Airbnb No Longer Supporting Google Voice Numbers

[Anchor-Rentals0]

Airbnb is no longer supporting Google Voice numbers. We used to have our Google Voice number on our account but now it won't let us verify the number or put it on our account at all. We've talked with three Airbnb Support people who have all talked with the technical team, and the technical team has officially confirmed they no longer support Google Voice numbers. We are extremely displeased with this.
Right now, when guests call my personal cell phone number I have no way of knowing if it is a personal call or a work call. It confuses guests when I answer and just say "Hello" instead of "Anchor Rentals, this is Hannah". Additionally, my Google Voice number is connected to both my phone and the other host of this property's phone so it allowed both of us to receive/field calls from guests which doubled the likelihood of the guests being able to reach someone exactly when they need someone. It made a huge difference for us and allowed us to better serve our guests.
Having our Google Number on the account allowed us to run our property much more professionally and promptly for our guests.

Surely we can't be the only ones upset that we can't use our Google Voice number??

[Lisa723]

That's a bummer, I just started using Google voice for exactly this purpose.

[Jill412]

Agreed. This is devistating to our business (and our bottom line.) We are currently researching a solution in order to support our guests across all of our properties. Has anyone found a solution that works well and that doesn't have a large pricetag, yet? 

[Anchor-Rentals0]

We have not found a solution. There is another similar service to google voice, (I can not remember the name at the moment) but Airbnb does not support those numbers either. It is very frustrating and we are not sure what to do? I have tried to reach out to all different departments at airbnb to fix this and it does not seem like it is going to happen....but who knows? I think if enough people show thier frustration with this, that it might help show them that it shoud change.

[Tyler431]

I eventually called so often about the problem that I got an agent that made the mistake of adding my burner number, which I only use to protect my digital footprint. I would suggest doing the same and maybe you will get lucky.

[Andrew1092]

I'm a guest and this also disgusts me. I'm traveling around South America living long term in airbnbs so I let my US based number go in favor of a google voice number. Next thing I know, airbnb won't let me book a place because I have no phone number on my account. I hate to say it, but airbnb from my perspective is nothing more than a necessary evil at this point. If only there was an alternative that worked as well I'd stop using airbnb entirely.

[Clinton17]

I'm also very disappointed with this as we used our Google Voice number to share inbound calls/texts, as well as having a single public number when contacting guests. It appears that Airbnb no longer supports 'soft' VOIP numbers. I discovered this because Skype offers a paid service called Skype Number (https://www.skype.com/en/features/online-number/) which is basically the same as Google Voice. I went and purchased a 1-month subscription and chose a number with the area code I preferred. I then went and entered it into Airbnb and got the exact same error when it came to it sending a text to authenticate. Based on some research I discovered that many companies are rejecting VOIP numbers if the number is used for authentication purposes (such as password recovery or two-factor authentication). This is because regular telephone numbers (landline & cell) are very difficult to spoof (pretend to be a number, but also intercept inbound texts). Somehow it is possible to determine if a number is a telco issued landline or cell, so I suspect that Airbnb disabled VOIP numbers due to security concerns. It is also worth noting that Microsoft, Uber, and Google themselves won't accept VOIP numbers as the telephone number associated with your account(s). A potentially expensive alternative is to purchase a cell phone with two SIM trays, or the new iPhone 10 s or 10 r (as they support an e-SIM and a physical SIM). Then you move your existing cell number across to be the e-SIM and then buy a pre-paid SIM and load $5 on it a month to keep it active. That way you have both numbers on your cell. When I receive a call it tells me which number the call is being directed to (e.g. Clint or Airbnb). This can be done by putting in your "Contacts" the pre-paid SIM number and calling it Airbnb, while you should already have your original cell number in your "contacts"

[Anchor-Rentals0]

Yes we could do that but we have two managers and an iPhone 10 is $800 each. Also I am not sure if the secondary phone number on the phone (the pre-paid SIM you explained) could be used twice+? We need one phone number to ring both of our phones and potentially a 3rd phone as we may hire a 3rd manager soon. Maybe that would work with what you explained but it would still cost us $1600-$2400 to buy 2-3 of those phones.

I just wish that Airbnb would give us a solution for this issue since they are the ones that took google voice numbers away. 😞

[Tyler431]

Seems simple enough to make it mandatory to have an email or authenticator app verification for those that choose to use VOIP numbers as their main number to protect themselves.

[Michael2913]

Hello, just chiming in to say I hate this.

[Robert1638]

agree for such a technically savy company seems this is backwards. 

[Christopher694]

I've done a lot of these new age app things and most of them are not as tech-savvy as they like to portray themselves to be. Most of them are stuck in a box and are afraid of letting the actual owner of the asset make the decisions or make the big calls because they want you to be a wet noodle and not know your rights and to profit from others' ignorance.

[Casey190]

Buy a cheap second phone or purchase a second line for $50 per month. Would you knowingly buy/rent a room/merchandise from somebody with a GoogleVoice number? That was a rhetorical question of course🤨

[Tyler431]

I absolutely would. Do you understand the importance of a digital identity in the modern world? That was a rhetorical question of course🤨

[Anchor-Rentals0]

Yes of course. TONS of businesses use Google Voice/Voip numbers. Because airbnb does not support google voice/Voip numbers, our guests can not always reach someone if they need help which is a MAJOR issue! We have 4 managers that help run our properties (so that we can have time off occasionally). With google voice, all 4 of us have access to the same phone number so that no matter who is working and who is off, someone will ALWAYS be able to answer a call. Since they do not support this, we can only put one employees phone number on the account and they are not always working so calls get missed.