It’s a standard verification requirement. You may be a solid citizen, but AirBnB is overflowing with criminals who get non-criminals to make reservations for them, many people who have some other reputation for terrible behavior but keep making new profiles so there’s no history. ‘Jennifer’s profile of trees, is actually Trevor. But Trevor knows that most hosts don’t even live on the property or go to the door to check the face of the person. “Self check-in” is great, but This has caused huge crime and scam waves in the hosting world.

So the hosts have to make a simple requirement, a filter: you have to have multiple reviews, showing you’re accountable and a real person. Or you have to show something else demonstrating you’re not trouble in that way.

It’s a good precaution. People think it’s too much until a new male tenant gets added to the house — “well is he safe? how do you know?!?” — it’s not easy to know. ID and a profile is not much, in this world of proving you’re ok to be entering stranger’s houses. Especially hosts who live in the same house with kids etc. One host learned that a sex offender was next door in the AirBnB because his own address got registered in the sex-offenders list once the stranger started living at the AirBnb address.