Airbnb not providing renter's email address to owner/manager after confirmed and paid booking.

[Judith1050]

Airbnb not providing renter's email address to owner/manager after confirmed and paid booking.   Given we are opening our condos/homes to renters who are basically strangers through Airbnb and the limited information we receive, is anyone else frustrated that the website tries to conceal the phone number of the renter and does not provide the direct email address to gather more information or just communicate directly.

[Shelley159]

Hi @Judith1050 

You can find a contact number for the guest below the "message" button of the booking (in the US these are now temporary numbers that work like the guest's real phone number).

However, unless there's a good reason to go off platform, it's best to keep your messages inside the app. If you end up needing help from Airbnb Support or Aircover, they will access the message thread inside the app to look at your case.

[Bob297]

@Judith1050 
Maybe I misunderstood, but in your reservation details, you'll find the telephone number in small print

[Lorna170]

@Judith1050   AirBnB has worked really hard at masking information that hosts require.

In my booking response message to my new guest, I nicely inform them that they will need to provide me with their email address as AirBnB will not.  I also ask for the telephone number that they will have access to while travelling, i.e., a good cell phone number, as the one on their profile is not always correct.

Most guests will happily provide that information -- and those that don't or won't usually cancel (which is a great way to vet these unknowns).

[Judith1050]

Lorna, that's very interesting and I thank you for your response.    I have 2 new bookings through Airbnb (I usually book through VRBO) and with both of them, while their phone numbers are there in tiny and very light print, I cannot, cannot get their email address out of Airbnb even though the guests are confirmed and paid.   

And more interesting, at least to me, I sent each new booking requests through Airbnb for their direct email addresses so I could send them information as well as gather flight arrival times, names and addresses, etc.   NEITHER of these confirmed guests received my query through the website.   And to each of them, I send probably 3 requests through the site.   

Getting desperate given my next guest arrives in 4 days and I have no information, I sent a text to the phone number.    That guest replied that she had never received my messages through Airbnb which means they're scrubbing the emails of any personal addresses, confirmed phone numbers, etc.     Since i have not received responses from my 2nd  pending guest, I assume Airbnb is doing it with his emails to him as well.   All of this I discovered only earlier this afternoon.

we are opening our condos/homes to people we don't know and without any information except a name and (hopefully) a phone number - again difficult to see on the paperwork,   I want some assurances that these are quality renters and I want to establish a communication between me and them -- easy and friendly but I would feel better knowing them a little and them knowing me.    They're also taking a chance.    

I realize I can send these information packets through Airbnb but I prefer a more personal connection.    I've been renting for 23 years, first in a large home on the waterfront and now, a smaller unit in a lovely community and thankfully,  98% of my guests have been exceptional and are now returning guests    I also send them my own simple contract with a few rules, cancellation options and not one has ever objected.   These contracts also help me stay organized. 

Any thoughts?

Judith