James BalamutaJust had a frustrating experience with @Airbnb that I think other travelers should know about. It's about third-party ID verification requirements that aren't clearly disclosed during booking. Thread: #Airbnb #TravelTips
@Airbnb Booked a place in Dallas. Before confirming, Airbnb required me to verify my identity. I did and got an email saying 'Your identity is now verified.' Great, done. Or so I thought.
@Airbnb After booking, the host directed me to a completely separate website to upload my government ID again. The listing mentioned 'verification required' but I assumed Airbnb's own verification process covered that.
@Airbnb I wasn't comfortable uploading my driver's license to an external portal I'd never heard of. Contacted Airbnb support and spent 4+ hours in chat being passed between agents before reaching someone who could actually help.
@Airbnb To Airbnb's credit, they eventually provided a resolution with a coupon for the amount plus a partial refund. The senior case manager did work to find a solution.
@Airbnb And honestly, digital collection of PII through third-party sites shouldn't be allowed at all. Hotels verify ID in person with paper copies that get discarded. That's reasonable. Uploading sensitive documents to random websites with unknown data retention policies is not.
@Airbnb I've used Airbnb maybe a handful of times over the years. After this experience, I don't see that number going up. #AirbnbTips
Iakov Davydov@coatless @Airbnb i think that's a good idea, but not realistic at all. A lot of countries, e.g. in Europa, require specific forms of verification by law. And there are things like tourist tax, city tickets and so on which just won't work without ID verification (and it's not the host's fault typically)