Will there be a fix for "Lindenwold NJ" as the location of guests?

[Peggy-And-Mike0]

Multiple hosts are reporting, and I've also experienced, new guests who have "Lindenwold NJ" as their location.  According to one host, an AirBnB agent said it's the default setting and that WE the HOSTS have to educate/inform the guest to update it to the correct setting (see email below).  That should not be our job, it should be the job of the guest when they are setting up their profiles...it's easy to program it so they can't move forward without putting in their location.  Don't prefill it in.  As I get nearly everyone who is a first-timer, this is beyond annoying and so unhelpful because when I know where they are from, I have a sense of what they're likely to need help with.   

Everyone says Host Voice items never result in changes, and I've not seen any that have, but I thought I'd give it a shot.  

"Dear Patti,

Great news miss as we have found out why so many guest have origins from Lindenwold, NJ is because that is the default setting of where guest are from and then they have to go into the system and change it to the correct one.

So if you ever see that feel free to tell the guest to change that when they can please and thank you for your attention to detail."

Hope this helps. Happy hosting,

Patti

[Patti4]

I also posted about this a few seconds ago.

[Pat-N--Pat0]

We too are wondering about the Lindenwold, NJ location. All of our inquires the past month have that as their home location. Is Airbnb going to change their account creation to require folks write in their own hometown? Scary stuff.

[Nick185]

This is a major problem.  I recently hosted a guest who was supposedly from Lindenwold, NJ.  I had no idea of this default issue when I accepted the reservation.  Turns out the guy was a local felon, who was released from jail that week!   He used drugs and damaged my home significantly.   Had I seen he was a local, I would have been more suspicious of his request right off the bat.  Airbnb has been less than helpful regarding this issue. 

[Patti4]

And now I am seeing other hosts post that Lindenwold is not the only glitch.

In the thread "Guests hometown," someone writes "As of today, I've had a total of 3 guests from Kellyville, OK inquire about booking with me. I booked 2 of the 3. None of them are actually from there. The guest arrives tomorrow. I'll let you know if there is anything questionable about their stay."

This is the third of similar posts I have seen with people getting the "Kellyville" hometown.

This is chaos and potentially dangerous, as Nick points out (above).

Patti