Conditional Guest Verification Based on Review Count and Sentiment Analysis

Problem Statement

Hosts currently lack the ability to conditionally require guest verification based on objective criteria like review count and review sentiment. This means verification must either be applied to all guests or managed manually on a case-by-case basis, creating unnecessary friction for experienced, well-reviewed guests.

Current Workaround

Hosts manually review each guest's profile and reviews, then make subjective decisions about whether to require verification. This requires checking review count and reading through reviews to assess guest quality.

Impact

• Time-consuming: Manual review of each guest adds operational overhead
• Costly: Requiring verification for all guests incurs unnecessary verification fees for low-risk, well-reviewed guests
• Inconsistent: Subjective decision-making leads to inconsistent application of verification requirements

Proposed Solution

Add the ability to create conditional rules for guest verification that evaluate:

• Review count threshold (e.g., "require verification unless guest has 15+ reviews")
• Review sentiment analysis (e.g., automatically assess the tone and content of existing reviews to identify potential risk factors)
• Booking lead time (e.g., "automatically require verification for bookings made with less than 3 days lead time")

This would allow hosts to set intelligent, automated criteria that exempt trusted guests from verification while still protecting against higher-risk bookings (such as last-minute reservations or guests with limited review history).

Unlock

• Save time: Eliminate manual review and subjective decision-making for each booking
• Reduce costs: Avoid unnecessary verification fees for experienced, well-reviewed guests
• Improve guest experience: Reduce friction for trusted guests while maintaining security for higher-risk bookings
• Consistent screening: Apply objective, automated criteria uniformly across all bookings