Even less is needed to instant book than before

[Amy-and-Brian0]

I posted that the "verifications" AirBnB uses were nonsense in a previous post.

Well...they are even less now.

Here's the latest from support on yet another series of guests instant booking with us without any sort of verification of who they are:

"Please find bellow the details regarding the "verified email address' for guest, in order to make an instant booking.

"When a host selects what requirements they want a guest to meet to be eligible for instant book, the default is that they meet Airbnb guest standards, which provides a list of criteria that a guest must meet. Within the list is "confirmed email."

This requirement was removed some time ago, and hosts are confused when a guest profile notes that they do not have a verified email"

I sent already a note to our technical department to change the text on the "Guest requirements" for making an instant booking."

[Robin4]

@Amy-and-Brian0 

So, what they are saying is they don't need a current email address as a verification requirement any more, get the backroom boys to snip that bit of info out of the company spleel.

Geez, we really will be hosting totally anonamous individuals soon who have no verifications to establish an identity on any level. 

Amy, or Brian, all I can say is Wow, Wow, Wow......as of a few minutes ago, it is still in their terms of service that an email address is a standard requirement.!

"4.1 You must register an account ("Airbnb Account") to access and use certain features of the Airbnb Platform, such as publishing or booking a Listing."

And your CX tells you that hasn't been required for some time!

The system really does appear to be  falling apart at the seams!

Cheers......Rob

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Amy-and-Brian0 

With the recent changes to blocking guest profile pics and then no need for verification, Henry and I finally decided to get stop using instant book. We had it on for better visibility during searches but because we tend to host longer-staying guests most inquiried rather than IB anyway. 

Now when a guest sends an inquiry...... this is all we get about a potential guest.

To all my recent inquiries, I sent a screenshot showing I have absolutely no information about them because Airbnb blocks everything claiming guest privacy concerns, and that all I want is the basic courtesy of knowing a few things about who "might" stay in my home as a guest, just like guests like to know a bit about who's home they will be staying at and what type of person will be sleeping in the bedroom down the hall. 

Soooo~ not happy with Airbnb's new direction. 

Aparently THIS is how they think a world where any one belongs will be created - by trying to force hosts to accept faceless random people like a cheap motel. 

[Annelies24]

Jessica & Henry - I'm finding the same even after they have booked. People who supossedly have been with airbnb for years have no picture or reviews.

[Sarah977]

@Jessica-and-Henry0  While of course I am distressed and angered about Airbnb seemingly not requiring guests to provide anything whatsoever in order to be allowed to book a room in someone's home or separate building, (that's pretty much the definition of dangerous insanity) when I click on that circle with the letter in it, the guest's profile and reviews come up. I've been lucky so far, in that all of my guests have had actual profile photos of their faces (altho I can't see that until I accept the booking), and most have had a least a couple of reviews. 

By removing all the guest information, Airbnb is essentially expecting us to just let some random stranger who appears on our doorstep access to our homes and lives. Which law enforcement officials anywhere would warn against and the Victoria, British Columbia, Canada police Dept actually published a statement to that effect regarding Airbnbs.

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Sarah977 

The screenshot is all I get when I click on "view profile". The circle with the letter isn't click-able for me 😞

Of course....... I'm sure it also depends on what information the guest filled out on their profile but it's clear they can request to book with a profile that is any random name without any verifications  AT ALL~

Crazy~

[Sarah977]

@Jessica-and-Henry0   I don't click on "View profile"- I click right on that circle with the letter in it. Funny that doesn't work for you. I'm working on a laptop in Chrome. Same? 

Of course, if a guest doesn't have a profile photo or reviews, nothing will come up but an empty profile.

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Amy-and-Brian0 

I don't care about ABB verification, all my guests have to show me their photo ID-s at arrival, I make a photo of it.

In case of any trouble police and I know their identity.

Hotels do the same so why wouldn't you?

[Kelly149]

We all have to get to the point where we recognize that anything that comes to us from ABB is a beginning and not the end.

An abb profile is a complete fabrication (now to be clear, MOST profiles really are real with real names, real photos, real phone numbers and emails, BUT it doesn't have to be, so we all need to proceed cautiously. Trust, but Verify). AND if we really needed any of that info, I'm quite certain ABB would not hand it over to us if even they knew what it was.

I think it's great for abb profiles to be complete so that there is more info on record and I don't hesitate to tell a guest to beef up their profile, But in addition to that we all need to gather our own info. From my guests (after they IB) I get: a rental contract, a copy of their ID, their mailing address, their email, their cell # (also name, age, address & cell # of every adult guest). I am positive that immediately after booking I know who they are and that they know that I'm serious about them being good guests.

[Alexandra316]

@Amy-and-Brian0That's really concerning. I'm really feeling like the Airbnb trust and safety team is asleep at the switch these days: there seems to be very little protection for hosts.

After a debacle last week with a guest with three profiles, I'm feeling pretty shaken. Two of the three profiles are still up, despite me reporting it to Airbnb and their assurances that they'd look into it. They just seem to be taking our safety and the safety of our properties less and less seriously every day. It blows my mind.