Post by High Priestess on May 28, 2016 21:14:33 GMT
Malisa Kyle shared in New Hosts Forum March 2015
www.airbnb.com/groups/content/content-116775
Guest Verification Criteria, what exactly is it??
over the last three weeks, we have lost 4 bookings through Airbnb being unsatisfied with the potential guests verification, this costing us over $1300 in bookings.
From the screen shot above, can you see whats wrong with the verification on each guest, I ask you as hosts, would you be happy with how they have verified? Me personally, I need that guests are verified, its a little safety thing, but with how these four guests have verified, I would be very happy, no need for more, no need to decline them.I might add, that all four had photo's and a bit about themselves too.
I know lately Airbnb are doing all they can to push us hosts into using the instant book (IB), and now, I feel like they are being too strict in verification and thus, pushing us into turning on, accepting bookings without verification, this is the only way around getting the bookings that should have gone through.
I really hope this is not the case..
I thought I would post th last potential guest who failed the process's response this morning.
"Good morning Paul & Gabby, I woke up with a very sad message from Airbnb that my booking with you has been cancelled and that I should just book again. The amount marked for this transaction will be voided but actual reversal with my credit card company might take awhile. I replied to them that I would like the booking to push through and have completed all info necessary in my Profile plus I have also attached my Philippine Passport & a Government ID (Social Security System) but still no confirmation received from their end. Another thing I remembered just now is that they wanted me to connect them with either my (website hidden) or (website hidden) account which I do not have any of but this should not in any way jeopardize my booking with you. I believe the documents I have submitted should be sufficient to prove my identity. I have stayed up late last night just fulfilling everything you guided me to do not realizing that it is quite tedious to book through the Airbnb system unlike the other online booking engines (Expedia, (website hidden), etc.) that I am familiar with. I know I have taken so much of your time already but I would really appreciate all possible assistance in fulfilling this booking. I am attaching my Phil passport & Gov't ID for your reference if it would help. Anticipating to hear from you soonest.
Thanks once again & have a great day ahead!Marianne "
11 comments•1 like
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Nic and Rach
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Jeannette
Jeannettea year ago
OUCH!!
I think there is a part of CSX that helps customers with verifications, can they help?
Reply Like 1 like Delete
Deborah
Deboraha year ago
I find this very discouraging -- both for the host, and for the guest. I too have had guests who I was quite happy to accept with the information they provided, but apparently Airbnb wasn't happy with that and wanted more, made them jump through more hoops, and one of them gave up completely, the other was a hair's breadth from giving up but spent the hours it took and finally got booked. Of course the odd thing is that Airbnb was doing this randomly, and I have had plenty of other guests who provided much less info to me than these two did, but they were able to book, while these other two guests who provided more info were not allowed to book unless they gave still more and more.
Reply Like 1 reply•1 like Delete
Malisa Kyle
Malisa Kylea year ago
Funny you should say that Deborah about the randomness of it all, I just wrote back to Marianne saying exactly the same thing and of course, apologized profusely for the inconvenience caused. But what else can we as hosts do?? This will make you more concerned as it does me. As I see she has as far as I'm concerned, verified her account, I asked her to try booking again, this time I turn on Instant book and check the anyone, also turned off the "Require guests to go through verification" and still, it asked for verification!!.. go figure. Its a different world here in Asia, contacting CS, CSX, CX (whatever they mean) is a costly exercise as the nearest support number is Hong Kong, an international call away, so the only option is email and wait for response. Thankfully, these occurrences are few and far between, even though they seem to be happening more often, so I don't see Airbnb doing anything about it as there are not enough complaints. But interesting what Marianne wrote, her working in the Travel Industry and how tedious is was to book compared with other booking sites. They REALLY need to stop this "Connect" verification!!!
Susan
Susana year ago
I have mixed feelings on this...I, of course, want to know who is booking our space is who they say they are,. However the verification process appears to me to be an exercize in perseverance, not "proof" of identity or any soft of character reference and this push toward Instant Book just makes matters worse. I'm not comfortable accepting a reservation from any one just because they want it. AirBnB makes their fees regardless so I'm not sure they care. But I do.
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Malisa Kyle
Malisa Kylea year ago
Susan, I agree with you there.. Airbnb do not "Seem" to care, especially to the hosts who go the extra mile.
I sent Support an email yesterday evening, 14 hours ago, bear in mind we are "Superhosts", faster response times to issues.. Pfffttt.. Still waiting allocation to agent.
On your other comment, I just dont understand where they are going with this.. should a guest have to persevere just to make a booking , the only verification that is important is the Passport/Gov ID relates to the credit card used to book, obvious ones are we need email and phone number to communicate, so they are essential too.
What I dont need to know is if they have a fake FB account or a fake L1nked1n account.
Reply Like Delete
Malisa Kyle
Malisa Kylea year ago
Hmmmm.. I have just found out that Airbnb don't actually do the verification, they out source to a company called Netverify..
Could explain a lot!
Reply Like 2 replies•1 like Delete
Malisa Kyle
Malisa Kylea year ago
Ooopss.NO, they use software called Netverify
Interesting though to read the process of the software.. face recognition from profile to offline ID. Could explain why it seems random who gets verified or not.
Mig
Miga year ago
My profile pic looks nothing like my passport or driving licence pic. My FB & LinkedIn pics look nothing alike. Driving licence pic is 6 years old!
Julie and Eric
Julie and Erica year ago
Here's some more information on verified ID: bit.ly/airbnb_verified_id
Reply Like 2 replies•1 like Delete
Malisa Kyle
Malisa Kylea year ago
OMG.. J,E,P.. shame on me.. I have actually hosted New, I know him www.airbnb.com/users/show/19874933
Julie and Eric
Julie and Erica year ago
There appear to be a lot of "News."
Ernie
Ernie a year ago
I have no faith in Airbnb's verification process. I once had a guest show up who had, as it turned out, made a third party booking for two other non English-speaking people. He had created a profile (that very day) that was created using his photo and given name but the passport, telephone and email of one of the two guests for whom he had made the booking. I turned them away at the door and called Airbnb. Despite the fact that I have a strict cancellation policy, Airbnb decided to refund the booking fees so that these new guests could better learn how to properly use Airbnb. I lost out on a booking and lost the opportunity to rent the room to anyone else because the room had been booked and was not cancelled until late in the evening. Another case of Airbnb failing to properly educate community members before they are let loose in the system and I paid for their education. All three of those people, in my opinion, should have been removed from the system for violating Airbnb's own terms and conditions. If you cannot take the time to educate yourself as to how to use the system within the guidelines to which we are all subject, then you should lose the price of admission and be turned away at the door. If you can't follow the rules for becoming a member and for booking a listing, what makes us believe you can follow a host's house rules?
Reply Like 1 like Delete
Jeannette
Jeannettea year ago
If AirBNB wants to reimburse complete numbskulls, it should do so on its dime.
Reply Like 1 reply Delete
Ernie
Ernie a year ago
I agree entirely.
Bridget and Mark
Bridget and Marka year ago
I feel like a big part of this is the hassle that they give people who do have offical ID, verified phone and email but do not have social network accounts with the companies that start with the word "Link...." or "Face...". It may beem inconceivable to the people in a San Francisco based tech company that there are still zillions of lovely people in the world who don't have those accounts. I have heard from potential guests that if you don't have one of those accounts airbnb really pushes for a video and that is its own difficulty. There is a bit of a tech cultural bias towards those two social networks. I am someone who wants verification, absolutely, but the world got along very nicely accepting passports for quite a while. If they aren't on Face or Link, a passport should be fine!
Bridget
Reply Like Delete
Heather
Heathera year ago
Ugh, I noticed 2 "cancellations" on My Reservations page, apparently from guests who tried to Instant Book but never made it through verification (at least that's what CX thought). Total bummer, 6 nights that I missed out on. I had never even gotten a message from them, so couldn't follow up or see if there was any way for me to help them. I asked CX if someone was going to follow up with them, and they said Yes, but really if a guest has already been made to jump through hoops and then STILL not been allowed to book I doubt an email from Airbnb is going to help anything. From what little info I could see from the profiles both were guests I would have approved. I briefly pondered removing the requirement for verification, but decided I'd keep it on. Sounds like, even if I removed it, Airbnb would still randomly require it? Does anyone who uses Instant Book NOT require verification??
Reply Like 1 reply Delete
Malisa Kyle
Malisa Kylea year ago
Heather, I currently have a support ticket open for the very same thing, why was I not notified that a booking/inquiry was made. This is being looked into apparently by Tech, in all fairness the agent, Scott is doing his best to help, but getting nowhere. Like I said earlier, even if you have instant book, accept with no verification, the system can still decline a guest.. CRAZY. Take a look at your dashboard, for the dates you have cancelled bookings, see if they show as reservations/inquiries on your views graph, then check your emails for the dates. Does that make sense? One day February the 23rd, we were showing 8 Inquiries/bookings, yet we only had notification for 3 that day and Airbnb cant explain why!
Malisa Kyle
Malisa Kylea year ago
In all fairness here, after finding out they dont actually check verification, Airbnb use a software, Netverify, Its not actually Airbnb who are failing, its the CRAP software they are using.
I'm really surprised they(Airbnb) are not doing something about this, is clearly not an isolated issue, they and we are losing $$$$$$ in lost revenue and income.
Reply Like Delete
Deborah
www.airbnb.com/groups/content/content-116775
Guest Verification Criteria, what exactly is it??
over the last three weeks, we have lost 4 bookings through Airbnb being unsatisfied with the potential guests verification, this costing us over $1300 in bookings.
From the screen shot above, can you see whats wrong with the verification on each guest, I ask you as hosts, would you be happy with how they have verified? Me personally, I need that guests are verified, its a little safety thing, but with how these four guests have verified, I would be very happy, no need for more, no need to decline them.I might add, that all four had photo's and a bit about themselves too.
I know lately Airbnb are doing all they can to push us hosts into using the instant book (IB), and now, I feel like they are being too strict in verification and thus, pushing us into turning on, accepting bookings without verification, this is the only way around getting the bookings that should have gone through.
I really hope this is not the case..
I thought I would post th last potential guest who failed the process's response this morning.
"Good morning Paul & Gabby, I woke up with a very sad message from Airbnb that my booking with you has been cancelled and that I should just book again. The amount marked for this transaction will be voided but actual reversal with my credit card company might take awhile. I replied to them that I would like the booking to push through and have completed all info necessary in my Profile plus I have also attached my Philippine Passport & a Government ID (Social Security System) but still no confirmation received from their end. Another thing I remembered just now is that they wanted me to connect them with either my (website hidden) or (website hidden) account which I do not have any of but this should not in any way jeopardize my booking with you. I believe the documents I have submitted should be sufficient to prove my identity. I have stayed up late last night just fulfilling everything you guided me to do not realizing that it is quite tedious to book through the Airbnb system unlike the other online booking engines (Expedia, (website hidden), etc.) that I am familiar with. I know I have taken so much of your time already but I would really appreciate all possible assistance in fulfilling this booking. I am attaching my Phil passport & Gov't ID for your reference if it would help. Anticipating to hear from you soonest.
Thanks once again & have a great day ahead!Marianne "
11 comments•1 like
Following
Like
Nic and Rach
Delete
Hide
Jeannette
Jeannettea year ago
OUCH!!
I think there is a part of CSX that helps customers with verifications, can they help?
Reply Like 1 like Delete
Deborah
Deboraha year ago
I find this very discouraging -- both for the host, and for the guest. I too have had guests who I was quite happy to accept with the information they provided, but apparently Airbnb wasn't happy with that and wanted more, made them jump through more hoops, and one of them gave up completely, the other was a hair's breadth from giving up but spent the hours it took and finally got booked. Of course the odd thing is that Airbnb was doing this randomly, and I have had plenty of other guests who provided much less info to me than these two did, but they were able to book, while these other two guests who provided more info were not allowed to book unless they gave still more and more.
Reply Like 1 reply•1 like Delete
Malisa Kyle
Malisa Kylea year ago
Funny you should say that Deborah about the randomness of it all, I just wrote back to Marianne saying exactly the same thing and of course, apologized profusely for the inconvenience caused. But what else can we as hosts do?? This will make you more concerned as it does me. As I see she has as far as I'm concerned, verified her account, I asked her to try booking again, this time I turn on Instant book and check the anyone, also turned off the "Require guests to go through verification" and still, it asked for verification!!.. go figure. Its a different world here in Asia, contacting CS, CSX, CX (whatever they mean) is a costly exercise as the nearest support number is Hong Kong, an international call away, so the only option is email and wait for response. Thankfully, these occurrences are few and far between, even though they seem to be happening more often, so I don't see Airbnb doing anything about it as there are not enough complaints. But interesting what Marianne wrote, her working in the Travel Industry and how tedious is was to book compared with other booking sites. They REALLY need to stop this "Connect" verification!!!
Susan
Susana year ago
I have mixed feelings on this...I, of course, want to know who is booking our space is who they say they are,. However the verification process appears to me to be an exercize in perseverance, not "proof" of identity or any soft of character reference and this push toward Instant Book just makes matters worse. I'm not comfortable accepting a reservation from any one just because they want it. AirBnB makes their fees regardless so I'm not sure they care. But I do.
Reply Like Delete
Malisa Kyle
Malisa Kylea year ago
Susan, I agree with you there.. Airbnb do not "Seem" to care, especially to the hosts who go the extra mile.
I sent Support an email yesterday evening, 14 hours ago, bear in mind we are "Superhosts", faster response times to issues.. Pfffttt.. Still waiting allocation to agent.
On your other comment, I just dont understand where they are going with this.. should a guest have to persevere just to make a booking , the only verification that is important is the Passport/Gov ID relates to the credit card used to book, obvious ones are we need email and phone number to communicate, so they are essential too.
What I dont need to know is if they have a fake FB account or a fake L1nked1n account.
Reply Like Delete
Malisa Kyle
Malisa Kylea year ago
Hmmmm.. I have just found out that Airbnb don't actually do the verification, they out source to a company called Netverify..
Could explain a lot!
Reply Like 2 replies•1 like Delete
Malisa Kyle
Malisa Kylea year ago
Ooopss.NO, they use software called Netverify
Interesting though to read the process of the software.. face recognition from profile to offline ID. Could explain why it seems random who gets verified or not.Mig
Miga year ago
My profile pic looks nothing like my passport or driving licence pic. My FB & LinkedIn pics look nothing alike. Driving licence pic is 6 years old!
Julie and Eric
Julie and Erica year ago
Here's some more information on verified ID: bit.ly/airbnb_verified_id
Reply Like 2 replies•1 like Delete
Malisa Kyle
Malisa Kylea year ago
OMG.. J,E,P.. shame on me.. I have actually hosted New, I know him www.airbnb.com/users/show/19874933
Julie and Eric
Julie and Erica year ago
There appear to be a lot of "News."
Ernie
Ernie a year ago
I have no faith in Airbnb's verification process. I once had a guest show up who had, as it turned out, made a third party booking for two other non English-speaking people. He had created a profile (that very day) that was created using his photo and given name but the passport, telephone and email of one of the two guests for whom he had made the booking. I turned them away at the door and called Airbnb. Despite the fact that I have a strict cancellation policy, Airbnb decided to refund the booking fees so that these new guests could better learn how to properly use Airbnb. I lost out on a booking and lost the opportunity to rent the room to anyone else because the room had been booked and was not cancelled until late in the evening. Another case of Airbnb failing to properly educate community members before they are let loose in the system and I paid for their education. All three of those people, in my opinion, should have been removed from the system for violating Airbnb's own terms and conditions. If you cannot take the time to educate yourself as to how to use the system within the guidelines to which we are all subject, then you should lose the price of admission and be turned away at the door. If you can't follow the rules for becoming a member and for booking a listing, what makes us believe you can follow a host's house rules?
Reply Like 1 like Delete
Jeannette
Jeannettea year ago
If AirBNB wants to reimburse complete numbskulls, it should do so on its dime.
Reply Like 1 reply Delete
Ernie
Ernie a year ago
I agree entirely.
Bridget and Mark
Bridget and Marka year ago
I feel like a big part of this is the hassle that they give people who do have offical ID, verified phone and email but do not have social network accounts with the companies that start with the word "Link...." or "Face...". It may beem inconceivable to the people in a San Francisco based tech company that there are still zillions of lovely people in the world who don't have those accounts. I have heard from potential guests that if you don't have one of those accounts airbnb really pushes for a video and that is its own difficulty. There is a bit of a tech cultural bias towards those two social networks. I am someone who wants verification, absolutely, but the world got along very nicely accepting passports for quite a while. If they aren't on Face or Link, a passport should be fine!
Bridget
Reply Like Delete
Heather
Heathera year ago
Ugh, I noticed 2 "cancellations" on My Reservations page, apparently from guests who tried to Instant Book but never made it through verification (at least that's what CX thought). Total bummer, 6 nights that I missed out on. I had never even gotten a message from them, so couldn't follow up or see if there was any way for me to help them. I asked CX if someone was going to follow up with them, and they said Yes, but really if a guest has already been made to jump through hoops and then STILL not been allowed to book I doubt an email from Airbnb is going to help anything. From what little info I could see from the profiles both were guests I would have approved. I briefly pondered removing the requirement for verification, but decided I'd keep it on. Sounds like, even if I removed it, Airbnb would still randomly require it? Does anyone who uses Instant Book NOT require verification??
Reply Like 1 reply Delete
Malisa Kyle
Malisa Kylea year ago
Heather, I currently have a support ticket open for the very same thing, why was I not notified that a booking/inquiry was made. This is being looked into apparently by Tech, in all fairness the agent, Scott is doing his best to help, but getting nowhere. Like I said earlier, even if you have instant book, accept with no verification, the system can still decline a guest.. CRAZY. Take a look at your dashboard, for the dates you have cancelled bookings, see if they show as reservations/inquiries on your views graph, then check your emails for the dates. Does that make sense? One day February the 23rd, we were showing 8 Inquiries/bookings, yet we only had notification for 3 that day and Airbnb cant explain why!
Malisa Kyle
Malisa Kylea year ago
In all fairness here, after finding out they dont actually check verification, Airbnb use a software, Netverify, Its not actually Airbnb who are failing, its the CRAP software they are using.
I'm really surprised they(Airbnb) are not doing something about this, is clearly not an isolated issue, they and we are losing $$$$$$ in lost revenue and income.
Reply Like Delete
Deborah