I have had my cottage booked by a guest using his/her business name “Style Hotel” (not the actual name but similar).
I don’t know the name of the person making the booking and I cannot see how they have been verified.
I googled the business and they run a small chain of hotels/Airbnbs in quite a rough area with some quite bad ratings.
What would you do in this situation?
My cottage is quite upmarket with expensive furnishings and I am new to Airbnb so would appreciate advice. I’ve been running it six months so far with no problems, but I’ve only had ‘nice’ couples who have been transparent about their identities and easy to communicate with.
Message this guest and ask that they put their full face photo up in their profile, and also ask for their full name.
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You also need to know that a guest can change their name to Mickey Mouse, once verified. I would be concerned that they may be re renting themselves. Have it in your house rules that the user name must match their photo government ID when they book.
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I’d be leery about accepting this reservation. If they do give you a picture & their full name, it might make a difference, but… My take is that they’re checking out the competition. 
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I don’t think they’re checking out the competition as their place is about 300 miles from mine.
They have replied with all their first names, but no surname and no picture.
Dr Ruthie Nixon
Trust your instincts. Doesn’t sound like someone I would want to host.
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“Please replace your ‘picture’ in your profile with a clear picture of your face, as per airbnb requirements; also, I will need your surname(s). Thank you”
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We once had guests that ran a hotel that had extremely poor ratings. When they got to our home, they treated our staff like dirt, left piles of dirty dishes (my 4-foot by 8-foot dining table was covered with dishes and pots and pans), left wet towels on the floor all over the house, tried to sneak in an extra guest and not pay, and used every single bit of food and drink we had that wasn’t behind locked doors.
I understand your experience may not match mine, but their hotel chain having crummy ratings concerns me (not the part about being in a rough part of town).
I’m the outlier here.
If the reviews you mentioned AREN’T on Airbnb, then a poor review - by Airbnb standards - isn’t terrible.
If it’s a ‘rough area’ then some of those reviews will be in response to that area.
Some hosts on Airbnb choose their business name as their user name, so that wouldn’t especially bother me either.
I never use a facial photograph of myself because I have a acquired deformity (my doctor’s description) that I don’t want to show to the world.
This is just an alterative viewpoint.
Definitely would not accept this booking!
Thank you. Most of the bad reviews are to do with the fact that the rooms seems to be above a noisy bar. Also, people are very disappointed with the breakfast they provide (yoghurt, a banana and a small bottle of orange juice). A few complained that it was overpriced.
I was more concerned about them not using their own photo and name. Do Air bnb still check your personal identity even if you use a business photo and name?
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Oh, then disregard my input. The bad reviews for my hoteliers were about dirty rooms, rude staff and management, and disrepair - all management issues and not location issues.
Though others have said this - I wholeheartedly agree with going with ones’ instincts. Sometimes I have to give my head a shake that we are not obligated to share our homes and if we feel anxious based on anything iffy, it’s not worth even the worry between now and the booking, let alone the risk. You have the power and the right to decline if you’re uncomfortable. The money isn’t as important as your peace of mind.
Not sure what you mean by “check your personal identity”. Any Airbnb account has to submit ID.
Not sure you understand that anyone can use any user name and photo they want on their account. That is unrelated to the ID info they submit to Airbnb.
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Yes, I’ve always wondered about hosts who insist on a photograph and a full name. If a guest is dodgy, or up to no good for some reason, they are going to use a false name and a photograph lifted from the internet.
I have hosted flowers, dogs, parrots, babies, and on one notable occasion, the Taj Mahal if their photographs are to be believed. And they’ve all been fine.
People these days are concerned about online security and with no ill intent at all, they just don’t want their actual face and full proper name online. (Weirdly, they’ll do so on FB and go into all sorts of personal info but that’s folks for you. 
)
I guess it’s unusual, but every guest I’ve had has had a real photo of themselves, and used their real name. Occasionally the photo was taken from far away, so their face wasn’t super clear, and people often photograph differently than they look in real life, so I wouldn’t necessarily recognize them in passing on the street, but I could tell it was the same person when they arrived at my gate.
But I’ve never encountered a photo of their cat or a plate of spaghetti, etc. as a profile photo.
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No I didn’t realise that. Thanks for enlightening me.
@MirandaIV, I understand that this was an ‘Instant booking’… so because I just had a somehow similar situation and I was booked by a “host” in another country having a building as profile picture and this was associated with strange requests, I can confirm (thank you @Rolf for advice) that I was able to cancel that booking with absolutely no penalty from Airbnb by choosing the right option after pressing Cancel and resisting to the fear of being penalized 
. There is an option who allows you to cancel for concerns regarding the profile. The only important thing is that you need to do have more than 48 hours until the check in day. You have to upload a proof of your reason to be concerned, so I uploaded a screenshot with this profile picture highlighted. I almost instantly received the confirmation from Airbnb that the booking was cancelled with no penalties. I still agree with @jaquo that not everyone is hiding the real face due to worrisome reasons, but if you have extra reasons to be concerned you can cancel this way. Businesses are allowed to book for their employees but this is opening a Pandora box… It’s good to have a house rules who says that “only the guests written in the booking are allowed on the premises”, and add a big penalty highlighting your right to give them out if they don’t respect this rule.
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