We have trusted Airbnb's vetting process for potential guests the whole 7 years we've been Airbnb hosts, UNTIL NOW. I do have instant book turned ON & I have clicked all of the boxes to require the potential guest to submit to them before instant booking. I also have the box ticked that requires a 'FACE PHOTO'. Recently, we had a very strange incident with a very strange guest. Here's what happened...
This guest is NOT who he says he is & here is the story. First ‘suspicion’ was he didn’t have a ‘FACE PHOTO’ on his profile & when I requested he submit one he ignored the request. I then researched that I could ‘cancel’ his reservation with no penalty to me if I have the box ‘checked’ to require a face photo & the guest won’t supply one. But rather than cancel his reservation, I told him if he shows up without submitting a face photo I will ask him to submit a photo ID when he arrives before he will be allowed inside our home (we live here…this is our home). He immediately sent a photo on Airbnb’s message center so I allowed him to check in. Cameras (YES, their existence & location is fully DOCUMENTED on Airbnb!) caught him prowling around our front sitting room where guests enter our home. It appeared he was looking for something (cameras, I suspect, which leads me to believe he didn't read that particular documentation). He spent a great deal of time doing this before calling it a night. Next morning, he was doing the same thing along with going in & out the front door, pacing nervously on the front porch, head bobbing up & down between the street & his cell phone. Then cameras caught a FedEx truck pulling up to the house & the guest ran out to sign for the package & receive it. A few minutes after the FedEx truck left, a white car with very dark windows pulled up & the guest ran out to the car & gave the package to someone in the passenger side of the car & the car immediately sped off with no time for any discussion with the guest. Very suspicious. The guest NEVER asked me if he could receive packages. I confronted the guest & he was incredibly nervous & didn’t really want to talk to me & I told him, ‘No more packages.’ He said, in very broken English (I suspect his first language is Mandarin as I could hear him on the phone speaking Mandarin...I speak some Mandarin), “Ah, yes, more packages today.” I told him, “NO. You are not allowed to receive packages here & certainly not allowed to give our address out freely to strangers.” This made him even more nervous. So later, he got in his car that was parked in front of our house, backed the car up the block & just sat in his car. He waited for the next package which was soon delivered by UPS. He ran up to the UPS driver, showed his ID & took the package. The UPS driver noted that he took the package up to his car & the driver went up & confronted the guy then went back to his truck. I ran out & confronted the UPS driver & said that I didn’t know what was going on but that this guy is an Airbnb guest of ours & that was the second package he had received. The UPS driver said he also recognized that the guy was super nervous. I asked if the package had our address on it & he said it was. Then I asked if he could tell me the name of the guy receiving the package & he gave me the guy’s name that was on his ID, “Peter Lin”. I told the driver that was NOT the name he has on his Airbnb profile & that I it appeared something suspicious was going on. He agreed. The guest didn’t bring any luggage…just a small paper bag & a pair of slip on shoes. After the guest received the UPS package & saw me talking to the UPS guy, he sped away in his car & did not return. I contacted Airbnb & discussed the situation & told them we were not comfortable with this guest & shared the story. They told me sometimes people use ‘alias’ names but the rep agreed that this sounded suspicious. I get it, if you're actually Tom Cruise, you might use an alias. But Tom Cruise wouldn't be staying here. The rep changed the guest's reservation to one night instead of 2 nights (which is our minimum). After this, I was forced to add to ‘house rules’…“Guests may not receive mail or packages at our address or give our address to anyone who might mail anything to our address including but not limited to: voter registration, driver’s license, or to obtain any government benefits. Any mail or packages addressed to guests that are delivered to our house will be returned to the sender marked “UNKNOWN to this address. Cameras are located at the front door and inside the front living room. We monitor these cameras and can see if this type of activity is occurring. Your reservation will be CANCELLED if we find this is happening. Apologies for any inconvenience but this is our home...we live here and we don't want guests using our home as a receiving/exchange post.” I will also send notes to guests who are required to contact me for a reservation informing them that if they do not have a clear, face photo on their profile after I accept their reservation, I will cancel their reservation. We want to make sure the person who booked the reservation is the person who shows up to our home. Not perfect, but a little more protective layering. The guest who stayed with us has a profile name of, “King Tang”, in case other hosts in the LA area are curious.
Fortunately, this is a very rare incident. Most of our guests are amazing. So I'm now thinking of going a little further & requiring a photo ID from each guest, including the 'guest' of the guest who's booking. We've used Airbnb all over the world & have never been asked to provide this to any hosts. After this experience as hosts, I now wouldn't think twice about submitting this to a host. I've seen posts from obviously very 'paranoid' people who refuse to submit a photo ID to hosts. The suite we offer to Airbnb guests is INSIDE our home. We LIVE IN this house. It's a bedroom & bathroom inside our primary residence. So I don't think it's too much to ask guests to provide a photo ID. This isn't perfect, I understand. But at least we have something on record. Curious if anyone else had had this type of experience & if adding this extra ID requirement has affected bookings. Cheers to all
