Airbnb Identity Verification 101

Airbnb identity verification

By The Hospitable.com Team

Read on to find out why and how you should complete the identity verification and what measures Airbnb has in place to protect your data.

You may also want to learn how Airbnb protects hosts when something happens at their rental property. Check out the article about Airbnb insurance for hosts.

What Is Airbnb ID Verification?

Airbnb ID verification is the process of validating a user profile confirming their identity with an official identification document. Identity verification allows the platform to check that everyone is who they say they are.

Airbnb will ask you to provide a government-issued ID or confirm your legal name and add your address. They do it to establish trust and ensure safety for all users of the platform.

The verification process was introduced to add a layer of security. By verifying their identity via the platform itself, Airbnb hosts and guests know exactly who they are renting to/from.

Airbnb ID Verification: What Are the Benefits?

Airbnb ID verification has benefits for both hosts and guests. Airbnb verifies hosts’ IDs so guests can be sure that a listing they want to book isn’t a scam, and there is a real person behind it.

For hosts and Airbnb, ID verification helps prevent fraud. Airbnb collects and processes all payments from guests, and ID verification helps ensure that all payments made via the platform are valid transactions.

By verifying your host profile, you eliminate the worries of potential guests. It helps build trust because prospective guests know you are a real person, and they have someone to address if any problems arise with their reservation.

That will add more credibility to your account and help increase the occupancy rate and your income. It’s also essential to continuously improve the guest experience to make your guests happy, avoid complaints from guests, and get only 5-star reviews. Then you’ll be able to maintain a constant influx of bookings.

The key to a perfect guest experience is ensuring good communication with your guests and keeping all aspects of the hosting process under control. Hosting routine involves a lot of work, but tools like Hospitable.com can help you handle your workload.

Have meaningful conversations with guests even when you sleep.

Questions—detected and answered; reviews—submitted; messages—personalized and scheduled.

Airbnb Identity Verification: How Does It Work?

You should remember that Airbnb identity verification is not only linked to the signup process. Users might be required to confirm their identity for some other reasons, including:

  • Some hosts may require guests who want to book a property or experience to provide a valid government ID.
  • Airbnb may also ask for additional verification when logging into the platform to confirm that it is really you.
  • Airbnb may ask users to confirm that they are at least 18 years old by providing their legal ID.

When users are asked to confirm their identity, they’ll need to add either their legal name and address or submit a photo of their government ID. This could be a driver’s license, passport, identity card, or visa.

Sometimes, Airbnb may ask you to take a new photo of yourself. It is different from your profile photo, which you may also be asked to provide.

In some cases, guests may not need to add a government ID. Airbnb will confirm their identity when they add their legal name and address (this should match where users get banking documents or utility bills). Airbnb will match this information with secure third-party databases.

How Long Does Airbnb Take to Verify ID?

Airbnb ID verification may take up to 24 hours. But usually, an Airbnb account can be approved within a few hours. You can also check your verification status in the verification tab of your Profile. And if you have any issues with your Airbnb ID verification, you should contact Airbnb customer service.

How Airbnb Keeps Your ID Secure

Sharing personal information may seem risky because identity theft is a very real issue, but the safety and security of its community are Airbnb’s top priorities. So they take the necessary measure to protect user data. You may check out their Privacy Policy to learn how they use your information and protect your human right to privacy.

Airbnb doesn’t disclose any data to its users. So when a host uploads their ID, their guests will never get a chance to see it. The same also applies to guest IDs—hosts won’t see the full ID of their guests (even if they ask Airbnb to provide it).

When you provide identification information to Airbnb, the platform uses secure encryption—it’s the same process that websites use to transmit credit card numbers. Airbnb immediately stores your information in an encrypted form, secured by third-party databases, so you should only have to confirm your identity once.

Airbnb only allows authorized employees to access your original documentation for troubleshooting or internal purposes. Also, where permitted by applicable law, Airbnb may provide certain identification information to banks and other financial institutions (which helps them enforce the various tax, anti-money laundering, and sanctions laws) and law enforcement agencies.

Airbnb does a great job of protecting your data and helps hosts screen their potential guests, so you can feel more comfortable renting out your property to strangers. That means you’ll feel more confident and will be able to focus on growing your vacation rental business. And using rental software like Hospitable.com can help make your business even more efficient.

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Final Word

Airbnb identity verification is a critical step for joining the platform. It protects hosts and guests from fraud and other industry-related risks. Airbnb’s way of fighting back against security threats helps establish trust between hosts and guests and serves as an assurance that interacting with them will be safe.

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