Email Authentication to Guest Portal
we have found several times at guests have not kept their telephone numbers up-to-date on Airbnb, so when it’s time for them to authenticate to the guest portal and sign a rental agreement, they aren’t able to do so.
There is a significant lag in the time it takes for the authentication method to receive updated telephone information from Airbnb.
Having email as an alternative option for guest authentication seems like a logical and obvious capability that should be enabled
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Comments2
Emily Tunggala
Jun 16, 2025
Hey @Arnaldo ! Thanks for taking the time to share this feedback. 20% is pretty high, do you have a lot of international guests generally? Using the OTP method is a security measure we take to ensure that the guest who booked is also the guest who is signing the rental agreement. When a guest writes in and mentions they have a different number than the one associated with the account they booked with, you should consider that could be a cause for concern in some cases. It could be legitimate of course (the international travel is a good scenario where it might make sense that they couldn’t access the number), but it could also be that someone underage has booked with their parents account. That said, we’re looking into ways to give you a bit more control here if you do decide that you want to allow the guest to sign the rental agreement even if they can’t access the number associated w/ the account they booked with, because ultimately you should be in control!
In the meantime, you are welcome to remove the rental agreement which would at least enable then to receive check-in instructions without requiring they sign it.
https://help.hospitable.com/en/articles/9403915-overview-rental-agreements
Lime Sunbeam
Jun 17, 2025
Hey Emily!
Yep, roughly 80-90 % of my bookings come from international travellers. In practice most of them:
keep an old phone number on the Airbnb/Booking account but switch to a local e-SIM when they land,
travel for weeks with roaming turned off, so no SMS reaches their “home” number, or
share the profile with a partner/friend who made the original booking.
So the OTP often bounces even when everything is perfectly legitimate.
From what I’ve checked, a free-hand electronic signature counts as a valid “simple electronic signature” under the eIDAS rules in most European countries, so letting them draw their name on screen still keeps the agreement enforceable.
Appreciate that you’re exploring a host-controlled fallback — I’d much rather keep the rental agreement in place than drop it altogether.
Thanks for looking into it
Lime Sunbeam
Jun 18, 2025
Hello Emily.
Talking to guests I found that most of them have whatsapp working fine, and could receive the confirmation code by whatsapp, but not SMS due to data connection.
Just in case it helps to solve this issue.