I'm combating Airbnb's guest anonymity... I think?!

[Donald28]

Tired of getting booking requests with nothing but a first name and no reviews... I just added this to my listing under house manual. I do not use instant book so all reservations must be approved by me. 

"House manual

WHEN REQUESTING TO BOOK: Tell me a little more about you and your guests please. Why are you coming to this area? How'd you find us? Ages of all guests & are you bringing pets and anything else Y-O-U would want to know about complete strangers if they were about to come stay at Y-O-U-R home. Airbnb tells me your first name, the city you're from and how many guests you're bringing. That's it. No picture of you, no last name... nothing. From that little tiny bit of info I am supposed to make a decision that people who I don't know are "OK" to come stay at our place and play in our arcade?! Imagine strangers are requesting to stay at your home. What would you want to know about them. Tell me that about you & your guests. THANKS!

IDENTITY The guest responsible for the reservation must be present at the time of check-in. We also reserve the right to ask and view government issued ID for any members of the guest party before entering the property."

[Ben551]

Hahaha I know, and I’m pleased to see it was helpful for you @Donald28 🙂

[Ian-And-Anne-Marie0]

"IDENTITY The guest responsible for the reservation must be present at the time of check-in. We also reserve the right to ask and view government issued ID for any members of the guest party before entering the property."

That IDENTITY phrase just found you a stalker @Ben0 🙂

[Terri151]

Sounds good... but guests don't see the house manual until after they book, right?

[Donald28]

Hmmm, That's a good question! Any way to know for sure? I can easily move the info to the main listing if it's not visible in the house manual prior to requesting to book

[Kelly149]

@Donald0the House Manual is only for booked guests.

These are great ideas. I'd put them in 5 places:

In your listing text

In a photo text (or two)

In House Rules

In the Amenity Limitations section

And then also in a Saved Messages for all the folks who send an inquiry without paying attention to the 4 other places above

[Huma0]

@Kelly0

Good idea to put it in a photo text, but as many guests don't even read those, I would go as far as to put the text into a jpeg on Photoshop and add it to the listing photos, although I would edit it down a fair bit before doing that.

[Susan1028]

my house rules are visible before booking.  maybe they’re not for everyone.  airbnb seems to be inconsistent with features geographically.

log out, and log back in as a guest/traveler to check if you can see your house rules...being aware most won’t read them anyway lol...

[Dorina3]

actually you cant,you only have 500 words to describe your listing.

if you find a way please share,i was just screwd by a guest,Yosra Ali from Bakersfield CA , who booked for 6 ,3 adults and 3 kids ,they were sleeping on matreses they got from relatives in NY ,10 of them every night,at one point 20 people,flooded my house,destroyed everything in their path,rug,towels,sheets,all stained with ink from their make up thing,in and out guests until 4.30 am every night,bloking my neighbors driveways....airbnb gave me nothing ,i spent 1,600 $ on plumbing and replacing stuff,she even left a bad review calling me predigist ,and i never saw them face to face,not a picture before or after,....

be aware and share your experiences please,airbnb is NOT on our side .

[Donald28]

This type of rule breaking easily happens with hosts that use the "hand-off approach" to airbnb'ing. I honestly don't know how people can be so trusting knowing how unreliable and untruthful people really are?! I live here on my airbnb property and meet most guests upon arrival. They know I live here and that our driveway has cameras and our dog lets us know of everyone who arrives with a bark at the window. 

Even after knowing all that... guests have STILL have blatantly "snuck in" their own guests... which I state in my listing as unacceptable. 

[Debbie440]

As a traveler, I have to agree with the house rules before I can click to make the reservation.

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Debbie440 

Most people will agree without actually reading the house rules...... which is the problem. 

[Susan1028]

and @Debbie0

based on experience most don’t read the house rules, so I’ve learned to ask in my prebooking messaging before agreeing to book.

my rules are designed to limit the number of partiers and you’d be amazed at how many i never hear from again after that final confirmation, so it’s serving its purpose.

[Gordon0]

People don't read stuff, so good luck with that. As for demanding Govt' ID, I imagine C/S would side with the guest if they refused (unless a country/state requirement exists). 

[Donald28]

If they don't read it and don't answer those basic questions in their original request to book, then I will copy it and message it to them before going further. C/S will side with the host only if you put the info in your listing about the ID. If I asked for an ID and the guest said no and called airbnb to cancel, they'd side with the guest because I didn't mention it in my listing. 

[Kelly149]

I've had a requirement (my own, not for govt purposes) to be given guest ID for about 2 years now. @Gordon0 it's in my House Rules

I had a guest once, book & then take offense to the idea of following thru on that rule: "ABB has run a background check on me, there's no reason for me to tell you anything about myself or provide you with ID." I said "I'm sure CS will help you cancel your reservation if you're not comfortable complying with the rule."

Shortly thereafter guest disappeared from my list, no problem.