Should I let my Guest receive mail at my address?

[Lisa5]

A guest scheduled in a few days has asked for my mailing address in order to accept a package for her mother -- vitamins, she says.

First, can't she see my address already, in order to show up here? and then, what's the official language about not accepting mail here?

[Dave-and-Deb0 · Accepted solution]

Hi @Lisa5,

I would not do it as it leads to many other issues.  There have been many who have allowed this only to regret it.  Many have also included it in part of their house rules.

[Lisa5]

I have read about the regrets, and don't wish to do it. "No mail" is not an AirBnb rule though, huh?

[Regina38]

I tell them Airbnb strongly advises against letting guests receive any mail or packages. I am adding links to two local mail services as I just had a guest who is staying a month say her father srnt her a package and would this be ok. She said she renembered me telling her no. Ugh
House rules are growing.
do not let them receive package. Mark it undeliverable return to sender.

[Kika1]

i also had a guy stay for two days and he wanted to use my address for opening an account in switzerland. i was like hell no! nobody will try to pass as resident using my adress! there are two post offices nearby where long term guests can have their mail sent to and withheld till pick up. 

[Sheila175]

Hi everyone.  I am fairly new to the Airbnb community.  I only began this venture July 2017.  Well, here is the latest regarding guest receiving mail at the property! 

My guest booked 3 people for 19 days.  Now at week 2, he/she has gone to the SSA, applied for social security cards (using my address) and having registered mail of those documents sent to my home.   Now  you may ask, how I discovered this?  As fate would have it.  I was around to intercept the mail and there were 2 pieces of mail from the SSA containing social security cards.  No, I did not open them, because that would be illegal.  However, I have much experience in how the documents look through the window envelope.   I was shocked!  As of this morning, I reported the incident to Airbnb representatives.  I was told that there is no precedent for this type of incident.  So, as of now, I am awaiting further instructions.   

I have thought of physically walking the mail back to the SSA along with my ownership paperwork.  Does anyone have any suggestions?  They are there for another week.  

Sheila

[Bill188]

That is very scary. Hopefully, Airbnb will be on this quickly.

[Eibhlin2]

Why is this bad or scary?

[Laura2592]

@Eibhlin2  Airbnb guests use the mail for all kinds of fraud. SS claims, unemployment, credit card, you name it. Some use it to establish tenancy rights and become squatters (with stays of 30 days or more.) Its a huge red flag if your "guest" starts getting mail from the government or credit card companies. They are saying they live in  your hosted space. They don't. 

Hosts have had to evict guests in tenant-friendly states who overstayed their time. Airbnb WILL NOT help in these situations. Just do a google search for Airbnb squatter or Airbnb mail fraud. 

[Alex479]

Might depend on time of stay and relationship.

[Humaira3]

I have a long term (3 months) guest who wants to use my address to establish residency so he can receive his Drivers License by mail at my house. I'm guessing this is a bad idea, right?

[Laura2592]

@Humaira3  probably a bad idea to have a LT guest in San Francisco where anyone who stays for over 29 days has tenant rights....establishing a mailing address is also looked upon by the very tenant friendly courts as proof of tenancy. So yeah, not a good idea....

[Laura2592]

After reading a thread about this weekly in the forum we added this to our listing:

Guests will not be able to use the Firefly Cottage address to send or receive mail or deliveries, establish residency or unemployment benefits, credit cards, identification or any other purpose. If you have questions concerning this, please contact us before booking.