Safety Concerns

[Lan1]

Dear Fellow Hosts:

I am really concerned about the safety of the Airbnb booking process. I have been receiving booking requests and inquiries at 1-3 AM, demanding IMMEDIATE checking in, guests had zero information ( from where? No ID, no picture, one guest ONLY have verified email address). 

My house was trashed/damaged several times recently by overnight party/drug gathering with all the documentations, but Airbnb denied the claims and approved those criminal activities. They ignored my documentations ( including Neighboor’s complain, third party witnesses etc), just determined “ normal circumstances, damages are wear and tear, even some obviously burned marks on my furnitures...

I respectfully request Airbnb to re-examine those evidences, investigate  the increasing crime activities, and protect our hosts.

I also will contact local safety authorities for support!

My fellow hosts, I don’t wish those crimes happening in your home, please be cautious and don’t hesitate to reject some suspicious bookings request even Airbnb could penalize you, or accepting rates going down, safety is more important than anything else!

please advise!

Lan 

[G-C-R-M0]

@Lan1 - I just checked your listing. It's very convenient, alright, close to BART, etc. but this means you need to put up extra measure. I wouldn't disclose your location openly like that, instead just keep it to general area.

Do you live in the house you're putting on airbnb (you wrote "I had guests in my house")? If so, then that makes it even more important to be able to screen your guests properly.

These days and age in California nothing is simple anymore wrt drugs. Since they legalize marijuana a lot of kids (yes, I mean young, dumb ones) are getting high and doing stupid things.
I put in my listing explicitly that I have the rights to cancel their contract/reservation early, evict them, without any refund, should I catch them doing drugs, etc. in my property. This is because I have good neighbors and I don't want to piss them off.

[Lan1]

@G-C-R-M0 I have a duplex house, my family and I live in one unit. Airbnb hosting other unit. You are absolutely right, I have to screen guests better, especially I have children in my home.

thank you for your comments!

Lan 

[G-C-R-M0]

@Lan1 Good to know. That's very convenient for you, but yea, with increased crime rate in the bay area, and crime against airbnb host, I'd just be cautious.

You probably want to also conceal your location until after the guest past the book cancelation period.

[Sarah977]

@Lan1  I turn my phone ringer off at night. No way I want guests, or anyone, bothering me for anything after I've gone to bed. If the house is on fire, they can call 911. Waiting to answer a booking request or inquiry a few hours later, when you normally get up isn't going to ruin your hosting business. You don't have to make yourself available 24/7. And I really wouldn't want to have guests who are so rude as to do this. I remember a post here by one new, young host whose private room guest knocked on the host's bedroom door at 2AM, waking her up of course, to complain that she couldn't find the hairdryer.

No way I'd try to carry on a conversation with someone drunk or high- been there, done that. It's pointless. They don't even remember that they called the next day, let alone what the conversation was about.

[Anonymous]

@Lan1  It has always been the case that hosts are solely responsible for their own safety and that of their property. The areas in which Airbnb has been most unethical in here are in aggressively pushing hosts to use Instant Book, discouraging hosts from declining requests, and keeping them paranoid about star ratings.

But host should not feel like they have to compromise their own safety just because Airbnb wants to be more competitive with hotels. If your listing is attracting people who put your home in danger, of course you should be screening your guests carefully. Of course you should turn off Instant Book. And of course you should decline requests that don't inspire confidence, no matter how many notifications you get about the stupid "acceptance rate." These are no-brainers.

As for the same-day bookings, I can't think of a single good reason why anyone would suddenly need a 3-bedroom house in El Cerrito at the last minute. The likeliest scenario here is that they've just been kicked out or turned away from somewhere else.  People who weren't thoughtful enough to plan ahead, I don't trust them to blow their candles out, nor to abstain from crystal meth. 

[Pete69]

Nothing says "riff raff" like someone who is looking for a place to stay at that hour. Don't do InstantBook, don't do same say bookings, raise your price and word your listing to scare off these people. Those are the main tools you have to avoid these people.

Sorry to hear that El Cerrito has gone down hill. I went to Portola Junior High.

[Marie82]

@Lan1 I am reading this now and cannot believe only 3 weeks this happened to you, and we see today what happened to Orinda shooting. 

The only think hosts are asking to Airbnb is to properly screen guests around the world. So we can feel safe to welcome guests again

Such a pity Airbnb going that road of negligence over and over again.

[Katie19]

Until earlier this year we always had our listing set for 1 day advance notice, then decided to remove that to get more bookings. A few months ago we had a request at 10pm on a Saturday night for 1 person. The guest was new to Airbnb, friendly in their message, lived fairly nearby and no reviews.  We were home and our room  (detached from house) was available, so we accepted. We gave instructions to get in and never actually met him during his stay.  Before check out time the next morning they (turned out it was 2 people, not 1)  requested to stay an additional night.

Mid day on Sunday I had a fraud alert on a credit card. When I went to find my wallet I realized I had very stupidly left it in my car, in our closed garage, when rushing the day before. Our pool room is adjacent to our garage where my car was parked.

Long story short, this guest stole 3 credit cards and my cash. He must have quickly sold them as police tracked down security footage from nearby stores where  purchases were made, but it was a different individual using them.  Our guest room has a door adjacent to garage, but no sign prohibiting entrance. I provided Police with our outdoor security footage and Airbnb correspondence. They got his fingerprints off my car, but still didn't have enough to arrest him despite him having multiple felony convictions for similar crimes.

Credit card companies were all great and I didn't have to pay anything.

I've had letters from 5 credit card companies asking me to provide information to open the new credit cards that "I" requested, so now I'm dealing with identity theft.

The few people I spoke with at Airbnb were friendly and placating. They didn't provide any explanation of how this felon is allowed in their system and no apologies.  When I asked specific questions in my emails with their customer service about safety and screening, they simply didn't reply.

The only thing they did do was remove the guests very kind review of us. I didn't want him associated with us.

By the way, we did not review him. As much as we would have liked to alert other guests, quite honestly we didn't want retaliation (especially with him living nearby).  I was hoping Airbnb would have done something to remove him, but don't think they have.

I have now read things saying last minute bookings, especially late at night, can often be shady especially when the person lives in the area. I realize some are probably great people that have last minute plans, but then they can go to a hotel where guests are accepted 24 hours.

Despite losing some potential guests we have now changed our requirements to be much stricter:

At least 1 day notice

Must have previous  reviews

Must have a clear photo of themselves on their bio

Must tell us what's bringing them to the area

Must give me the full name of any guest coming with them

Since hosts can no longer see photos until after accepting a reservation we have these requirements clearly stated on our listing and I mention them immediately when responding to inquiries. If they don't like it they can find another place to stay.  I've had a few probably very nice guests without reviews that I've now turned down.  The photo of the guest who burglarized us did not show his face.

After this happened I did an internet search with the guests full name and found alarming & derogatory photos & information on Facebook and public records.  Hosts don't get the full name until after accepting a reservation, but if a host is ever uncomfortable or suspicious of a guest it would be worth searching and then canceling.   Had I seen all this ahead of time I would not have allowed this stranger into my home. (His friendly correspondence was misleading). 

This is usually our busiest time of year and our bookings are down, so I'm sure declining  a few guests has bumped us down on the listings in the area. Oh well.

A few bookings that I've accepted initially had photos of their pets or group photos and I've asked that they send a clear personal photo. Everyone has been perfectly fine with that.

We really hate that this one bad guest out of our 100+ great ones has caused us to be less trusting, but our safety and peace of mind comes first.  We no longer have confidence that Airbnb does due diligence in screening.

On the "Does Airbnb perform background checks on members? page

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/1308/does-airbnb-perform-background-checks-on-members

I was shocked to read "If we have enough information (usually at least the user’s first and last name, plus date of birth) to identify a guest or host who lives in the United States, we check certain databases of public state and county criminal records"

Does that mean they have members who they don't have their full  name and date of birth?

I'm sharing all this simply to remind hosts to be mindful when allowing strangers into your home. I wish I hadn't had this wake up call, but feeling uneasy in my own home isn't worth any amount of money.

Be safe.