When you are just getting started with direct booking, it can be scary opening up your house to just anyone on the internet. One of Hospitable's goals with Direct Premium is to help make hosts feel comfortable with things like guest verification, damage protection, and chargeback protection.
Most short-term rentals don't have a face-to-face check-in desk, which hotels use to verify guests' identity and their credit card. Instead, we use an online process to help protect you from fraud and damages, and to keep your community safe.
Guest verification
For every Direct Premium reservation, the primary guest is required to successfully verify their identity after submitting their booking request.
Although we notify you as soon as the booking request is completed, you will not be able to accept a reservation until the guest verification is complete. We will notify you again when the guest is verified and you can accept the booking. If you do not intend to accept the booking, you can always reject the booking anytime, which may save your guest the hassle of completing guest verification, if they haven't already.
What the guest sees
On the Review & Confirm screen of the Premium booking flow, one of the terms and conditions we highlight for the guest is that they are required to provide a valid ID.
When they confirm their booking request, we generate a link on the next screen to Hospitable guest portal and notify the guest that their request is not complete until they verify. We also email the link to the guest at the same time and again several hours later if they have not completed the verification at that time.
When the guest opens the link, they'll select their country and then select the type of identification they want to use for the verification. Support ID types include:
Drivers license
Government-issued ID card
Passport
Military or veteran ID card (US only)
The guest will then take or upload a photo of their ID. If they are not currently using their phone, they will have an option for "remote camera", which allows them to switch to their phone camera.
They will need to upload or photograph the front side and, depending on the ID type, the back side too.
They will then take a selfie.
They finally select their trip purpose (business, pleasure, or other) and what activities they are planning to do (sightseeing, party, concert, work, etc.) before confirming their submission.
Note: The verification session will expire after one hour. If the guest starts but does not complete their session in the hour, they will receive an error stating that their session has expired. At this point the guest just needs to return to the guest portal and restart the verification task.
Guest screening
In addition to the general screening of guest data, here are specific tests that are run on Direct Premium reservations:
ID verification
Guest are required to upload the front and, depending on the ID type, the back of their ID, where the ID will be machine read and analyzed for authenticity. The ID photo is compared to the guest selfie using photo recognition. The ID check also includes passive liveness detection, which verifies that a genuine person is completing the verification, preventing fraudulent activities and impersonation.Fraud detection
Examines the guest's location, browser configuration, internet connection type, payment data, and more to surface fraud signals. Usually multiple signals would be required to have confidence a booking is fraudulent.Sex offender search (USA only)
Some communities have started to require a sex offender search on all short-term rental reservations. Hospitable searches public sex offender databases for matches of the primary guest name, date of birth and location.
Automatic verification or manual review
After the guest completes the portal, the reservation will be given a risk score (low, medium, high, or critical).
If the guest fails the ID verification check or if critical risks are identified, the reservation will be sent to the Direct support team for manual review. Some guests who pass the ID verification check but have identified risks will be sent to you for review as a host. Guests who pass the ID verification check with little to no identified risks will be automatically approved.
As soon as the verification is approved or is ready for your review, Hospitable will notify you that you can take action. If you have enabled Instant Book and the verification has already been approved, the reservation will be automatically accepted at that point.
Troubleshooting
Guest verification does add a bit of friction to the direct booking experience, but we believe it is necessary. Verification is critical to
help us protect you against fraud,
help defend you from chargebacks,
make damage protection possible and affordable, and
fulfill your duty of care to your neighbors.
Occasionally guests may have trouble successfully uploading their ID or selfie. There are several tips within the verification process, but you can remind your guests:
To place their ID on a plain surface with good lighting. If they tried this and are having trouble getting the camera to read their ID, they can upload a photo of their ID instead.
To upload a supported ID type only. Student IDs, temporary residence cards, etc. will not be accepted.
If their session expires (1 hour after opening), they will need to refresh the screen or click the link from their verification reminder email again to restart the process.