Strange Names on profiles

[Maricella5]

Hi everyone.  Ive been a host for almost a year. Lately , ive recieved some strange requests that are person verified,  but have strange Names. One for example,  had only one 5 star review with a different name than what was on the requester profile.  So the profile didnt match the review . Anyways, these are names that aren't commonly used as people names. I am hesitant on accepting because of the strange Names. Im not talking about different culture names. Im taking about Names based on weather and time of the year. Anyone else see this?

[Guy991]

Hello @Maricella5 ,

The names on the guest profiles are meaningless. Most of the time, you have no clue who the guest actually is because you don’t even have their real name to start with.

I’ve had guests with all kinds of "creative" names, including people calling themselves by their profession instead of a human name. It’s important to remember that guests can change these names whenever they want.

Also, the reason the names don’t match the reviews is usually because when a guest is part of a group, they get the review from whoever did the booking. It makes the whole thing very challenging, misleading, and confusing for us as hosts.

[Maricella5]

I didnt know people can change their names. Thats ridiculous,  I thought airbnb requires their government name!

[Joelle43]

Hello @Maricella5 

Read the below Airbnb article and you'll see that guests can change their name to pretty much anything:

https://www.airbnb.co.uk/help/article/3562

So difficult for hosts to know if the name that appears under the profile is their real name or their "preferred" name or indeed someone completely different using someone else's profile!!

[Guy991]

Hello @Maricella5 

Airbnb has legal documentation for every guest but they don't share it with the hosts even when there is a major problem. Luckily, just like in hotels in Portugal and a few other countries, collecting copies of passports is mandatory so we have the information either way. It should be sent to the host automatically with the reservation if you ask me.

Please keep in mind that Airbnb is always in favor of the guests so don't expect that to change soon. Recently, there was a new one-sided rule in favor of the guests where Airbnb shares the host's information and address while hosts do not receive any more information about the guests than before.

If you want to read more about it you can search for @Joelle43 post about it.