I ask for all names. I’m doing an insurance claim and they require the names of guests that stayed.
Absolutely get their names, don’t you want to know who is staying in your biggest asset especially if something goes wrong!
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@Debster I agree, just realize that it is possible that not a single name provided is actually the real legal name of any of the guests…
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Very true. In the couple of thousand years or more that the hospitality industry has been going, it’s never been possible to know 100% who your guests are.
It’s supposed to be better these days but with most people being fairly competent Photoshop users. it’s pretty easy to fake ID. Now don’t judge, but over the years I’ve known several people who have had fake IDs for one reason or another - nothing nefarious.
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I had a domestic violence incident in my house. 3rd guests to ever stay. Brand new furniture damaged. Blood everywhere, clumps of hair with scalp attached. Fingernails with tissue attached. The abuser also broke into locked storage and stole all of the toilet paper and paper towels… We called the police to file a report in case the girl needed it. The police officer advised me to always get the names of all guests. I do ever since. He also advised me to get photo IDs of everyone.
The only people who have pushed back were guests that I would never host again. One was very rude and threatened me. One snuck a dog into a property that we don’t allow pets at due to it being a historical property.
Air BnB rep told me they don’t verify IDs, they only require an ID to be uploaded.
VRBO told me they don’t verify IDs and that I should probably request the IDs myself.
I’ve played around with this to see if my occupancy changes if I requested the names of all guests, and if I require IDs. It affected one property and not the other. I can also say that guest issues decreased when all names and IDs were required. Although the # of makeup towels being taken as souvenirs did not. Lol Only about 10% of people had an issue with it. A few guests asked why as they said it was the 1st they were asked. When I advised that it was due to the increase of scams after COVID (quite prevalent here as we’re a drive to destination), they were happy to comply.
About the 3rd party bookings-I don’t allow those fter hearing about the increase in identity theft during COVID and hosts having charge backs. If you don’t verify ID with payment method, you have no recourse on charge backs. There were guests who would do charge backs after a full stay and the hosts had no recourse because they didn’t verify photo ID or have a copy of it. Although, I feel you need to ask questions and be reasonable about it. Such as a mother wanting to book a property as a Christmas Gift to her adult children.
I also do a lot of direct bookings. I’ve heard too many horror stories about Air BnB canceling a hosts future reservations because of a complaint by a guest trying to get a refund. I will not rely on them for my livelihood. So I do require ID for the guest booking. Just as hotels do.
I asked the owners of the properties that I manage and every one thought that names were obtained and IDs required as a matter of course and confirmed that’s what they expect.
I also had a friend who had a solo traveler die in their propert and didn’t have any idea who to contact. Which is a good argument for emergency contact info being requested. So now I ask if they’d like to add an emergency contact.
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OK I have STR insurance and about asking for names. My question is about rental agreements, photo ID and the like for stays of 2 nights. Is this overkill? I almost don’t care, but am trying to find the best way to ask for these things. I have a rental agreement drafted. Any thoughts would be much appreciated.
After booking, we get full names, addresses and ages for all guests on the booking, with (as required by insurance). So far, no guest has ever pushed back on it.
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I really like that idea for adding “emergency contact” - very smart - thank you for mentioning!
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Which government? Sound heavy-handed.
Who are you responding to?
JF