Guest vetting

Guest vetting

I've enjoyed my four-year relationship with Airbnb and plan to continue (as a Super Host), but I have a few suggestions regarding vetting of guests:

 

You say you require a profile and picture of a potential guest, but you don't really.  I get a lot of "Hi, I'm George" and that's it. Usually, these are the folks who just signed up a few days before.  I also get a lot of "profile pictures" not of faces, but bodies from the shoulders down, or scenics, or pets, or anything but what the guest looks like.  I usually decline people like this. I want to know that the person knocking on my door is the same one who made the reservation. 

 

If a brand new member -- potential guest -- has not had an airbnb experience to warrent a review, I thought you at least required a reference. That was required of my as a host. I would like the same kind of reassurance.  

 

Okay, that's my two cents.  Bon Voyage ... Mike DiPrima/Atlanta, GA

10 Comments
Barbora2
Level 1

I'm not in favour of giving potential guests an exact location. In the past few months I've had inquiries from two guests who wished to book longer stays of several months and wanted to view the listing first. My suggestion was that they book a night or two so that they can be provided with the address and they confirmed that they would see me at a certain time the next day.

When they hadn't booked I obviously did not expect to see them, but both times they showed up at my house, having gone from house to house asking for me until they found me. Very creepy!

Providing an exact address will make hosts vulnerable and allow those 'psychopathic natures' to put us at risk. Barbora, Brooklyn, Pretoria

Guillem2
Level 5

I agree whole heartedly about getting better assurance of the potential guest. 70 or 80% of my guests are new to Airbnb..... It is little more than a pig in a poke when I have to decide to accept or not... We need REAL face pictures as the guest actually looks. I accepted a guest last summer who looked sweet and lovely... She arrived with more hardware piercing her face than I had ever seen before, and that was only the beginning..... We take lots of risks as Hosts, Airbnb can readily help by being more aggressive in getting better information, especially from the new Airbnb guests...

Carl41
Level 2

Good Day, 

 

I dont really require a photo, as I'm an artist and dont use a photo. However, Airbnb has a pretty good vetting system in place with Gov ID on file, email, current phone #,  facebook.  I'm a Marine Veteran and I use instinct and a hefty deposit for guest as a little added assurance. 🙂

I prefer a photo.  It tells you a lot about the person booking. 

If there is no photo or profile description then I feel there is no vested interest in what we do. 

Not guest material for me. 

Diana-and-Lee0
Level 2

Yes, I agree, having an identifiable photo is a big deal for me too. I offer instant booking with government ID confirmed by Airbnb, but then get inquires where the guest hasn't completed this task and I'm expected to approve or decline. There should be another option. I don't want to immediately decline them, there should be a pending approval option, please complete verification with government ID.

We reqire a photo as well. We have had too many guests try to book for someone else and/or guests letting people onto the property that are not part of the bookig. We want to be covered by Airbnb's insurance policy if anything were to go wrong and the only way we can do that is to make sure that the photo matches the guest. If they cannot provide that we cannt except their booking. We have only had one guest not comply..

Šarka0
Level 6

@Diana-and-Lee0 There actually is that option of pending verification. Just 2 weeks or so ago I had a guest who wanted to book with me - I also require government ID verification - and she couldn't book instantly because she didn't have a verified ID. So she sent me a message, I checked her profile, she already had some positive reviews and I also noticed that she does have the ID verified. So I pre-approved her.

The thing is, it looked like there was a problem with her verification or something. We exchanged about 50 messages that evening. She already got a confirmation of her payment, but I didn't see that the reservation was actually made (she also tried to book a day before but I didn't see her attempts in my dashboard, found it only later on when I contacted the Help center). I checked the calendar and I noticed that her dates were greyed-out and it said "Verification pending".

I am guessing there was a problem with AirBnb at that time or she didn't do the verification correctly. However, the same day at night the booking was confirmed, and she's got her government ID and selfie verified.

So, basically the ID verification pre-booking kind of works. It looks like you can pre-approve but the booking is not made until they are verified - which is not ideal as you wouldn't pre-approve someone who isn't verified. But in my case at first it showed that she had indeed a verified ID, it only got removed after pre-approving.

Diana-and-Lee0
Level 2

@Šarka0
That has not been the case for me. I have also had a greyed out calendar when someone is getting verified via Airbnb. I have preapproved people and then they have been able to finish booking without completing verification with Airbnb. With this being said, I recently (just two weeks ago) talked with someone who was new to Airbnb and they said they were required to have government id. They couldn't even finish their account without submitting their ID.

What would you guys consider a reasonable set of questions / requirements to ask from a brand new airbnb'er guest?

Tina237
Level 3

I insist on Gov ID but I don't get to see it - fair enough but sometimes I have virtually no information about the guest. Airbnb is a big organization and people are going to fall through the net so I need home addresses please! Traditional agencies generally provide these (including the Wyndham Group who are also American so please don't tell me you can't do it) and I think they are essential for security (not just mine). I like Airbnb: it gives me more control but isn't quite as much work as taking bookings direct. I don't want to go back to the agencies I've used before or take direct bookings at this time but if this situation leads to a problem guest then I may have to reconsider.