ADA notifications received

[Atty441]

I’ve been hosting in london for several years and this month is the first time I’ve seen ADA notifications come through on WhatsApp. I just received one when a new booking sent a request. 

 I’m also curious as to where they come from! I assumed they came from Airbnb’s system as they are linked to bookings…but that’s just a guess. I’m having a Google at the moment  

[Shelley159]

Hi @Atty441 

You're not alone in wondering: Airbnb seems to be rolling out a new WhatsApp notification system. Looks like they're starting in the UK. Here's an ongoing thread:

A very unusual booking request - Airbnb Community

[Atty441]

Thanks for your reply @Shelley159 ! And for sharing the thread, it’s good to see what others think too. 

[Joelle43]

Hello @Shelley159 @Atty441 

Also France it would seem as I received a WhatsApp notification for a recent booking and didn’t know what to make of it either. 

No prior communication from Airbnb either so thought it might be a scam. 

Went to check my notifications and only sms and emails ticked

ir would be good if airbnb warned us of this new feature so thank goodness we have this CC!!

[Elwyn13]

I can understand concerns,  but WhatsApp is a secure encrypted message.  whereas emails and sms are not.

Purely usung your telephone number to send a WhatsApp is perfectly acceptable to me.  Checking your requests means that it's confirmed to be genuine.

Obviously,  not everyone will have/use WhatsApp. 

[Peter-and-Laura1]

You are not wrong about security in messaging, but if I have an Airbnb app and an email they send msg to and an Airbnb website I already use to access my Airbnb, why the new “ADA” what’s app messages too? 

Surely we should have been informed what that is about….especially when the whole platform has been about “ don’t communicate outside of the official Airbnb channels”.

Is there an official statement about why it’s now ok to use what’s app instead of their own app? 

[Thomas4182]

Same here in Spain ... I didn´t see nor receive any announcement from AirBnB about changing their 2FA ... 

[Peter-and-Laura1]

Also UK. Enquiry only bookings, no auto book. I’ve have two of these ADA messages so far. I did accept the first one (through the Airbnb site, I did not engage with the whats app message), but I’m not sure what I’ve signed up for and looking to it. 

The second request I received was on overlapping dates where I had already blocked off days because I don’t turn over the house within 4 hours…and the system was seemingly pushing me to do it by suggesting someone book anyway?

This is not a good look for Airbnb if they want to pressure guests to book days the host already has blocked. And then let hosts deal with declining and potential visitors questions about the area in general etc.

As far as I know, I signed up for a platform that kept messages on their own website, they get their cut. I never agreed to being messaged on my private whats app.

Maybe there is a box to tick to turn it off?

If so please advise me too and thanks in advance.

[Biodun3]

following this thread is a got 2 ADA notifications on whatsapp from airbnb, one for a suspicious booking and second for the 2fa code to log into this site 

[Liz7160]

I too have had 2 requests come through via WhatsApp and like others thought it may be a scam so I contacted Air bnb and the lady I spoke to was also unaware of what ADA meant. However , after making enquiries she said it was bonifide and that this is a new way that things are now being processed when notifications come through on your mobile phone. Emails will also still be sent. It’s bad that Air BnB didn’t inform us though!!

[Bhumika · Accepted solution]

Hi @Atty441 @Liz7160 @Biodun3 @Peter-and-Laura1 @Thomas4182 @Elwyn13 @Shelley159 @Joelle43 , thank you so much for sharing your concerns in the community. We looked around for more information and wanted to share that Airbnb currently does not support direct communication through WhatsApp for reservation requests.

We advise our community not to engage with these messages, click on any links, or respond, and to report suspicious links to WhatsApp. Airbnb has limited capacity to take enforcement actions on these communications occurring off-platform.

[Joelle43]

Hello @Bhumika 

Thank you for looking into this for us but I'm still worried because I received a one time security code to access my account with the phone number:

==> 1 (628) 895-8085  Not a French number but a US number

All seems OK with my account but still feeling uneasy if you are saying that Airbnb do not use WhatsApp as a means of communication.

Is it possible that some countries are being tested but not the US?

With so many tales of world wide hacking at the moment on the news, I'll admit to feeling very uneasy about this WhatsApp issue
Best regards 
Joëlle

[Ruth413]

@Joelle43 

I am also very concerned as now all my requests/messages notifications are coming through ADA and WhatsApp.  

At the beginning I wasn’t that concerned as I thought it was a system Airbnb was trialling and hadn’t notified us hosts.  All my notifications have been good and nothing suspicious and have had guests stay since the notifications started on WhatsApp.

I am now very concerned because of what @Bhumika has said.  Should we not be receiving this notifications and if we are why and where are they coming from ?

I have replied to @Bhumika on a different thread.  

 https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Support-with-your-bookings/A-very-unusual-booking-request/td-p/2...

[Bhumika]

Hi @Ruth413 @Joelle43 , thank you for sharing more details! I understand how worrying this situation must be for you. Please know I am keeping a closer eye on both the threads and capturing your comments and concerns 👀