Profile photo not of the guest

Cathy369
Level 2
England, United Kingdom

Profile photo not of the guest

Good evening/morning.

 

A guest has just arrived. I was expecting a woman because the profile picture is of a woman - the name is one of those that could be male or female. But the guest is a man, and I guess the photo is of his wife. He seems really nice but I was shocked. Is a guest's profile picture not meant to be checked against their government ID for consistency? 

 

Thanks for your help.

8 Replies 8
Ned-And-Laura0
Level 10
Simi Valley, CA

No it is not checked. I have had guests with photos of their pets I even had one guest that had simply a red square as his profile photo. But you can change your booking settings to make sure they are more than just verified but also their phone number and email is verified and other verifications as well.

Sarah977
Level 10
Sayulita, Mexico

@Cathy369  3rd party bookings are against Airbnb TOS. It can just be a matter of the guest not knowing this, but the person who booked has to be among the people who arrive to stay. Or worst case scenario, a guest has been banned from Airbnb, and gets someone else to book for them. So technically, you could refuse him entry. But as you say, he seems quite nice, so I'd just let him know that the next time he books an Airbnb, he needs to set up his own account, or add himself to his wife's account and then if she is booking for him, to let the host know that it is her husband who will be the guest.

Cathy369
Level 2
England, United Kingdom

Thanks Sarah. I reported the incident to Airbnb who have asked me how I’d like to proceed. I’ll have a word with the guest as you suggest. Best wishes to you.

Rachel0
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

@Cathy369  You are not far away from me here in Ealing!  This happened to me once, a while ago, and I let it go as the guest was pleasant.  I did insist that he open an account of his own, which he did and came to stay again using it.  However, @Sarah977 is right (she usually is!), a third party booking is against the Terms of Service and by accepting  it you are hosting a total stranger in your own home and as such you are taking a risk.  I hope you can get it sorted out.

Cathy369
Level 2
England, United Kingdom

Thanks Rachel. It was worse as he arrived (by arrangement) at 1am! I’ll have a polite word with him. Best wishes, Cathy 

Pete69
Level 10
Los Angeles, CA

Write down their license plate just in case.

Ana1136
Level 10
Ohrid, Macedonia (FYROM)

@Pete69 I believe there are better ways to hadle this such as asking him for an ID. We don't know if he even has a car of if the car he is using is his own. I don't know the rules in LA, but here we have to get every single guests ID and we need to report them at the police station in the following 12 hours of their arrival. If not, the fines are enormous. But on the bright side we get to know who is staying at our place at all times.

Brad182
Level 2
Burlington, Canada

Goodmorning.. The photo id is kind of a joke as Airbnb should verify the photo against their government photo id.. most women are posting pics of when they are 30 when actually they are 50 so they look totally different plus the other issues that have been mentioned in this thread.. That's why Airbnb is getting bad publicity in the North American market from places being trashed by party goers.