Pending verification but guest's profile has verified ID

[Camilla212]

I'm new as a host and I'm not very familiar with the tools. I host a photo session experience and this is only my third booking.
I had a guest request yesterday for a different time and I approved the instance, which would be later today. The booking wasn't confirmed as it was pending ID verification, even though when I go to the guest profile it says that he has indeed a verified ID and many reviews from other hosts.
To try to go around this problem, I went to my settings and unchecked the box that requires guests to have ID, thinking the booking would be automatically approved, but now it only shows that I have 2 guests for today and I got no booking confirmation.
This involves a very delicate matter because the guest is going to surprise his girlfriend with a marriage proposal and I really don't wanna ruin this! He booked a boat ride and paid for 3 persons to include me as the photographer so I'm in a real pickle right now. I'm considering going with them even though it's not confirmed. Is this too risky? Obviously he should have booked earlier but I'm trying to go the extra mile to make this happen. Will the booking (and payment) be confirmed once his ID is veryfied even after the experience is held?
Any help or opinion on this matter will be very much appreciated.

[Helen3]

I would never accept a booking from a guest without a verified profile who can’t book through Airbnb. Of course Airbnb won’t guarantee payment if the booking isn’t confirmed with them. @Camilla212 

This is his issue not yours.

if you want to help out ask for direct payment in advance.

[Alexandra316 · Accepted solution]

@Camilla212 Tough one. There's not much you can do to speed up the verification process: I suspect even calling Airbnb wouldn't help. 

What if they were to cancel their booking and start again? Not sure if that would incur a penalty for them, but perhaps you could waive it if it did? 

I wouldn't complete the experience with them without having a proper confirmation that you're going to get paid unless you're totally, 100% okay with the possibility that you might be out the money. Maybe you could hold the pics until you know payment is received? That doesn't compensate you for the time it took you if they never pay, though. 

[Camilla212]

I considered as well not sending the pictures until I got the payment, in the worst case scenario I would get a free boat ride. The main problem was that I had so little time to manage this issue. Who plans a wedding proposal less than 24h before time? 🙂 But I did call Airbnb and they got in contact with the guest, I don't know the exact details but they managed to make it happen 30 minutes before the experience. Everything turned out better than expected. Thank you for your reply.

[Alexandra316]

@Camilla212 Glad it all worked out for you! That's great.