Telephone number on listing page

[Stephanie309]

Hello everyone. I'm assisting my father, who owns the property, with the online bookings and I have changed the contact number on the profile page to mine. Twice now my father has been contacted on his mobile directly from a guest enquiring about the hostal before they have made a reservation. Does anyone know how this is happening as I thought all private information was hidden before the reservation is confirmed? Many thanks, Stephanie

[Karen-and-Brian0]

Hi @Stephanie309 Guests enquiries are sent through the Airbnb messaging system, not directly from guest to host, and will come up on your father's mobile phone if his number is listed on the account. The guests don't have his actual mobile number, Airbnb does -  they use a number of different phone numbers in their system to send the messages, none of which belong to guests. Hope that makes sense!  Private information is hidden until the booking is confirmed - that's why you can't respond directly from your cellphone to a text message sent from a guest - the number shown is not the guest's actual number. Hope that helps! Karen

[Stephanie309]

Hello Karen. Thanks for your reply. My number is on the account (it was my father's number up until around 1 month ago) but my father is receiving calls from the people enquiring before they have made a reservation. He has actually spoken to them and they have enquired about booking a room. This is what I'm finding odd as I have no idea how they have obtained his mobile number to make contact. If it happens again I will contact AirBnB directly as there is obviously a problem. Have a great day. Stephanie

[Karen-and-Brian0]

Hi @Stephanie309 That is odd! Has he advertised it somewhere other than on the Airbnb site with his cellphone as contact number? The contact from Airbnb comes through a messaging system, as prospective guests don't have the actual phone number, it's impossible for them to actually speak to you. They must be accessing his phone number another way other than Airbnb is all I can think. - Karen