Airbnb’s criminal background checks spark fury, ban users’ bookings

Airbnb uses third party services to conduct background checks on guests and hosts. Photo / George Prentzas, Unsplash

Since 2019 the holiday rental company Airbnb has invested heavily in security measures for guests and hosts. However, with over a billion stays across more than 200 countries as of this year, the travel website has adopted an up-scale approach to security screening that many users may not be aware of.

Depending on where you are, a public criminal record might affect your ability to book a property or result in a “ban” from Airbnb.

Earlier this year Bethany Hallam from Pittsburgh was one such user to receive an automated “criminal records match.”

Hallam published the email to Twitter with what appeared to be pretty extreme terms.

“Did I just… get a lifetime Airbnb booking ban for a 9-year-old possession charge?”

Hallam, a councillor and recovering opioid addict, was alarmed to learn she would no longer be able to use the website as a guest or a host. More alarming still was the fact that she had been using the platform for the past six years without issue.

Airbnb says that it has been using a third party software to screen profiles since 2016.

She was trying to book a holiday in Florida when the automated ban pinged her for a decade-old criminal charge.

“My background has not changed since they claimed the policy went into effect,” Hallam told USA Today. “And I have booked with Airbnb dozens and dozens of times and never had a single problem.”

There have been several other users who have since reported Airbnb bans for minor infringements.

Earlier this year Airbnb user Ashlin Nicole was reportedly banned for a 10-year-old ‘misdemeanour’ for letting a dog off a lead in public. Sharing the experience to Reddit, Nicole said that a similar ban had arrived after trying to use the website.

“My record is literally two misdemeanours from 2013 that I received due to having my dog off a leash and failing to register my dog,” she wrote to Reddit. “I appealed however they refused and said the decision was final.”

In emails shared with Motherboard, Airbnb confirmed that it was the pet-related police records which flagged Nicole’s profile.

How Airbnb automatically screens guests

Airbnb says it runs background checks on users using approved, third party “background check providers”.

The checks run and information shared varies from country to country. Currently it is only applied to transactions in the US and India but most profiles will undergo some sort of automated background check.

In the US this means running the first name, last name, and date of birth of a host or guest against public criminal records and sex offenders registries.

For New Zealanders and non-US residents using the website, Airbnb says it may check the local public criminal records or equivalent for those trying to book rooms.

Airbnb could not share any further details on what resources were consulted for background checks in New Zealand and Australia, but that their partners’ systems “allow us to protect our community and help travellers enjoy safe and positive travel experiences.”

For everyone who uses the website, Airbnb says it screens profiles against the US OFAC list, which details terrorists, traffickers and individuals facing international sanctions.

However that doesn’t explain how someone might cop a lifetime ban for poor pet control.

In the US Airbnb outsources its background screening to Inflection, a software company with offices in California and Ukraine.

Its program SafeDecision runs users’ profiles against country and state criminal records.

Airbnb’s guidelines on Background checks say that account removal depends on the severity of the criminal history.

“Lesser crimes like disorderly conduct or marijuana possession are not removable offences,” says the website but “other crimes” may result in permanent removal.