Post by High Priestess on May 31, 2016 6:15:08 GMT
Rebecca shared on Airbnb Products Updates Feb 2015
www.airbnb.com/groups/content/content-106681
Rebeccaa year ago
How is this possible? Reservation request with zero verification
I received this reservation request today - not just an enquiry but actual reservation request. There was no message attached, no profile information, no photo. That in itself is not unusual BUT there is no verification at all - not even an email address! As you can see, that section is completely blank. It doesn't even indicate where the guest is from.It makes the whole 'trust and safety' thing a complete and utter joke. How can Airbnb take a pre-payment from someone who hasn't even verified an email address!!Can anyone explain? It makes no sense to me at all.
9 comments•1 like
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Paul
Julie and Eric
Julie and Erica year ago
Nutso. I was able to do it on the full site a few months ago with just initials and a credit card number, but I think now it requires at least an email address to be entered (but probably not verified). Maybe they're using an older app version?
Reply Like
Danny
Dannya year ago
Ireceived a similar request, joined this month, noverifiocations. My listing requires verifications and I do NOT have Instant Book turned on. Maybe its something new,,again
Reply Like
Rebecca
Rebeccaa year ago
I find it frustrating and hard to understand. On the one hand there are these ridiculously excessive verification hoops that guests are required to jump through in order to book (lots of cases reported on these groups) and yet this sort of thing can happen. I don't require official ID verification from my guests but I do expect that the platform provides at least something. It's one extreme to the other. I contacted the guest and asked for more info but no reply so I will have to decline before that clock expires while I sleep. It just makes me feel that something is fundamentally wrong with this whole system, frankly.
Reply Like 7 replies•3 likes
Jeremy and Jordan
Jeremy and Jordana year ago
Rebecca, I just had a guest with no info request to book also. I requested more info from them and mentioned that I require verifications at the very least before I will accept a booking. My understanding is the minute you begin communication with the guest, the email requesting more info, the 24 hour 'response clock' stops ticking.
Julie and Eric
Julie and Erica year ago
You would be correct for inquiries; for reservation requests, you must accept or decline within 24 hours.
Jeremy and Jordan
Jeremy and Jordana year ago
That's not how I read Airbnb's explanation, tell me what you think: www.airbnb.com/help/article/430
Julie and Eric
Julie and Erica year ago
I can understand the confusion - take a look here: www.airbnb.com/help/article/29
Jeremy and Jordan
Jeremy and Jordana year ago
Yeah, a bit of ambiguity there, poor job on Airbnb's
Jeremy and Jordan
Jeremy and Jordana year ago
Oops, as I was saying: poor job on Airbnb's side. I'm going to go with your link and make sure to accept or decline within 24 hours to be safe
Julie and Eric
Julie and Erica year ago
Then it should work. You can put it to the test in your dashboard (assuming no bugs prevent this) - if you get an inquiry, you should see the countdown clock disappear after you reply; if you get a reservation request and simply reply, the countdown clock should stay active, and you'll get reminder emails.
Salvia
Salviaa year ago
"One extreme to the other"- SOOO true, Rebecca! (Just now I am dealing with a frustrated newbie who tries to get registered and is upset about FBrequirement... )
Reply Like
Ruth
Rutha year ago
I had an acquaintance from the next suburb try to book me for her relatives coming out to visit. I only know this because she was able to tell me directly. She was not a computer person. She made an email address, they would not accept it. She joined face book but they would not accept it. They would not accept her drivers licence. But the first thing they did was take her money. They asked her for a video. For a non computer person this was a big ask. By the way I rent a separate unit so I do not ask for verification. She gave up. Asked for her money back. What took them an instant to take now seems that it will take 7 days to return to her. This is very bad advertising. I am sure she will never touch airbnb again and tell her friends the story. Surprisingly this morning I had an Inquiry from someone with absolutely no verification and not even an email address. Go figure!
Reply Like 1 like
Patty
Pattya year ago
I have viewed these non-verified requests as fraudulent (hacked). I have denied them stating nicely that I am unable to accept their request until they have completed the verification process. They have all just disappeared.
It didn't occur to me that they may be Real! (almost always their request is barely a sentence long - a solid indicator that a booking is slim!)
Reply Like
Louise
Louisea year ago
I agree this is BAD POLICY to take payment from a guest before all the requirements for a reservation are met. Because of not being tech savvy enough to get verifications completed the guest gets charged money. Especially since each host's requirements may be different. I think it reflects poorly on the company as a whole. I think this policy is not ethical. Guests should not have to loose money for being unaware of how the system works. Airbnb should at least notify new users not to submit a reservation request unless they have met the hosts requirements for a reservation. As a new Airbnb traveler I would find this unacceptable. Even hosts who do not require guests to have verifications have had reservations delayed or on hold pending verification. If for any reason at all a guest is unable to complete the verification they have to pay fees and are receiving nothing for their money. It makes Airbnb look greedy and also negligent for not making this point
very clear to new users.
Reply Like 1 reply
Julie and Eric
Julie and Erica year ago
You should try the other online short term rental services. You're lucky if a traveler gives you their name. Verification-shmerification.
Louise
Louisea year ago
I'm talking only about the situation where a guest eagerly submits a reservation request > Airbnb accepts their payment > host accepts the reservation> guest is required to complete verifications but for some reason it is difficult and they decide it's too difficult and so withdraw the request. They are still on the hook for the fees that they cannot get a refund for. They are out of pocket and have no reservation resulting in a poor impression of Airbnb.
Reply Like 1 reply
Julie and Eric
Julie and Erica year ago
I hear what you're saying, but I think these would be the exceptions; I believe Airbnb would refund the fees to these folks for any Verified ID snafu. Heck, Airbnb isn't even too concerned about Horror Stories in the news to take quick action to resolve them. A few disgruntled guests? Not a biggie (to them).
Louise
Louisea year ago
Hopefully so. I do like to think as you do, that a fair resolution would be in everyone's best interest. Consider though that maybe the best practice would be to refrain from taking payment until the actual terms of the reservation are satisfied. If they were not so quick to demand payment there would be no need to resolve anything.
Reply Like 1 reply
Julie and Eric
Julie and Erica year ago
It's pretty simple – I would never let anyone stay at my house without the payment being made in advance.
www.airbnb.com/groups/content/content-106681
Rebeccaa year ago
How is this possible? Reservation request with zero verification
I received this reservation request today - not just an enquiry but actual reservation request. There was no message attached, no profile information, no photo. That in itself is not unusual BUT there is no verification at all - not even an email address! As you can see, that section is completely blank. It doesn't even indicate where the guest is from.It makes the whole 'trust and safety' thing a complete and utter joke. How can Airbnb take a pre-payment from someone who hasn't even verified an email address!!Can anyone explain? It makes no sense to me at all.
9 comments•1 like
Follow
Like
Paul
Julie and Eric
Julie and Erica year ago
Nutso. I was able to do it on the full site a few months ago with just initials and a credit card number, but I think now it requires at least an email address to be entered (but probably not verified). Maybe they're using an older app version?
Reply Like
Danny
Dannya year ago
Ireceived a similar request, joined this month, noverifiocations. My listing requires verifications and I do NOT have Instant Book turned on. Maybe its something new,,again
Reply Like
Rebecca
Rebeccaa year ago
I find it frustrating and hard to understand. On the one hand there are these ridiculously excessive verification hoops that guests are required to jump through in order to book (lots of cases reported on these groups) and yet this sort of thing can happen. I don't require official ID verification from my guests but I do expect that the platform provides at least something. It's one extreme to the other. I contacted the guest and asked for more info but no reply so I will have to decline before that clock expires while I sleep. It just makes me feel that something is fundamentally wrong with this whole system, frankly.
Reply Like 7 replies•3 likes
Jeremy and Jordan
Jeremy and Jordana year ago
Rebecca, I just had a guest with no info request to book also. I requested more info from them and mentioned that I require verifications at the very least before I will accept a booking. My understanding is the minute you begin communication with the guest, the email requesting more info, the 24 hour 'response clock' stops ticking.
Julie and Eric
Julie and Erica year ago
You would be correct for inquiries; for reservation requests, you must accept or decline within 24 hours.
Jeremy and Jordan
Jeremy and Jordana year ago
That's not how I read Airbnb's explanation, tell me what you think: www.airbnb.com/help/article/430
Julie and Eric
Julie and Erica year ago
I can understand the confusion - take a look here: www.airbnb.com/help/article/29
Jeremy and Jordan
Jeremy and Jordana year ago
Yeah, a bit of ambiguity there, poor job on Airbnb's
Jeremy and Jordan
Jeremy and Jordana year ago
Oops, as I was saying: poor job on Airbnb's side. I'm going to go with your link and make sure to accept or decline within 24 hours to be safe
Julie and Eric
Julie and Erica year ago
Then it should work. You can put it to the test in your dashboard (assuming no bugs prevent this) - if you get an inquiry, you should see the countdown clock disappear after you reply; if you get a reservation request and simply reply, the countdown clock should stay active, and you'll get reminder emails.
Salvia
Salviaa year ago
"One extreme to the other"- SOOO true, Rebecca! (Just now I am dealing with a frustrated newbie who tries to get registered and is upset about FBrequirement... )
Reply Like
Ruth
Rutha year ago
I had an acquaintance from the next suburb try to book me for her relatives coming out to visit. I only know this because she was able to tell me directly. She was not a computer person. She made an email address, they would not accept it. She joined face book but they would not accept it. They would not accept her drivers licence. But the first thing they did was take her money. They asked her for a video. For a non computer person this was a big ask. By the way I rent a separate unit so I do not ask for verification. She gave up. Asked for her money back. What took them an instant to take now seems that it will take 7 days to return to her. This is very bad advertising. I am sure she will never touch airbnb again and tell her friends the story. Surprisingly this morning I had an Inquiry from someone with absolutely no verification and not even an email address. Go figure!
Reply Like 1 like
Patty
Pattya year ago
I have viewed these non-verified requests as fraudulent (hacked). I have denied them stating nicely that I am unable to accept their request until they have completed the verification process. They have all just disappeared.
It didn't occur to me that they may be Real! (almost always their request is barely a sentence long - a solid indicator that a booking is slim!)
Reply Like
Louise
Louisea year ago
I agree this is BAD POLICY to take payment from a guest before all the requirements for a reservation are met. Because of not being tech savvy enough to get verifications completed the guest gets charged money. Especially since each host's requirements may be different. I think it reflects poorly on the company as a whole. I think this policy is not ethical. Guests should not have to loose money for being unaware of how the system works. Airbnb should at least notify new users not to submit a reservation request unless they have met the hosts requirements for a reservation. As a new Airbnb traveler I would find this unacceptable. Even hosts who do not require guests to have verifications have had reservations delayed or on hold pending verification. If for any reason at all a guest is unable to complete the verification they have to pay fees and are receiving nothing for their money. It makes Airbnb look greedy and also negligent for not making this point
very clear to new users.
Reply Like 1 reply
Julie and Eric
Julie and Erica year ago
You should try the other online short term rental services. You're lucky if a traveler gives you their name. Verification-shmerification.
Louise
Louisea year ago
I'm talking only about the situation where a guest eagerly submits a reservation request > Airbnb accepts their payment > host accepts the reservation> guest is required to complete verifications but for some reason it is difficult and they decide it's too difficult and so withdraw the request. They are still on the hook for the fees that they cannot get a refund for. They are out of pocket and have no reservation resulting in a poor impression of Airbnb.
Reply Like 1 reply
Julie and Eric
Julie and Erica year ago
I hear what you're saying, but I think these would be the exceptions; I believe Airbnb would refund the fees to these folks for any Verified ID snafu. Heck, Airbnb isn't even too concerned about Horror Stories in the news to take quick action to resolve them. A few disgruntled guests? Not a biggie (to them).
Louise
Louisea year ago
Hopefully so. I do like to think as you do, that a fair resolution would be in everyone's best interest. Consider though that maybe the best practice would be to refrain from taking payment until the actual terms of the reservation are satisfied. If they were not so quick to demand payment there would be no need to resolve anything.
Reply Like 1 reply
Julie and Eric
Julie and Erica year ago
It's pretty simple – I would never let anyone stay at my house without the payment being made in advance.