No profile pic unvetted guests

A group of 4 people booked my Airbnb for 5 nights. I asked the guy to get his profile vetted, but he hasn’t responded even though I’ve messaged him twice now. The house is shared w my brother-in-law. My bro-in-law doesn’t seem to mind the circumstances. Would you let this group into your house?

Is this IB? You can require govt id before they can book. I’d be bothered by no response from him. How far in advance is the booking?

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It’s over a month out and we have auto-booking set up

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What is the picture going to tell you? Not ideal, but I’d let it ride. I’ve had a few non-picture people stay now… they were exactly the same as the picture people.

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If he doesn’t respond you can cancel without penalty if you are uncomfortable with the guest. This is why I don’t use instant book. I like to have a little conversation with the guest before I approve them. As you know, guests don’t read the listing details so I like to be sure we are a good fit for their needs.

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Let’s take the bloke who is in the rental at the moment. He booked in February. (IB). After he booked I left the usual message for him (thanks for booking, let me know if you have any questions etc.) and he didn’t reply at all. This is normal - for me anyway.

Yesterday was check in day and the day before I’d still not heard from him. Again, normal.

So I sent him the pre-check in message and he responded within an hour.

I don’t expect to hear from people.

Last week every guest arrived ahead of time, 4 hours early and 1 3 hours early. Today, another guest no arrival time, 3 messages no reply. As we share the same space, i have to let them in. I wonder would the guest be happy with no breakfast in the morning as was stuck in waiting for them. In my experience, when they dont respond its because they intend to arrive outside my core 6 hours.
Mind you had an eldery man for a night last night, he rang me when he booked 6.00am my time he rang me when he was boarding the plane and rang me when he was at the taxi rank.

A medium between the 2

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Meaning? This doesn’t seem the use of ‘vetted’ I am used to so so wouldn’t respond either.

Vetted - a green checkmark on his profile

We received an IB from another platform a week ago for a $7000US stay in November. No information when they booked. She returned the signed contract promptly but hasn’t acknowledged any other correspondence. I’m not uncomfortable given she returned the contract promptly. We rent out our second home and have staff on the premises, so I’m not worried about them misbehaving.

But jacqo is right - I’m getting to the point I don’t expect them to contact me until they need something. I’m sure she’ll text me with a hundred questions a few weeks before they arrive!

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A picture can be revealing. That’s why there’s the old saw about 1,000 words.

I won’t rent to people that haven’t (or are not willing to) post of a photo of themselves. It’s served me well.

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What information to you gain from their picture?

Why do you allow IB without an ID then require it after the fact? Much easier to just add this requirement to IB.

I’ve caught people that were underage and that were obviously different than the guests they described as the ones doing the booking. I’ve also found that the someone’s reluctance to show their face in a photo (ie., posting a picture of a cartoon cat) is a good predictor of a crappy or irresponsible guest.

@melly
If your brother-in-law, who shares the house, is big and burly or has “special” talents, is not concerned, I wouldn’t be either.

@Brandt - “What information [do] you gain from their picture?”

It differentiates the aliens from the earthlings.