Worried about first guest

I have stayed at 5 airbnb’s over the last few months and loved it so much I decided to start hosting myself. I made up the site and went live and about a week later got my first booking. I noticed after they booked that mistakenly, I did not have the “verified ID badge” requirement. The couple that booked have no reviews and only the phone number, facebook, and email address verified. The photo has one of those snapchat dog face filters covering part of her face. The really strange part is I tried to google her using name and city and only found 1 result. Its a girl who looks 10 years old using the same name, in the same city, and the same dog filter.
Our contact so far has been brief but pleasant. I asked her to do the “verified ID” and she responded instantly that airbnb said she was verified. I then clarified about the verified ID badge and provided a link to verify. I have not heard from her in the last 24 hours and she is still not verified. The couple are set to arrive in on the 7th. Cancelling has a huge consequence and I really don’t want to. Is notifying her if she doesn’t verify I will ask her for her ID too much? Anyone have any other ideas or thoughts?

No, we ask people (even verified by Air) to see and take a snapshot of their ID all the time. Mention it in your listing under checkin or security procedures.

10 year could be her daughter may be. People sometimes put pics of theirs kids.
When she arrives take s picture of her license. I was on instant book for over a year so I would take anyone who booked verified or not. Are you verified? I remember when was not verifiedAir did not require my guests to be verified also

Hello I feel for you like. In your situation I’d call airbnb in your area and explain your concerns and that you accidentally omitted to add off line verification for your guests. Ask them to reach out to them (theyve done this many times for me) and guide them through the off line verification process. They will do this and report vacs to you

If the guest declines ask airbnb for their Facebook page if this is how they are verified. If airbnb decline data protection ask exactly how the verification process they have completed will help you should something go wrong

I recall an early guest with poor reviews causing me great concern and discussing this with Airbnb they were most helpful and offered helping them to find another host

I accepted the guest all was well. He was a little difficult but not so much that I could not handle, which brings me to my last point most people are good there are a few bad apples but most are good. Our imaginations can sometimes be our worst enemy do let us know how you get on

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Spiff – as you will discover, verifications are automated, and in some sense don’t mean a lot.

Make sure ALL of your communications with the guest are through AIr’s Messaging system, not regular email, phone conversations or Texting. The exception is when you them and ask why they have not checked in yet…

I do like Hypertokyo’s idea of asking guests for a snapshot of their Driver’s License or other ID, and if they don’t respond, send them an Air message telling them that you will be taking a photo of their ID when they arrive.

I have a personal “bug” about people who use a graphic or some other means to hide their picture. In one case I sent the guest who wanted to book a note saying “We don’t care if you’re green, brown, yellow, black, pink or blue, but we do want to make sure that you are human not a robot scammer. Please send us an unaltered photograph of yourself.”

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As others have said, you absolutely can ask for an ID when they arrive. We have this in our rules:

  • IDENTIFICATION: Depending on guest AirBnB history, reviews/rating, we may ask for a copy of each guest’s government issued photo ID.

If they refuse, which is unlikely, then don’t let them in and explain to ABB that you’re uncomfortable having this unknown person, who is obviously trying to hide something, in your house. I doubt it would come to that though.

Good luck!

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I would definitely contact AirBNB and explain the situation.

The only guest we’ve declined was a person who had a new profile, and their picture was of the back of their head.

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I just wanted to thank everyone for their responses, they helped me out a lot. Gave me a ton of reassurances and ideas.

Update: The guest completed the offline verification this morning. I have to believe that it is difficult enough to fake that she is legit and this weekend should be A OK. I’ll do another update next week about the experience.

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Good Luck!! Hope hosting turns out great for you!

Spend lots of time searching through the topics on this site, and you’ll jump ahead in knowledge and experience - learn from all of our fumbles and successes!!

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