The Booking Platform Filter lets you require guest verification from some booking channels but not others. Instead of every guest being asked to verify, only bookings from the platforms you tick are checked — everyone else goes straight into the guidebook without seeing a verification step.
This is the setting that lets you screen where it matters without adding friction for guests who don’t need it. The classic example: take a security deposit from Booking.com guests only, and leave your Airbnb and Vrbo guests alone.
Where to find it
The filter sits inside your guest verification settings, at two levels:
- All properties: Properties > Property Defaults > Guest Verification — sets the rule for your whole portfolio.
- One property: Properties > Edit Property > Guest Verification — overrides the default for that property only.
Look for the Booking Platform Filter panel. At property level it has an extra Use Default option, which is what it’s set to until you deliberately override it.
The two modes
- All platforms — verification applies to every booking, whichever channel it came from. This is the default.
- Selected platforms only — verification applies only to the channels you tick. Bookings from every other channel skip verification completely.
Supported platforms
You can filter on any of these:
- Airbnb
- Booking.com
- Vrbo
- Expedia
- Agoda
- Tripadvisor
- Direct — bookings made through your own website
- Manual — reservations you entered by hand
- iCal sync — bookings that arrived over an iCal feed
- Unknown — bookings where the channel couldn’t be identified
To keep the list short, BetterSTR only shows the channels your connected PMS or channel manager actually supplies, plus any you’ve already saved. If a platform you expect is missing, it means no reservation has arrived from it on that connection yet.
Don’t forget “Unknown”
If a booking arrives without a channel BetterSTR can identify, it’s treated as Unknown — not as your default channel. When you’re using Selected platforms only, those guests are skipped unless you tick Unknown too. If it matters that nothing slips through unverified, tick it.
Example 1 — Security deposits from Booking.com guests only
Booking.com guests typically arrive with less verification behind them and no review history you can see. To ask them for a deposit and nobody else:
- Open the property under Properties > Edit Property > Guest Verification.
- Set Guest Verification to Enabled.
- Turn on Security Deposit and set your amount and currency. Leave phone, ID and terms off.
- In Booking Platform Filter, choose Selected platforms only.
- Tick Booking.com and nothing else.
- Save.
From then on, Booking.com guests get a card pre-authorisation before the guidebook unlocks. Airbnb, Vrbo and direct guests open the guidebook straight away and never see a verification screen.
Example 2 — Verify direct bookings only
Direct bookings are the ones with no OTA doing any checks for you. To apply your screening exactly where the platforms have stopped helping, set the filter to Selected platforms only and tick just Direct. Your OTA guests are untouched; guests booking through your own site complete whichever checks you’ve enabled.
How it works with your other verification settings
The filter decides who gets asked, not what they’re asked for. Your enabled checks — phone, ID, terms, deposit — are applied as a set to the channels you tick.
It’s “these checks, for these channels”
One property has one verification setup and one platform filter. You can’t require a deposit from Booking.com and a phone number from Airbnb on the same property in a single rule — the checks you enable apply to all the channels you tick. If you need genuinely different checks per channel, split the behaviour across properties, or enable verification manually on the individual reservations that need something different.
Enabling verification on a single reservation still works
The platform filter only applies to verification that comes from your property or default settings. If you enable verification manually on a specific reservation — the “this booking looks off” switch in the reservation view — that override always runs, even when the booking came from a channel your filter excludes. The manual switch is deliberately not filtered, so you can always screen a booking that worries you.
Checking whether a booking was filtered out
Open the reservation and look at the guest verification section. When a booking has been skipped because of the filter, BetterSTR tells you so and names the platform it came from, rather than simply showing verification as off. If a guest wasn’t asked to verify and you expected them to be, that’s the first place to look.
Troubleshooting
Everyone is still being asked to verify
Check that you actually ticked at least one platform. If the mode is set to Selected platforms only but no platforms are ticked, the filter does nothing and verification applies to every booking — an empty list isn’t treated as “nobody”.
Nobody is being asked to verify
Confirm that Guest Verification is enabled for the property, and that the channel your bookings arrive on is ticked. Also check the reservation itself — if it shows as Unknown rather than the platform you expected, tick Unknown or check your PMS connection is supplying the booking channel.
The property is ignoring my portfolio-wide filter
The property has its own override. Open Properties > Edit Property > Guest Verification and set the Booking Platform Filter back to Use Default.
ID verification isn’t running for anyone
If identity verification is enabled but your account balance won’t cover it, BetterSTR skips verification rather than half-checking the guest. Top up under Account > Billing > Add Funds.
Related Features
- Guest Verification: Verify Guests Before Check-in - The four verification types, how to enable them, and where to see results
- Guest Verification Overview - Features, pricing and use cases
- Airbnb Guest Screening: How Guest Screening Technology Works - What Airbnb actually verifies, where the gaps are, and when to use each check