More options for custom fields

Hi,

I've moved this post over to our Feature Requests forum so that other users can upvote this if they too would like to see this feature implemented in OR!

This is exactly what I was running into. Guest identities have already been verified on Airbnb and VRBO. This is an extra, unnecessary step for these guests. You could make it an optional field and make mention on the direct booking site that ID verification is a requirement for the booking or put a link in a message directly after booking for the photo ID verification. Just thinking of options within the current framework until it is changed.

This is exactly what I was running into. Guest identities have already been verified on Airbnb and VRBO. This is an extra, unnecessary step for these guests. You could make it an optional field and make mention on the direct booking site that ID verification is a requirement for the booking or put a link in a message directly after booking for the photo ID verification. Just thinking of options within the current framework until it is changed.

I'm curious. Perhaps guest identities have been verified on AirBnb, I have no idea about that, but why do you think they have been on VRBO? I've never seen or heard anything of the sort. As I understood it, all one needed to book on VRBO was an email address and a credit card. Verification of owners is a different matter. What evidence is there of what Air or VRBO requires of guests?

Hi Robert. You are right about VRBO. I assumed VRBO requires this, but, after a short amount of research, it does not. Airbnb typically verifies with photo ID, but not always (https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/1237#requested-info). I and all others that I know on Airbnb have had to verify their identity when signing up with Airbnb with their driver's license scan. Good clarification. Thanks!

Something else to consider - Airbnb does not actually verify the identity of guests.

It is all-too-easy for a relative or friend or acquaintance of an Airbnb guest to use that person's account or for the account holder to book for that person as if that person were them.

If you read what Airbnb says about their verification process, they say only that they "may" ask for government-issued photo IDs.

Before I started requiring photo IDs, I've had people who weren't who they said they were booking my units.