How to check guest background on direct bookings

Direct bookings are one of the most powerful ways to increase profitability in the short-term rental (STR) business. By bringing guests to your own website (as our Direct Book add-on), you avoid paying 15–20% OTA commissions to Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking.com, and similar platforms.

However, there's an important trade-off: OTAs provide a layer of guest verification and platform protection that disappears with direct bookings. You become fully responsible for fraud prevention, identity verification, damage risk, and dispute resolution.

Without proper guest screening, direct bookings can shift from being a revenue booster to a major liability. In this guide, you'll learn a practical, step-by-step system to screen guests for direct bookings while keeping the booking experience smooth and professional.

Why Guest Screening Matters More for Direct Bookings

• Airbnb, Vrbo, and Booking.com perform basic identity checks, collect reviews, and maintain a shared database of problematic behavior.
• Direct booking guests have no platform history - you start from zero trust.
• You're the merchant of record, which increases your legal and financial exposure.
• High-risk bookings (fraud, parties, property damage) can cost thousands — or ruin your reputation.

Modern hosts treat guest screening as non-optional infrastructure for a healthy direct-booking channel.

Step-by-Step: How to Build Your Guest Screening Process

1. Set clear house rules and expectations upfront

Before any screening technology, prevention starts with communication.

• Publish detailed house rules on your website (noise policy, maximum occupancy, no parties/events, no smoking/vaping, pet rules).
• Include a short “Who can book?” section: families & couples preferred, no bachelor/bachelorette parties, minimum age 25–30, etc.
• Require guests to acknowledge and accept house rules during the booking flow (checkbox + link to full rules).

This simple step filters out many undesirable bookings before they even reach you.

2. Require meaningful booking inquiry information.

Recommended fields to add:

• Full names of all adults staying
• Purpose of travel (family vacation, business, celebration, etc.)
• Number of adults & children (exact ages if possible)
• How did you find us?
• Phone number (for quick verification calls if needed)
• Any special requests

3. Use automated Identity Verification + Risk Scoring (recommended core layer)

The most effective and scalable solution in 2026 is third-party guest screening software specifically built for vacation rentals.

These tools usually:

• Verify government ID + live selfie (facial recognition + liveness detection)
• Run background checks (criminal, sex offender registries, watchlists)
• Analyze behavioral signals (device fingerprinting, email/phone reputation, booking patterns)
• Deliver a risk score and recommendation in seconds

Guest screening isn't about distrusting every traveler - it's about creating a safe, predictable environment so you can confidently grow your direct booking channel.

Start simple: pick one good screening tool, add a rental agreement, and require a deposit. As your direct channel grows, layer on more protections.

Your property - and your profitability will thank you.