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 choose 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: Property Defaults > Guest Verification. This sets the rule for your whole portfolio.
- One property: open the property from Properties, edit it, and scroll to the Guest Verification card. This overrides the default for that property only.
The filter only appears once guest verification is switched on at that level.
Setting it for all properties
In Property Defaults > Guest Verification:
- Turn on Enable Guest Verification (1) and switch on the verification steps you want.
- Turn off the Require for all booking platforms switch (2). A row of platform switches appears, all switched on to start with.
- Switch off every platform you don’t want to verify, leaving on only the ones you do (3).
- Click Save Defaults.
With Require for all booking platforms left on (the default), verification applies to every booking, whichever channel it came from.
Overriding it for one property
On the property’s edit page, the Guest Verification card has a Booking Platform Filter drop-down (1) with three options:
- Use Default: follow your Property Defaults. The label shows what the default currently is, for example Use Default (All). This is what every property starts on.
- All platforms: verify every booking at this property, whatever the default says.
- Selected platforms only: verify only the platforms you leave switched on (2). Bookings from every other channel skip verification completely.
An Override badge under the platforms shows when the property has its own list; Using default shows when it follows your defaults. Click Save Changes when you’re done.
Supported platforms
BetterSTR sorts every booking into one of these channels:
- Airbnb
- Booking.com
- Vrbo (including HomeAway)
- Expedia
- Agoda
- Tripadvisor (including FlipKey)
- Direct — bookings made through your own website or your PMS’s booking engine
- Manual — reservations entered by hand in your PMS
- iCal sync — bookings that arrived over an iCal feed
- Unknown — bookings where the channel couldn’t be identified
To keep the list short, the settings page only shows the channels your PMS or channel manager is known to send. That list is built from the channels BetterSTR has seen arrive from that PMS, plus a built-in list for it, plus any platform you’ve already saved. If a platform you expect is missing, BetterSTR hasn’t seen your PMS send bookings from it yet.
How BetterSTR works out the platform
Every PMS reports the booking channel in its own way (a “source”, “channel” or “origin” field, depending on the system). When a guest opens their guidebook, BetterSTR reads that field for your PMS and maps it to one of the channels above. Names that clearly point to a platform are matched (anything containing “airbnb” is Airbnb, “homeaway” is Vrbo, and so on). A blank channel, or one your PMS just calls “Other”, becomes Unknown.
Don’t forget “Unknown”
If a booking arrives without a channel BetterSTR can identify, it’s treated as Unknown, not as your most common channel. When you’re filtering by platform, those guests are skipped unless Unknown is also switched on. If it matters that nothing slips through unverified, leave it on.
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 (you’ll need Stripe connected for deposits):
- Edit the property and go to the Guest Verification card.
- Set Guest Verification for This Property to Enabled. Leave phone, ID and terms off.
- In Booking Platform Filter, choose Selected platforms only.
- Switch off every platform except Booking.com.
- In the Security Deposits card below, turn on Security Deposit and set your amount and currency.
- Click Save Changes.
From then on, Booking.com guests are asked to save a card for the deposit before the guidebook unlocks, and the hold is placed on that card ahead of check-in. 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, filter by platform and leave only Direct switched on. 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 choose.
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 choose. If you need genuinely different checks per channel, split the behaviour across properties, or set verification on the individual reservations that need something different.
Checking whether a booking was filtered out
Open the reservation from Reservations. When a booking has been skipped because of the filter, the Verification card says so and names the platform it came from, for example Not required for Airbnb (1), with links to the property filter and the default filter. The reservation’s full verification page shows the same message as a banner. If a guest wasn’t asked to verify and you expected them to be, that’s the first place to look.
Verifying a single reservation still works
The platform filter only applies to verification that comes from your property or default settings. To screen one booking that worries you, use the Verification card on the right of the reservation (2): switch on the checks you want and click Save verification settings. That per-reservation setting always runs, even when the booking came from a channel your filter excludes.
Troubleshooting
Everyone is still being asked to verify
Check that at least one platform is switched on. If you’re filtering by platform but every platform is switched off, 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, that at least one verification step is switched on, and that the channel your bookings arrive on is switched on in the filter. Also check the reservation itself — if it shows as Unknown rather than the platform you expected, switch on Unknown or check your PMS is supplying the booking channel.
The property is ignoring my portfolio-wide filter
The property has its own override (you’ll see the Override badge). Edit the property 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. Click your balance at the top of the page, or go to Subscription > Add Funds, to top up.
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