exact location revealing?

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Sergiu0
Level 1
Romania

exact location revealing?

Hello!

 

A potential guest asks me to reveal the exact address of the apartment i offer for hosting... can i do that?

 

Thanks!

1 Best Answer

My home is a single family home. Showing the location within 100 meters would show my exact location. That's the size of my yard! If you don't trust that the host knows the distance from their property to public transport, don't rent from that host.

 

Revealing the exact location is dangerous. Period. If you need to know the exact location, get a hotel. I'm tired of people on here making excuses for needing to know the exact location of a property that has a private owner. If you don't like Airbnb's reasons for not revealing the exact location before booking, then get a hotel.

 

As a property owner AND someone who has used Airbnb as a renter all over the world, I stand by my reason that revealing the exact location to people who have not booked is dangerous. I do not, as a renter, want the owner of the property giving out the exact location of the place where I am staying to someone, anyone, who hasn't booked the property. That person could come there while I'm staying there and do anything.

 

People who need the exact location, for any reason, should book hotels. If you  have mobility issues and can't walk very far, stay in a hotel that is equipped to handle those issues. Sounds harsh, but it is true. Do you want, as a renter, complete strangers who haven't put up any money to find this location, to know exactly where that property with unsuspecting renters who potentially have a lot of cash is? Who may be women staying alone? I don't. 

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180 Replies 180
Robin4
Level 10
Mount Barker, Australia

@Rania-Sara0 Hi Sara, it is for the hosts safety as much as anything else! I understand you are a travelling guest but, put yourself in the hosts shoes! Someone sees your Airbnb listing and you show it to its best advantage in the pictures. You show all the features you have....that big screen TV, great new Meile dishwasher and all the other nice things you offer, and, next thing a truck turns up and cleans you out. Over the years it has happened countless times. Here in the Community Centre we have seen a number of posts refering to this problem.

Nobody gets to see the hosts exact location until they have booked and paid so there is a record of them with their verfications. It is to prevent fraud and theft.

Sara, it is  the best way to stop those with ill intenet and if there is a specific location you wish to be near you can always ask the host for a more detailed description in the message stream. As a host it is also wise never to put a street photo of your listing public. This makes a property easy to target.

 

The other reason for providing little information before a booking is to discourage users from bypassing the Airbnb system. There is a lot of interlectual property involve here and a massive amount of back-up that is required to support the platform. The last thing Airbnb want to do is facilitate  the communication of host and guest outside the platform.

 

Cheers.....Rob

Go to a hotel ...if concerned for your family's safety 

Eden32
Level 2
England, United Kingdom

I am often asked by potential guests whereabouts the house is mainly for determining how far it is to Central London and the nearest public transport in the area. I would gladly tell them the nearest bus stops/train stations but not the house address.

Albana3
Level 2
Charter Township of Clinton, MI

Makes no sense to not know exactly where I'm staying and paying money for tbh. It's not about me scamming the host, it's about me not being scammed 

 

It's about security for host

Lots of hosts are just private people opening their homes. ....the original and true ethos of Air bNB

 

 

 

Kevin940
Level 10
Quinns Rocks, Australia

@Paula0,  I personally think that asking a host for the part of town their property is in is perfectly adequate.  No host should be made to feel uncomfortable and no guest should be pushy over this.  Thankyou.

I ended up renting a place on a very questionable area because of this rule of not revealing the exact area before reservation.  I prefer hotels because of this and for some of this airbnb prices are same as hotel rooms anyway.

Guillem6
Level 1
Montbrió del Camp, Spain

I think nobody needs EXACT address. However I usually book more apartments in booking.com or wimdu than in airbnb because the adress problem, specially in Amsterdam, we use to go twice a year and I love to be at very close walking distance from de Graal coffeshop and tram line 16 station.

 

Also in Amsterdam some streets are completely residential without any single grocery store, shop, coffeshop, restaurant or place for breakfast, things that are very useful for me as a tourist in Amsterdam, specially because Amsterdam have a lot of channels and some places you need to do extra walk to cross the channel to another street.

 

I think a fair solution for guests could be reducing the green circle size to 100 or 200 meters area, now is 600 meters, this is too much, considering an average 5km/h walking speed, this is 8 minutes in straight line, but in the reality never is an straight line, so I will say that it could take 10-12 minutes to walk this green circle from side to side in the downtown area.

 

 

I understand your comments being from US, I've been there some years ago, my first time was shoking for me,

My first days there I needed around 1 hour walking to do basic things (grocery, pharmacy, laundry), I didn't had a car.

 

I live in a Mediterranean city in spain, and many people here is used to do almost everything in 10 minutes walking distance (parents home, grand parents home, working place, grocery store, doctors, hairdresser, lawyer services, shopping, etc. etc.). Not to mention that If I do a 600 meters circle in my little city you will have very quiet areas and very noisy and busy areas inside the same circle.

 

I want to know the exact address because I'm visiting my son and he really doesn't have enough room in his small house. So I try to book a house as close to his neighborhood as I can so we can walk to each others homes.

Hello @Vicky41

There's two ways to use Airbnb to book, one of them is the map. You can zoom in the map and you will have almost the exact location of the listing. Zoom-in in the street of you son's house and that should help you a lot on finding the right place for you.

As far as I know Airbnb does not allow hosts/guests to share contact information before booking, that includes the address.

Wow! I am a guest looking to rent an apartment for 1 year. I found a place on Craigslist and contacted the person who posted the ad via e-mail. He gave me a brief explanation of why he was renting his apartment, asked me a few questions about myself and he also asked me for my name, address and phone number. He then told me that he would I would have to make a reservation through Airbnb and that he would send the contract. I received an invoice via email from Airbnb. I want to know if this reservation sounds legit before I book the reservation for the apartment... 

Kevin940
Level 10
Quinns Rocks, Australia

@Lia0,  You should only ever have contact with a possible guest via Air BnB.

Yes, I do the same when I visit my daughter in Brooklyn, NYC.  However, as a host I understand completely about not giving out your exact address until after the booking.

 

As a guest in Brooklyn, I tell the host my daughter's street and ask how many blocks they are from it.  They usually give me acuate information and tell me the street name or cross street.

Maybe use a reputable rental agent? ???

Well I'm looking to in Chicago for a month or two via Airbnb and having the exact address would make planning so much easier.

 

In a couple of minutes using google maps you can get a feel of the neighborhood, proximity to green spaces, cafes, or if it's across from a major highway.  Before booking an entire month and shelling out several hundred or thousand dollars it's good to know you're location and be able to compare different hosts. 

 

Actually I don't understand why the address wouldn't be listed or at least the cross street.