Guest information, PHOTO!!!!!!

Guest information, PHOTO!!!!!!

I do not know if it's a coincidence, but lately all the reservations they make for my place, are guests who do not have a photo or have a picture of a drawing, flower, or anything that is not related to their person. THIS MUST BE CONTROLLED! Airbnb does not give us any information about the person who is going to come to our place. If there is an emergency and ... (I have to call the police for example) I do not have any information about the person who has been in my house, not even a photo.
If they come home I don´t know if they are my guests!

I know... I can make my reservations only with a person with previous official information. But this is playing at a disadvantage with people who don´t ask for it. It's not fair. I don´t ask for official information, just a minimum of security. I believe that a minimum of information, such as a real and clear photo of the guest, must be obligatory for all reservations.
I do not want more pictures about animals, robots, flowers, feet or hands. In an emergency case I can not tell someone I only have a picture of their hands ...

My next guest, of course, he does not have an identifiable photo, and he has only one evaluation and it is a bad evaluation.  What can I do if something happens .....?  What security is there in a system based on checking whether the person has Facebook or not?

13 Comments
Susan598
Level 6

My understanding is that Airbnb requires an id photo but no longer a profile photo. I have chatted with customer service about this as I too am now getting lots of bookings from faceless souls. At times, when I have had concerns (eg. a local person booking one night at the last minute), I have rung customer service to ask Airbnb to contact the guest and request a photo. They have done this for me. The last time it happened Airbnb allowed me to cancel the booking penalty free when the guest did not respond to the request for photo. I am in Instant Book.

Laurence298
Level 3

Agreed, 

   i email Airbnb customer support about this often, and other hosts should as well.  Its a safety issue, and it should be taken seriously.   Uber sends you a picture of your driver before they arrive. As hosts we should have the right to know who will be showing up at our door.  The solution is simple.  

 1)  Instruct users that they MUST use a picture of themselves as their primary photo

 2) Have a button to click that alerts Airbnb if the person's profile pic is not of them. 

 

 Please send an email, or call customer service about this issue. 

 

Thank you Susan and Laurence

 

We're on instant booking and had a company (secretary did the booking) book for one of their staff....no picture of the guest....no reviews and the only verification was the cellnumber of the secretary. As the booking was for a whole month I had to ask for the name of the guest, plus some more info about her stay. I contacted Airbnb and even they could not get ID from them. In the end we phoned the cellnumber and asked that they submit ID and the 'selfie' picture to

Airbnb etc. They said they did, but until the guest turned up on my doorstep I had no idea who was coming to stay on our premises for a month except for her first name after asking. I also had more than one other bookings done by third parties and after asking some questions about their itenary etc we get the message...'no, its not for me,I'm only doing the booking for my wife or sister or so and so.

It would at least be nice if we can get the correct info right away as well as a decent profile pic from the actual person who'll be standing on my doorstep.

 

 

 

 

Francisco70
Level 4

Then the problem is even greater because you (Ilze) tells me that people are being reserved and then others are coming ... which is...  we don't know anything about the person who sleeps in our homes.
Two weeks ago I had a guest who gave me information: a caricature of a pig, a generic Asian name, a city of the United Kingdom, that's all!
My question is why there are people who don't want to give your real information to the people who are opening their homes with their lives and because for airbnb it seems good!

if airbnb has the correct information because it does not give that minimum information (photo, full name and passport number) to the host? Minimum real photo and match the person who comes ... I'm not worth a sharp picture of the Queen of England! Something that for any emergency I can say, this is the person that was in my house! For this I can not have a picture of the friend, grandmother, cousin, niece ... picture of the person who will come! If it does not match, be able to say, I'm sorry I do not know who you are, bye. Sometimes I wanted to do it! I can not open my life if you do not want to even give me a normal photo.

 

Gurneet0
Level 10

Dear Friends,

I am just starting on Airbnb and started hosting from 26 March, when I listed, and received my first guest on 06 April 2018.

I also faced this problem with a long stay guest, who is currently staying with me.

As Airbnb is verifying the Guest and they share the Complete Name and Phone Number after the booking is accepted by Both the Guest and the Host, sharing of the Picture of the Guest at this stage should be the norm.

Hope Airbnb is listening and starts sharing the basic Picture.

Thanks everyone for providing practical way of asking Airbnb Customer Support to help us out. But then it becomes a tedious process.

Thanks Everyone for your insights.

@Ilze-and-Alfred0@Laurence298@Susan598

Laurence298
Level 3

Ilze & Alfred,

 

  You can specifiy in your "instant booking" requirements that guests must have some previous reviews, and also that the guest has been verified by Airbnb.  That would at least solve some of the problems you've been having, but again, we should all be collectively be asking Airbnb for the protection we want:  A reasonable photo ID of the guest we will be allowing into our home.  

   

   Please write an email to customer service about this.  Thanks

Gail0
Level 2

Yes, I require a photo and it would be easier if this was standard again. I want to see who is going to stay in my home before they arrive. I was told it was to avoid discrimination by hosts but if a guest has a photo, then it will show.

Francisco70
Level 4

Thank you all for your help and for helping others

@Gail0@Laurence298@Gurneet0@Ilze-and-Alfred0@Susan598

Although, more than asking for help is a voice as indicated this tag, HOST VOICE. I hope airbnb takes action on this problem.

Christine615
Level 10

I just posted about this in the private host forum. An individual whose photo was of other people. I chatted with “Daniel” in customer service and. Not only did he refuse to call the guest to request a photo he wouldn’t tell me what Airbnb had done to verify it was a legit person. 

 

This is is a horrific safety issue. I did my own research after inboxing the guest and verified her myself. 

Gurneet0
Level 10

@Francisco70

We also new to the system and learning...

Though Hope this issue gets addresed soon

Regards