Weird inquiry

[Karishma14]

I received an inquiry request from someone named Jose who wanted to book for 6 nights. His Airbnb profile was complete, but he didn’t have any reviews etc. however as soon as I sent the pre approval, the profile name automatically changed to Deepika (a girl) & the profile incomplete now. Does anyone know why would this happen & how to deal with it? 

They sent me some questions before I sent the pre-approval.. which I answered. So now I’ve shared information about my property, with an unverified ID. 

[Guy991]

Hello @Karishma14 ,

when you receive an inquiry, it’s sufficient to respond promptly to maintain a good response rate. There’s no need to press ‘pre-approve’ or ‘decline.’ I usually avoid using ‘pre-approve’ as it can block the dates without a real reason, and I prefer not to press ‘decline’ to help maintain a higher acceptance rate. There are plenty of weird inquiries, so instead, I simply respond and, if the inquiry seems reasonable, I encourage the guest to proceed with a reservation.

[Shelley159]

Hi @Karishma14 

Your title is correct, this is a weird situation. I have not personally seen the identity change during the booking process, but there is a recent thread where this also seems to have been the case.

Airbnb guest turned into a SQUATTER - Airbnb Community (withairbnb.com)

You can read the above post by @Heather1328 who also mentions that the reservation "updated" to show someone else. The people who stayed turned out to be bad guests in the end.  This doesn't mean your guest will be as bad, but I'm with you in simply wanting to understand how this change of profile happens!