I recently had a local guest want to book our place for a movie shoot. As I always do, I opened her profile and it gave almost no info. Her name was just "Mary" with no last name and she had no photo. She did have 1 good review though.
I asked her to provide a photo and a full name so I can do minor background check (I search guests name on facebook to see what kind of person they are) and she replied... "I'm not going to jump through hoops." I just declined her after that. Hotels require a credit card and a photo ID upon arrival. As hosts, we trust airbnb to be getting this info from our guests BEFORE they are able to book at our airbnb.
I reported her to airbnb and asked how can they allow members to have no photo or full name? Hosts need to know who to expect will arrive to share their home/property. Without this very basic info, anyone could show up and say "I'm Mary".
This is the very odd response I got back from airbnb...
Hi Donald,
This is xxxxx from Airbnb Customer Experience Team. I hope this message finds you well. I got your message regarding the Guest that you declined because she has no photo or last name in her profile.
I do understand your point Donald. However, that is why we have the ID verification process. By following and completing the process, it also gives Airbnb an idea that the Guest or Host is the legitimate user. If you have other concern please respond to this message for me to assist you further.
Thank you"
So, to me that says... "don't you worry donald. We have verified them and decided they are a legitimate user. You don't need their last name or photo. Trust us".
But how can I verify that "Mary" is not a scammer, partier, prostitue or whatever other horrible guests we could encounter? How do I know the person who booked is the person who arrived? Isn't part of the airbnb verification process that each member has to provide a photo in their profile?