Suspicious guest Inquiries,How about AirBnB become more strict with guests profiles and verification

[Ika0]

Hi Community Members and AirBnB people  if you are listening!

99% of the requests I am getting for booking are from profiles which have many things in common.

1. They have no information about them in their profile ( what do they do, where do they live, sometimes no picture) 

2. They have joined AirBnB just few days ago

3. They all want to stay just for 1 night or few hours

4. They want to stay with their "female friend" which ofcourse they don't tell anything about

AirBnB is taking the security and guest verification very lightly it seems, atleast in India they need to have more provisions. For example - it should be mandatory for guests to write about themselves in their profiles, may be add a picture. There can be more provisions to add to security and verification.

What do you think  fellow hosts? Any tips for new host like me to be sure I am getting the right guests and stayin away from trouble?

[Ralf5]

Hello @Ika0

you may just decline the demand and select the reason I don't feel safe with this guest.

Or, better, since these are new members, probably they did not yet fill out completely their account information. In those cases I usually I write them a kind message and let them know, that their personal profile needs to be completed with this and this information, photo etc. Also you may ask for the reason of their trip.

To avoid one-night demands you just need to set your listing to a minimum stay of 2 nights (-> Calendar -> Availability Settings)

[Mike1034]

Decling a request is definitely not a solution recommended. It may affect your super host status, your listing coming up in the searches, and may even be delisted when it falls under 80% of acceptance rate.

I would suggest that all hosts should take their own safety and their property prection seriously to send feedback to AirBnb. AirBnb should be more selective to screen a guest before they can book.

AirBnb feedback link is 

https://www.airbnb.com/help/feedback

[Ralf5]

You also can define in your settings, that you only get demands from members with verified identity, or with photo

[Ika0]

Thank you Ralf for the info. Appreciate it! 

[Mary88]

Hi Ika,

I absolutely agree with you. We have set up a two day minimum to try to avoid the creepy guys wanting a place for sexual escapades. I am getting tired of men trying to make bookings for the day. "We will arrive at 10:00 and leave at 5:00." This is typically from some guy with no information about himself and no picture. He never introduces the "girl friend" in the booking request. And, yes, it always seems to be someone who just joined Airbnb three days ago. This seems to be a new scam for avoiding staying at a hotel where ID proof would be required.

Airbnb does not seem to be doing anything about checking out the verifications of these people. I agree there should be a minimum of information posted about the potential guest: job, interests, hometown, education, etc. SOMETHING, so that hosts can get a sense of who is trying to book a room.

Mary

[Helen3]

OMG Mary - what a nightmare

I have never had that sort of inquiry for my space.

I have my settings so there needs to be a verified profile - ie driving licence/passport plus other ID.

I don't take people who haven't completed a profile or have a full photo (I thought BnB were stamping out on people who use trees/sunsets/animals as their profile pics, but I still get them)

I also ask for the full names of those staying.

[Douglas0]

I've had some of these same concerns with personal identification of guests, and just talked to Airbnb on the phone about what is required. 

PROFILE PICS: Others have reported that Airbnb requires all members to have at least one identifiable pic in their profile. That is NOT TRUE. They do require an identifiable pic be submitted to Airbnb in order for Airbnb to "Verify" their identity, but policy DOES NOT require members to post that pic or any pic of themselves on their profile. Airbnb says they retain that pic in their records, but they are not going to share it. Apparently, if a member posts only a pic of their cat on their profile, that is not a problem for Airbnb. If a host wants to require an identifiable pic of guests, they are more than welcome to make that a condition of acceptance in their HOUSE RULES.

FULL NAMES: A host might assume that once a booking is confirmed, they will be provided the guests full name by Airbnb. That is also NOT TRUE. In many cases, members do provide their first and last names on their profiles, but they are not required to. They can call themselves Joe S. or Joe Shmoe or whatever they want on their profiles, as long as Airbnb staff is satisfied THEY know their true name and identity. If a host wants to require the real first and last names of all guests be disclosed by the guest, they are welcome to make that a condition of acceptance in their HOUSE RULES. However, hosts never see the full "profile" names of guests until they have accepted a booking request. Only then does it become apparent that a full name is not being provided. If a host has made FULL NAMES a condition of acceptance in their HOUSE RULES, I'm told by Airbnb the host would be justified in cancelling the reservation WITHOUT PENALTY if the guest refuses to provide that information. And even if a guest provides a host their full name (by messaging, while still not showing it on their profile), the host has no way of verifying that the guest is providing their real full names, apart from asking to see a photo ID when the guest arrives.

INACCURATE PROFILE IDENTITY INFORMATION IS ALLOWED: Airbnb knows who verified members are, since they have the benefit of matching their face pics with their photo IDs. But to protect the guest's personal information, Airbnb will not directly share either of those things with other members. Airbnb will provide a member a "Verified" status, even if that person decides to post a picture of their cat and call themselves "Tom Cat" on their profile. Airbnb places full responsibility on members to verify that pics and names shown in profiles are actually the pics and names of the member requesting a booking. To me, it's like Airbnb saying to hosts, "We know who this person is, but we can't tell you because of privacy issues. If something goes wrong in your home, and the guest is responsible, we will make sure the guest takes responsibility. We will do all of this without revealing the guest's true identity."

[Mike1034]

According to my knowledge, what Douglas said is indeed the case. AirBnb has put the risk on hosts to avoid their liabilities of infringment of  guests' so-called privacy. I would strongly suggest that AirBnb to put a policy in their agreement for AirBnb users. The policy should state that if you want to book an accommodation, you agree to disclose your full name with your picture. If AirBnb gets enough feedback about this issue, they may consider to do it.

The feedback can be given at the URL

https://www.airbnb.com/help/feedback 

[Heather28]

After calling Airbnb for the last week and being told it was a glitch and now that they are doing it as a test to see how many bookings occur without photos, I am not happy. I have four listings and feel unsafe and uncomfortable accepting bookings or inquiries without knowing that identification was verified with the person who's picture and who will be showing up at my door. I will be forced to take down my lisitngs. I will not risk myself and my family's safety. Anonymity leads to crime.  I am shocked to see they are "testing" this policy when it is already causing issues for other hosts. 

Best of luck!

[Dianne62]

I too am concerned about Airbnb vetting of guests.  I just accepted a guest (and her boyfriend) to stay 1 night. Her profile says she is from Oklahoma but when she arrived, I said, "So, you're from Oklahoma." and she looked at me like I was nuts and informed me that she was local. She said that she and her boyfriend wanted to "try out" airbnb locally before traveling.  This was a last minute request for day of.  Should I ask to see her I.D.?  

Also, I had to cancel a reservation recently because the phone number the guest provided was not a working number - it was a phone number in Germany.  

[Mike1034]

It is unfair to you and other hosts when they had to cancel a reservation for safety concerns. As a consequence of your cancellation, you are punished for not able to become a super host for a year!

According to my knowledge, what @Douglas0 in this thread said is indeed the case. AirBnb has put the risk on hosts to avoid their liabilities of infringment of  guests' so-called privacy. I would strongly suggest that AirBnb to put a policy in their agreement for AirBnb users. The policy should state that if you want to book an accommodation, you agree to disclose your full name with your picture. If AirBnb gets enough feedback about this issue, they may consider to do it.

The feedback can be given at the URL

https://www.airbnb.com/help/feedback 

[Amanda330]

Yes, it is disappointing that AirBnB in the quest for numbers has no consideration for security, ID verification or details of anyone who registers. Guests can know post with no photo, no reviews, no verifiable ID, just an email address and phone number. We find it a concern accepting guests like you have described.

[Cormac0]

@Ika

make the minimum stay, two nights that should get rid of the one night stands.

Regards

Cormac

The Explorer's Club Krakow III

[Zappa0]

Twice now I've run into safety concerns when Airbnb booted someone off and the person had someone else book. Both times I was able to deny them entry with airbnbs help but only because I caught it. I meet all guests personally.