Airbnb’s New Address-Sharing Rule Starts March 9, 2026 🗓️

What Is the New Policy? 🔍

Airbnb has confirmed a policy update that changes when guests see key details about your place. From March 9, 2026, as soon as a reservation is confirmed, guests will be able to view your full listing address, your contact number, and your arrival guide details—including check‑in instructions, Wi‑Fi info, and house manual—right inside their confirmation email and Trips tab, even if the stay is still within a free‑cancellation window.

Previously, some hosts used a setting that delayed sharing the exact address and certain details until after the free‑cancellation period ended. That option is now being removed, meaning any confirmed guest—whether they keep or cancel the booking—will have access to this information immediately.

What Exactly Will Guests See? 🔍

Airbnb’s help article explains that once a booking is confirmed, guests can access:

• Your contact number (which may still be a masked or temporary number under Airbnb’s phone‑number policies).

• Your full listing address, including apartment or unit details.

• Arrival guide details, such as check‑in/out instructions, Wi‑Fi details, and house rules or house manual entries.

They see this information:

• Immediately after confirmation, even if a free‑cancellation period still applies.

• In both their confirmation email and the Trips section of their Airbnb account.

For hosts, the key change is control: you can no longer choose to delay sharing your exact address and arrival information until after the free‑cancellation window.

Why Hosts Are Worried (And What’s Actually Proven) ⚠️

Hosts in community groups and forums are raising security and privacy concerns. A common fear is that someone could:

1. Book a stay to unlock the full address and arrival details.

2. Cancel during the free‑cancellation period.

3. Keep that information for potential misuse later.

Depending on your location, this is a plausible risk scenario, and it’s fair to say that more sensitive information is being shared earlier and more consistently, while hosts have less control over timing. However, there is currently no published data showing a measurable increase in burglaries or other crime directly linked to providing sensitive information earlier; that part remains concern and interpretation, not a documented outcome.

It’s also reasonable to view this shift as bringing Airbnb closer to hotel‑like norms, where guests typically receive the full address at booking, but that’s an analytical framing rather than an officially stated goal from Airbnb.

Smart Steps Hosts Can Take Today 🔐

Even with these constraints, you still have meaningful ways to protect your property and guests:

• Keep permanent access details out of static content
  Avoid listing lockbox codes, permanent smart‑lock codes, or detailed parking and door instructions in your public listing, static PDFs, or any document that doesn’t change per stay.

• Use stay‑specific, time‑limited access codes
  Set up smart locks or keypad codes that are unique to each reservation and expire at checkout, so any guest who cancels no longer has valid entry even if they know your address.

• Tighten rules on early arrivals and visits
  Make it clear in your house rules that no visits, drive‑bys, or early access are allowed before check‑in time without written approval. This helps you enforce boundaries if guests show up early now that they get your address immediately.

• Watch booking patterns, not just one‑offs
  Pay extra attention to short, low‑value, or local bookings that cancel soon after confirmation, and adjust your acceptance criteria or requirements when something feels off.

How SmoothStay Can Help You Stay in Control ✅

Airbnb now controls when guests see your address and basic arrival details—but you can still control how and when the most sensitive information is shared.

With SmoothStay, you can:

• Send reservation‑specific guidebook links that centralize your instructions outside platform messaging, letting you decide exactly what lives there and when it appears.

• Time‑gate critical access info like door codes, building‑access instructions, or alarm details so guests only see them shortly before check‑in and lose access after checkout.

• Keep non‑sensitive content—welcome notes, local recommendations, FAQs—visible all the time, while protecting anything that could compromise security if shared too early or too widely.

To get started, check out an overview of privacy and security and how to restrict articles in SmoothStay.

For hosts, the takeaway is simple: you can’t stop Airbnb from sharing your address earlier, but you can redesign your operations so that knowing the address alone is not enough to access the property.