I have been lately been confirming bookings from people who, once I see confirmation, do not have their full or real name on the confirmation showing. Do I have the right to cancel their reservation if requests for their real full name are not forthcoming before the date of the reservation?
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I have often wondered the exact same thing ā if youāre coming into my home, I want your full legal name. I would think AirBNB ought to require a full legal name as part of the verification process so I donāt know how this happens. It would be great to have as part of the cancellation form, āguest has not provided adequate security informationā as an option. Hope someone answers you soon.
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Totally agree. We should have the option to cancel without penalty people this and people who reveal unsavory information about their character in a google search.
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Do you guys only accept verified guests? I do and I have never noticed this. That would be very worrying to me. That is no kind of verification even good enough for being allowed into the network to book if you ask me.
Hi Sandy ā yes, all my inquiries are required to be verified but I still end up with confirmed guests with no last name.
This is quite disturbing to me cs and CH. How can they be verified if there is no last name? This seems to be a problem on the Airbnb end. Sometimes I do a google search too of the person after booking, especially if itās for a longer stay or for the whole house to make sure everything checks out, and this is impossible without a personās full name. It is definitely a problem that we canāt cancel easily after doing a proper check that airbnb is not doing adequately for us. Last names should be there without question.
I would be very unhappy having any person staying in my home coming only by a first name, making it impossible for me to go to police if something terrible happens, or any of the other reasons it is necessary to know who is coming into your sanctuary. I will keep an eye out for this too.
I hope someone has answers, although I donāt believe it is to be found on the airbnb website.
So does AirBNB value signing up more new users at the expense of host security? Host properties are what makes their business work ā I really wish they would do more to protect some of our interestsā¦
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As my husband constantly says in reference to airbnb, itās a real Tom Sawyer operation. Recommended reading: Tom Sawyer. They run a website (full of glitches), and take a nice meaty cut while the host does all the hard work.
Does anyone ever imagine why there are schools for hospitality? There are whole colleges that teach people the fine art of saying āyes sir/mam, of course the customer is always right (even when they are lying through their teeth to try to get a free room/dinner/get out of paying for whatever they ruined)ā. But inevitably they have the guests credit card to charge for whatever (without having to make a case against a lying guest, with whom airbnb can and does choose a side with, sometimes to your disadvantage), as well as security to throw unruly guests out.
Is airbnb looking at their bottom line at the expense of hosts? You better believe it. Because thereās always someone else ready to believe the hype and try it. The fact is this. Being able to rent your spare room out to a stranger has been around for the longest time. But many of us didnāt even consider doing this, until the hype of airbnb told us how lucrative that spare room was. However, after you have added in the cost of your labor (that could be going towards a job you enjoy rather than cleaning, laundry and making breakfast for people - unless this was the future you dreamed about), extra utilities (and I can assure you, guests can be extremely wasteful), taxes, time online, wear and tear, supplying breakfasts, shampoo etc, perks, sheets and towels (which require replacing over time), you may find that what you are making is closer to that of having that roomie than what you first thought when the first couple of months worth of payments came in and you saw the cash signs airbnb flashes constantly on your page. And perhaps a lot less trouble too. Or maybe a more enjoyable job is the answer if extra cash is required. These are the questions I consider, and I have a very good idea why most airbnbāers donāt last much longer than a year or two max. We havenāt quit yet, just slowed down dramatically, but there are many things I find irritating, the most of which are how unfair the system can be for hosts, and how ridiculously unrealistic a lot of their articles are.
Remember when itās all said and done, you are likely taking home about half the rate you see on your page (unless if you follow the articles posted here by Cyn, or other airbnb promoters that encourage the kinds of perks that would run even the Ritz broke then itās probably less). It makes all that work and inconvenience a little less exciting to think of. Especially when it is so very hard to know who it is that is going to be coming through that door, until you have accepted the booking - at which point you will be penalized if you change your mind.
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Have never had this happen or heard of it! Confess I do take non verified guests, have never had a problem before. Only recently during the case I opened about Jennifer Heckman (Portland. Oregon, donāt rent to her) Air told me in the near future ALL users will be required to submit verification so that they cannot act like a Jennifer In a hostās home and then change her name and open a new account after a bad review.
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I just asked Airbnb about this with reference to a guest who had just given an initial in lieu of a surname. They assured me that she is verified and that she has given them her full name. However they said that guests are free to adopt a profile name that is different and that the only way we can get the legal name is by asking the guest themselves! I donāt find this very reassuring from a security point of view. I could have a wanted criminal hiding in my house!
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Or Jennifer Heckman!
Ironically, I had a guest who didnāt want to have her ID verified because she was nervous about identification theft - so I explained, āyes, and I have to worry about your identification, too, you are coming to stay in my home with my family!ā. She did go through the process and is actually here now - a totally lovely guest with three friends.
But I say in my listing āPlease do not inquire about booking if youāve not had your ID verifiedā. Iāve had almost nothing but newbies (and Iām new, too) but have been very fortunate so far. But no, not without that ID verified.
Of course, I would not hesitate to write and ask them their real name! Not to much of a crazy request!!
The trouble is that verification by Airbnb can be thorough, but still you donāt necessarily know the personās real name as the system allows them to use an online nickname, which could appear to be a real name. You could ask everyone to provide their real name but they could lie! I think that Airbnb should tell us the name under which the verification has been made, when the booking is made. Why should it be private?
Wondered the same thing, i canāt see the full name of a verified member. What we usually do is ask for a photo copy of any valid ID from them before they arrive
Itās quite bizarre when theyāre supposedly verified with an offline ID and still show up as only a single letter.
I THINK that if you go to the āprint confirmationā the full name will appear. Iāve never NOT had the last name. So Iām not sure. Check it and see.
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No, some people are just donāt want to fill out their last name.
Air sends an email confirmation which includes the last name of the guest. Also, my transaction history has full names of all my guests, past and future.
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yes, mine too - Iām not sure why the op is not finding that information.
I recently had a guest book with just his first name and I accepted, then emailed that I require all guests to provide their last name. He did. I then googled him and found him and his business. I felt satisfied Iād verified his identity, that he had more to lose than I did if he wasnāt respectful and allowed the booking. He has left ā the place was almost as clean as it was upon his arrival, he left me a review and was communicative but he and his guest were very noisy. I felt a disrespected but not enough to say anything because I would have been interrupting them (yes, itās what you think and there is sufficient soundproofing between the first and second floor). Morally I feel he was cheating on someone and yeah, itās a guess, but itās a guess based on my highly honed gut instinct. Thatās not my business if weāre going to be black and white, but he was disruptive to my husband and my sleep.
I notice now heās removed his last name again. So my point? If the last name is omitted itās possible thereās a reason and itās a yellow flag for me. Just like if they are local (within a couple of hours) and want to rent from me, itās a red flag (this was that case).
I agree airbnb should always require identification to use the system. I also wonder, like so many of you, whether they donāt require it because they donāt want to filter out folks who may sign up otherwise.
On another note, I think they need to do it for security reasons and to allow us hosts to be able to provide an even more streamlined process. For example, I have a keypad so guests can let themselves in if I allow it. I strive to meet all of my guests because for me, that is part of the allure, but I canāt always. Iād feel a hell of a lot better if they had verified with ID with airbnb. Youād never be able to go to a hotel and just enter without checking in with an ID and credit card firstā¦