Airbnb Guest Verification

Check them twice. Airbnb Verification Tips

As an Airbnb host, you accept guests into your home based on their past reviews and previous experiences. Your welcoming mentality is the cornerstone of the sharing economy. But what if you aren’t entirely comfortable with letting a stranger into your home. Don’t worry! There’s nothing wrong with that. They are, after all, strangers. You want to have a profitable business that’s also safe and respectful of your personal property. Luckily, Airbnb has set up some parameters such as user profiles, guest reviews and verified accounts to assist you in making sure the guests that are renting your house for the weekend are just friendly travelers from the East Coast.

There are a few ways to better understand your potential guests and make sure they’re who they say they are. With these methods in place, and a little diligence and common sense, you’re sure to have only the best guests cross your doorstep.

There are a few ways to better understand your potential guests and make sure they’re who they say they are. With these methods in place, and a little diligence and common sense, you’re sure to have only the best guests cross your doorstep.

 

A Little Extra Insurance; A Verified Airbnb Account

A verified ID on Airbnb is a great way to show potential guests that you’re a trustworthy host. This system verifies your identity by matching a photo of you to a government-issued photo ID like a driver’s license. It lets your guests know that you’re exactly who you say you are. It also helps to make it easier to find a potential guest with the same verification parameters. A lot of things on Airbnb comes back to “you scratch my back, and I’ll scratch yours” mentality. If your Airbnb profile is verified, more verified guests will be willing to stay with you.

 

A Step By Step Guide: How To Get Verified

Now you know about the importance of getting verified and the impact it will have on not only your Airbnb booking percentage but also on your credibility and reputation statement. Let’s have a detailed look at how you can actually get verified, step by step.

  1. Log In To Your Airbnb account.
  2. Click on the Profile tab
  3. Click Trust and Verification
  4. Under the ‘add more verifications’ section, choose a verification method.

Not only can you verify yourself with your government-issued photo ID, but you can also verify yourself by adding additional social links, such as your Facebook profile or LinkedIn account. We strongly recommend you do this, as Airbnb’s ranking algorithm tends to favor hosts who are ‘more trustworthy’, (have more credible sources linked to their accounts).

Don’t stress if you don’t want to use your personal Facebook account, you can easily set up another profile on both Facebook and LinkedIn, with the sole purpose being connecting them to your Airbnb account. Make sure you include pictures and bio’s of your available properties on these social accounts as well. (This helps to build trust if a guest decided to google you).

Questions to ask Airbnb Guests:

If you get a booking request and want to find out more about a potential guest, you can ask them a few questions to learn more about them. Ask things that will give you a sense of their general demeanor, but don’t get too personal.

  • Where are you from?
  • What the nature of your trip? Business? Pleasure?
  • What did you like about this property?

(Don’t forget to use Hosty’s ‘Save’ feature in order to reduce the time spent replying to customers, by saving your most frequently asked questions)

Be wary of anyone who won’t respond, doesn’t want to answer your questions, or wants to take their business outside of Airbnb. These are all red flags and should make you think twice about welcoming this particular type of guest. Also, check to see if Airbnb user profiles are filled out. A person willing to divulge extra information online is usually someone that can be trusted.

Sometimes, an Airbnb guest won’t have any reviews. No reviews on a new profile isn’t a problem because everyone has to start somewhere. Just check that their profile is complete, they have adequate contact information and a profile picture. Extra bonus if they have references.

Hosty Makes it Easy

Vetting guests may feel like a tedious process if you’re a property manager with multiple Airbnb accounts. Thankfully, Hosty’s Airbnb Property Management Software has you covered. We provide access to guest profiles, reviews, and messages for all of your accounts from one convenient place! This makes it simple to learn more about your guests and ensure that each one is the right fit for you.

Generally, just go with your gut feeling. If you don’t have the best feeling about someone, you just may be right. It’s better to take the extra time to ask some questions or require that your Airbnb guests go through the verification process than having to deal with a problem down the road.

 

Bonus Tips

We all know about the importance of getting a great review and the impact it can have on your future sales within Airbnb, so why not quickly learn the best ‘3’ tips you can use to get an absolutely outstanding review.

  1. Add a ‘gift’ that incentivises guests to leave a great review (you can add this into your pricing, so it’s at no loss).
    For example, you can leave a nice bottle of wine, or even fresh extras such as new miniature shampoos and soaps. Make sure you leave a little note beside your gift saying ‘we hope you enjoy your gift, as much as we enjoy receiving fantastic reviews (wink wink)’. Something as simple as this ‘personalize the experience for your guest and can be extremely helpful with ‘bumping’ up your 5-star reviews.
  1. You would think this one would be an industry standard… honestly, but it’s often so overlooked and completely disregarded, that it will surprise you. Use a Sweet Air Freshener! The first experience guests have when they open the doors to your palace is both a combination of their two main predominant senses… sight and smell. The impact a great smell can have on your reviews is honestly outstanding! Throughout researching various case studies about listing reviews, it becomes obvious that the most preferred fragrances seem to be of the sweeter varieties, such as ‘grape’ and ‘cherry’.
  2. Lastly, this is by far the most simple of all the tips but is by far the most underrated and underappreciated. Send your guests a simple ‘check-up’ message, after their first night’s stay. Send a message asking not only if ‘everything was great’, but also check to see what recommendations or improvements they can offer about your humble abode. Not only do you get valuable insight from your guests, which you can use to later improve your property and home atmosphere, but your targeting one of their key cognitive biases…. Social value.
    By making someone’s opinion seem ‘valuable’, you have enforced one of the strongest human emotions possible, making this a sure-fire way to get you a hefty 5-star review.