I just know and that's a fact - somebody anonymous will live in my house having almost full access to everything there.

I remember, when I created my profile I really did care about how my profile will look - will be there enough information, some pictures, some links to my social profiles, etc. I was really worried about that. It seems nobody cares.

I don't know, is it possible to make that question very important to Airbnb, to make the new rules for persons who want to use an instant booking option. I don't know - maybe Facebook account connected maybe must have pictures, ID visible ... I don't know.