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Today we had some guests from Holland that tried to book our place, but couldn’t do so without submitting a photo ID.
The guests weren’t keen on a photo ID (Dutch government advise against it, reports of fraud) and tried in various ways to book without it. Pre-approval from our side didn’t help. Our listing doesn’t require any photo ID for booking, only email and phone number. Many guests have booked before with only email & phone number!
Question: does anyone know if is this a new requirement from AirBnB, perhaps only for certain countries?
I found this article talking about the Hotel Industry lobbying for increased restrictions and bureaucracy on Airbnb with the help of Democrat politicians. But I don’t think any such thing would’ve been implemented already.
“Airbnb’s unwelcome proliferation in neighborhoods in my district, mostly by absentee commercial operators, has created a public nuisance and public safety risks that are simply unacceptable,” Avella said.
“Given that Airbnb shows no interest in policing outlaws on their own platform, we need legislation to compel them to do basic things that are in the public’s interest.”
But it can be argued why these guests are hesitant about using their photo-id. You’re probably better off getting more open-minded / less paranoid guests?
Yes, but the question remains: is this photo ID requirement at booking new or country specific?
I just went trough our existing bookings: for roughly half of them it only shows email address and phone number under “verified info”. We have one OK booking from Holland so far, and that one includes ID…
I think it’s people trying to scam somehow.
I’ve read several posts about ID and payment and both of them were pretending to be from Denmark. Disclaimer: I’m Danish but ain’t no scammer. Anyhow… here’s one of them:
It sounds A LOT like the same script. “Governments warning not to give out ID…” The difference here is they’re from “Holland” and not Denmark.
Many Danes use Airbnb and this is NOT a thing here in this country and I’d be surprised if it was the case for The Netherlands. Our Government rarely give out warnings like this so its probably a scam. How that scam would work, I really don’t know but just decline these people as something isn’t quite right.
I thought it was the registration with Airbnb that required the photo ID. I’m not sure you can register without it, thankfully. Until you provide that you’re not a verified user, correct?
Me too.Plenty of guests who only have verified their email address without ID and other verifications.
It’s not a requirement from Airbnb as I understand it.
Looking at guests profile that made instant bookings, I see quite a few that have only email + phone number, with a picture of themselves. They appear verified without photo-ID.
I had a rather long chat with AirBnB support about this issue. From what I understand, it boils down to this:
Normally a photo-ID (passport, driver license, photo-ID-card) is not required for booking a listing that doesn’t require it.
Whenever AirBnB’s platform suspects an elevated risk resulting from any kind of spurious activity or uncertainty during a booking, a photo-ID is requested from the guest. This then happens regardless if the host listing requires a verified photo-ID or not.
AirBnB’s platform might see country changes in combination with a change in device that attempts a booking (e.g. moving from Ipad to Android phone) as an elevated risk. This by no means means there is anything wrong or suspect with the booking, it is merely a precaution also towards the host.
Support could not or wasn’t allowed to state upto what extend this is country specific.
I guess there is some merit in AirBnBs explanation. But it does mean potential problems and missed bookings for those that do normally not require a verified photo-ID.
I remember this triggered once. An account with just email and phone verification attempted to make a last-minute booking. They were not allowed to proceed until photo-id had been completed. The last-minute booking attempt was seen by the Airbnb software as risky. I think it was the right thing to do.
When did assessing risky behavior get linked to anti-discrimination policy??
Airbnb never said they wouldn’t discriminate against potential frauds?
