Airbnb will soon mandate that guests provide verification from a valid government-issued ID or a legal address at the time of booking. Airbnb's Tara Bunch said the requirement is designed to boost safety, and was made at hosts' requests. "It's not so much that people that were booking listings were representing themselves as not being who they are," she explained. "When you take away the anonymity of not being identified verified, I think it opens up the perception that people could behave badly and not be held accountable, and by definition, tends to cause people to behave a little bit better because they know they will be held accountable for bad actions." Airbnb will use technology to confirm and verify the identity of guests, and will also hold manual reviews on occasion, in order to eliminate fraudulent activity on its platform. Bunch said Airbnb's ID verification initiatives align with fostering trust with users and drawing guests and hosts to the platform.
ShortTermRentalz (02/09/23) Isha Borkar