How our criminal background check works
Step 1:
Your guest receives a unique verification link and submits their details
Step 2:
Their information is automatically run through national & federal criminal databases
Step 3:
You see the results in your guest booking report and can host with confidence
Frequently asked questions
You’ll see a line item with the criminal check and a returned status of “Pending,” “Approved,” “In Review,” or “Flagged.”
If it is marked pending, your guest has not yet entered their details and consented to the check. If you need to, you can send them a reminder to complete their information, which allows the check to run.
If it is marked in review, it means our team is following up on the results. This doesn’t necessarily mean that a criminal result was returned; it could be that there was a typo in the name, an error message, or a bug.
If it’s marked as flagged, a result has been returned from our criminal database.
If it’s marked as approved, that means that either
- No crimes were returned OR
- Any crimes returned are more than 7 years old OR
- The guest’s stated home address is not in the US
Yes, we screen for the following categories:
- Criminal Intent
- Drugs & Alcohol
- Fraud & Deception
- Homicide
- Security
- Sexuality
- Statutory
- Theft & Property
- Vehicles & Traffic
- Violence
Unfortunately, we can’t share further information about a guest’s flagged status, as criminal records are protected data. However, we will not return a flagged status without first double-checking the report and confirming that it is appropriate for the circumstances.
The criminal background check is run through 2400+ national and federal criminal databases in the United States. It does not include state and county databases.
The criminal check will only run on guests with a US address. If your guest does not have a US address, the check will not run and you won’t be charged.
The criminal check results will not affect your protection; they are intended to help you learn more about your guest and make informed decisions about who you are hosting.
We are required to obtain consent from the guest before running the check. If your booking report says “Pending,” it is likely that the guest did not consent.
In this scenario, we cannot run the check, but we can let you know that the guest didn’t agree to it and you can decide how to proceed with your booking.
