Airbnb tackles verification issues after shooting
CEO says company will do 'everything possible' to ensure safety of renters
Airbnb said Wednesday the home-sharing company will implement a sweeping verification of all 7 million of its listings.
The move comes following the Halloween night shooting at a rental house in Orinda that left five people dead and a news report that detailed renters who use the platform to swindle customers into overpaying for spaces that don’t match their listings.
Chief Executive Brian Chesky outlined Airbnb’s plan in an email sent to employees, which was made public Wednesday on the company’s website. Airbnb will immediately begin verifying the details of all of its listings, including the accuracy of rental house photos, addresses, and specific details about each unit, as well as quality standards including cleanliness, safety, and basic home amenities.
Chesky said Airbnb has set a goal of verifying all of its listings worldwide by December 15, 2020.
“People need to feel like they can trust our community, and that they can trust Airbnb when something does go wrong,” Chesky wrote, calling the verification plan the most significant effort the company has taken to ensure the trust of its platform users since Airbnb launched in 2008. “We intend to do everything possible to learn from these incidents when they occur.”
Chesky added that beginning Dec. 15 of this year, Airbnb will implement a new “guest guarantee” program. Under that initiative, he said, if guests check into a listing and find it doesn’t meet the company’s accuracy standards, Airbnb will re-book the guest in a new listing of equal or greater value, or give the guest a 100% refund on their reservation.
Also starting Dec. 15, Airbnb said it will expand its manual screening procedures related to so-called “high-risk reservations” as part of its crackdown on eliminating rentals used for party houses. The Orinda mansion where last week’s shooting occurred was rented out to host a party for 12 people, but had more than 100 people in attendance.
“This will help identify suspicious reservations and stop unauthorized parties
before they start,” Chesky said.
Some critics of the company say its efforts don’t go far enough. If Airbnb really wants to be a good neighbor,
it would verify that listings are complying with local regulations, said Jessica Black, who leads a Texas group called Moms Against STRS, which backs regulation of short-term rentals.
“By not voluntarily removing illegal listings, Airbnb continues to outsource the costs of their
business to cash-strapped cities,” Black said.
Airbnb’s new verification policies are also going into effect following a report from Vice which looked at how scam artists have been able to easily use fake identities and other methods to take advantage of home renters using the Airbnb
platform. The FBI is reportedly looking into the claims mentioned in the vice article.
Airbnb is also activating what it calls a “24/7 Neighbor Hotline” that will let callers reach an actual person at Airbnb in order to report on suspicious activity at rental houses. Airbnb
said the hotline will launch by Dec. 31 in the United States, and expand around the world during 2020.
The company said is it working with Ronald Davis, former chief of police in East Palo Alto and executive director of community oriented policing services for President Obama, and
Charles Ramsey, a former chief of police in Washington D.C. and Philadelphia to develop training and protocols for its rapid response hotline team.