I’m assuming you did get paid? Weird situation!
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Yes, got paid because they never actually cancelled. It was a bit annoying having 2 Airbnb people also trying to track them down and then never updating me.
The guests were supposedly flying in from Cairns on the far north coast, so the concern is always that something happened to them there. Remember the movie based on the true story about the two tourists who went scuba diving on a big organised trip and no one realised until too late that the boat had returned to shore without them. Never seen again. Cue: Jaws music 
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I would never check someone’s ID on arrival. Nor would I appreciate someone doing it to me unless it is the rule of that country. By the time they’ve arrived, you’ve accepted their booking and their money has been paid long ago. I figure that if you’re going to have enough fake ID’s to get your Airbnb verifications approved, you’re sure as hell going to have a way to hoodwink some poor unsuspecting Airbnb host.
That’s bad, and yet I remember the hoops I had to jump through to get verified. My Driver’s Licence was about to expire, I had my maiden name on some documents and married name on others. Maybe it’s just got more lax recently.
Yes, possibly paid using a stolen credit card.
I disagree. Airbnb doesn’t actually verify anything. It’s done by a machine. Some IDs, notably passports, are far from easy to fake at a level sufficient to fool a half-awake human. On the other hand, Airbnb’s software, if it is anything like the rest of the site, is probably no harder to fool than a newborn baby.
I know what you mean! I’ve posted this before, so sorry if this is redundant, but I once had a man book who was American-born living in Mexico. He is an economist who has written a book or two. He told me he was coming with his wife, a Russian, and her son. Never showed up, never responded to any messages. It was a creepy feeling and I did worry about what may have happened. Yes, I got paid, but it didn’t feel good taking the money - it was right for me to do so, but it was uncomfortable.
I hope you do hear from them - something!
dc, so you never did hear from those people? Neither did I from mine that didn’t show up to this day, I still wonder.
nope - not a peep. So odd.
did you review them? I reviewed mine.
yes - “We did not have the pleasure of meeting guest. We did not receive any replies to our messages since he booked, and they he and his family never arrived. We were very sad to miss the chance of meeting them, and hope they are well.”
He had 5 prior reviews - all positive- nothing since. Doing a little research it appears that he had a PhD from Yale in 1971 - I’m assuming it’s the same man because it’s in the same field. He’s a published author in his field. Can’t find anything recent online about him.
That would put him today roughly in his middle to late 70’s. My was a pilot for a major airline; booked, fully paid for the whole family and poof without a trace despite my numerous messages.
@dcmooney, @Mearns; Wow. Guests that disappeared without a trace? That is indeed strange and creepy. It almost feels like one should alert the police. I can’t imagine why anyone would book, not show up, and not respond to messages. Presumably Airbnb wasn’t interested.
Major mystery. I even offered to postpone their dates to a further point - still heard zero.
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