Would you use a quick background check app before approving guests?

Tools
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Would other hosts see value in an app that compiles all online information about a person and gives a them a score, or a quick summary of what is found, in order to vet them as a guest?

An app, Vijilient, was started by an Airbnb host who could have prevented her house from being destroyed by a guest if she had checked up on them online before letting them to stay in her house. We’re trying to see if other hosts would use this tool.

If anyone has any ideas of things they would like to see in an app like this or how they feel about a quick summary/score of a person please let us know what you think!

Thanks so much!

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I would definitely be interested in the app. Just for starters, Id like to get as much information without having to invade the guests’ privacy too much.

What kind of information do I have to have about the guest to preform this “background check”?

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How can we do that when in many cases we don’t know the guest’s full name until they book?

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Even after they book, the full name doesn’t always appear.

Sometimes you can get more details by searching with the picture.

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By the way, I googled ‘Vijilient’. Only two results. One was this topic and the other was a Facebook comment that had nothing to do with the app. So it must be very much in development stage.

1 Like
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@Isabelle_Roznik yes any app that scores a potential guest could be a great tool. As a host, I would use it to vet guests.

I notice your ask is about an app that compiles only what’s publicly available about someone online… and not private info the guest authorizes the release or scoring of. To be honest, most of what I’d find valuable is the standard background and credit check type of info that long-term landlords screen for. Yet some other reasonable assumptions can be derived just from the subtleties of publicly available online info as well.

As a disclaimer, this is not legally verified advice… I’m not sure how any of this complies and fits within a non-discrimination or another legal context relating to disclosure and use of info etc…

In any case, here are some things I think hosts may like seeing in an app like this… in order to mitigate risk and select guests that will be a great match for and happy with their home:

  • employment status and professional level
  • level of social online and offline connectedness
  • level of travel-savviness
  • type of traveler - mostly business or leisure

Happy to elaborate more… also have a few ideas on how and where some of the above info could be obtained online. Feel free to private message me if you’d like to chat further.