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I had 2 back to back bad experiences.
1 of them is:-
So this guest ‘J’ booked my room for 2 days. said nothing else apart from his checkin time. Saw his profile pic.
But during checkin time someone else , say ‘X’ who did not even remotely match the profile pic (different race than profile pic) came to the door, said nothing. I had to ask him that you are not the one in the pic and then he mentioned his friend booked it for him. Checked his ID and Seemed ok. I informed airbnb. His stay continued.
The same night he went out of the house multiple times between 2-4 AM. My main house outdoor camera caught that.
I still ignored thinking its not my business to know why.
On the day of checkout , I was in office and had to send the cleaning lady, so i called his number from his profile to check what time he planned to checkout. The guy ‘J’ picked up the call and said he has no airbnb booking and no idea what i was talking about. I immediately called airbnb and they said lets first wait till this guy checks out and then we can start the investigation. Seemed like stolen identity case.
He checks out, on time, when I go home the bed was broken , so I started the resolution process but airbnb did not take any action on it because of the pending ‘identity case’.
It was still fine , until, 2 days later I go to his profile to get more details about this fake guy. And to my surprise, this guy has a host listing that shows photo of my rental room but at a higher price, though at different location (20 miles away). I am now wondering if ‘J’ is booking my place and then re-renting at a higher price to someone else and may be thats how this ‘X’ guys showed up.
I informed airbnb , its been 8 days airbnb has not taken any action against his profile nor given me any update.
Really worried here!
(UPDATE Jul 14 2016: After posting on this forum this fake profile and listing got removed. WIN!)
Mysteriouser and mysteriouser! Did you report the listing?
Thanks for the heads up. From now on I am going to personally call the number of every guest who books.
Yes I reported 6 days back. No luck. Its still up. Tried calling air several times but get only promises and ‘The case manager is not available now, he/she will get back to you SOON’.
Also I believe that mr ‘J’ or the main ‘verified guest’ is the one doing this 3rd party thingy, because air sends messages to mobile number. So if I am calling that number it has to be him and he must have faked the ‘I have no idea’ to me when I called.
OMG, this is unbelievable! This is a very common practice in Russia (to book an apartment then resell it to another person at higher price, even if it is strictly forbidden), but stealing your pictures and listing are beyond my imagination. To avoid this illegal practice I conclude a short-term leasing contract in 2 copies with each guest I have. In the contract you and your guest share a passport data. It makes you feel a bit safe, discipline your guest and ease your relationship with tax agency.
Looks like the listing got removed right after I posted this! Yay! I hope that guy is not reading this forum.
But his profile still exists, which I believe airB will take down after more investigation.
I’ve made it a point now to do a quick ID check from guest who checks-in.
AirB is doing something about his profile, right after I posted those links.
I went back to check my booking messages, and his complete booking messages/details have disappeared now.
Strange , but I am able to see his profile, some of you are able to too and some are not.
I guess AirB is monitoring this forum as well. Which is good and may be bad too.
Cheers!