exact location revealing?

[Sergiu0]

Hello!

A potential guest asks me to reveal the exact address of the apartment i offer for hosting... can i do that?

Thanks!

[Mary297]

Honestly, I've discovered that some people just don't know how to use the site. If they just look closely at the itinerary, the exact address is probably on there. Unless you've set up your account on Airbnb to NOT reveal the exact address after booking, it should be printed on their itinerary. Tell them to check it, and if they continue to say the exact address is not on there, check your settings. 

[Shaun49]

I am currently trying to find where in the Settings I can check what message goes out to people when they book my place. I don't remember writing one, and I would like to give directions in it, not just the exact address. Any help?

[Elaine33]

Yes she should be able to see everything 

Location .address. contact details and email

[Rahul7]

I am writing from a guest's perspective.

With the exact address, I can use Google Street View to see the area. I am interested in 100m radius mainly so if there are any daily stores around.

I asked today for address first time. I understand hosts may not be comfortable so I requested them if they do not wish to reveal exact address, they can share the name of a public place/landmark or a restaurant very close (I expect less than 50m).

As mentioned in this thread - https://community.airbnb.com/t5/Hosts/exact-location-revealing/m-p/210507/highlight/true#M51669

If AirBnB reduces radius by to 100meter, it would be more practical.

Just imagine after 15-20 hours flight, with family, kids on shoulder and luggage, you get a surprise to walk 500meter more than you expected!

Of course, one might say that why not take a taxi from Airport after such a long light! But isn't affordable one of the reason many people choose AirBnB for?

I really respect hosts privacy but at the same time the 600m radius is too much of an area for human feets. So this is something AirBnB should fix.

Regards.

[Sophia42]

Totally agree with Rahul's response to this discussion.

I'm a host in Pittsburgh who has been hosting for 2 years now and also travel as an airbnb guest. I always give any guest who wants to know the address the cross streets nearest to me and tell them i'm on that block. It helps the guest a lot to zoon in and figure out transportation cost, uber estimates, bus routes, parking situation, groceries. Locate proximity to their friends, family, the event venue, or purpose of their visit. It's totally reasonable for someone to know where they are going to stay. Put yourself in guest's shoes. 

[Kirk6]

I agree with you; I am considering booking for the first time and am uncomfortable without knowing exactly where I will be staying.  I have never been to the city, or even country, where I will be visiting and would like to use google maps to see  the neighborhood where it is located.

[Elaine33]

Book a hotel if you want to know everything? ?? Hosts can only help as much as they can or want before payment 

[Lilian20]

Don't do it. They don't need to know unless they have booked. 

[Mary297]

I have a home in Tucson, AZ, USA that I rent out in the winter because I live overseas nine months out of the year. I have been a guest on airbnb for several years and have booked properties in many different countries, and I never once needed to know the exact address. The green circle is enough for me to get a feel for the area and distance from landmarks. 

As a host, I have now been asked twice to reveal the exact location of my home and I did not. I politely stated the reason and educated the person inquiring, at least one of whom was clearly new to airbnb, about the problems with revealing an exact address. I did not know, until today when I read this thread, that people actually reveal the exact address before a guest books. All over the world, not just in the US! I am disturbed by this. 

As a female who often travels alone, I don't like the idea of some random person seeing the inside of a home and then being able to find it easily because they know the exact address - and it didn't cost them anything to get it! When a person books a property, they run the risk of not getting their money back if they cancel, so at least that shows they are a legitimate guest. It's disturbing to me that hosts are giving out their exact address when I am often staying alone in these properties, in a foreign country. It's not enough to make me stop using airbnb as a guest or host, but it is enough to make me ask a host if they give out their exact address to strangers before I book their property. 

I had a friend renting my home for four months. I don't think she would appreciate me giving out the exact address of my home to complete strangers, especially when one of them wanted to give it to his son who lived locally so he could see how long it took to get to his house from mine! The are of the green circle on the map is certainly good enough to measure distance. Airbnb does this for our safety and THE SAFETY OF OUR GUESTS! 

If people are too lazy to walk a few meters or drive 3 extra minutes, then they should stay in hotels. The green circle is not so big that the safety of that particular area cannot be judged. 

[Howard21]

If you are renting out your house it makes sense for security reasons, but it makes completely no sense if you're renting out your apt unit in a building with many multiple units.. really no way to be scammed or "robbed".  I've asked some hosts for the apt building # and some wouldn't even reveal that.  .. most only post pics of the inside of the unit - truly an unpleasant surprise if you have paid for a nice unit only to find it's a super old run-down dump on the outside in a questionable area.  In some larger cities, esp. in the downtown areas, the difference between a "safe" area and an "unsafe" area could be one or two blocks.

[Ashley96]

Actually, as a guest, I've noticed with the current two trips I've booked (as in, they're completely confirmed and I've paid), AirBNB DOES NOT show the exact address on my itinerary. 

For example, Trip 1 is in Tokyo, where the address is narrowed down to X丁目 (Chome = district). It does not state anything more speficic than that. 

Trip 2 is in Taipei, and, similary, the address is narrowed down to X弄 (Alley), and does not specify the building, floor, or unit number that would be necessary for a typical full address. 

My Tokyo host already gave me a heads up that he's emailing me the details a week prior to my arrival, and I'm coordinating with my Taipei hosts to do the same. 

So, I think some hosts may choose to discolse the full address before/after booking, but booking does not guarantee automatically getting an exact address through AirBNB. 

[Ashley96]

On this subject, as a guest, should I be concerned if my host doesn't provide the exact address AFTER I've booked? 

I've heard of a couple situations where guests booked, but didn't get a response from their hosts about check-in and directions and had to jump through some hoops to get a last minute booking with another host.  

[Christopher138]

For me, a few streets makes a lot of difference when choosing a location. Whether some people's opinion is to protect the exact address or like me wanting the location for a specific reason (e.g. closest to the metro station), the real problem I see with Airbnb searching is the way they present the data to the customer. I booked a placed assuming that pin on the map was the location. I come to find out its 4 blocks away. My whole motive to book it was that I wanted to be within a block of the metro station. That was the most important factor to me picking a place. Simply put, why do you need a pin that lights up to the apartment, why doesn't Airbnb just show a circle of the area. Why not put a circle. I'm sure my suggestion isn't ideal either as that can be wrong. But I have no disclaimer telling me that the location can be so far away. Really need a stronger way to inform the customer of this. Even searching about this issue only brought up forum post like this. Horrible in my opinion.

[Peggy-And-Mike0]

There are some good points made by the guests but the reality is that you can ask questions, such as how far are you from the metro station EXACTLY without the host revealing their address if it is a single family home.  The way to do that is by sending an inquiry so you can get a good handle on it before booking.   Guests need to know hosts aren't hotels, there is no "security" on staff.  Maybe those folks who insist on getting all those details before they book would be better off in a hotel. 

[Jeffrey57]

Many of the responses have not asked for "exact" locations but a little more information than is currently given -  say within a 200 meter range .  You should also realise that Airbnb is global and citizens concern with security varies dramatically across nations with the USA being the most fearful.  Maybe if you are that concerned maybe you would be better off not being hosts.