Hosts and guests can receive public references from friends, family members, and colleagues to help build their profile. References help people throughout the Airbnb community get to know you, and feel more comfortable booking a reservation with you.

You need an account to request and write references, and a reference will only display on the recipient’s profile if the author of the reference has a profile photo of their own.

To request a reference:

    Click your name in the top-right corner of site.
    Select Edit Profile
    Select References on the left-hand side and use the Request References section to send emails to the people you want to get a reference from

In the References About You section, you’ll see references that you’ve received. You have to approve each reference before it will appear on your profile.

In the References By You section, you’ll see reference requests you’ve received. The only way you can write a reference for someone else in the community is in response to a reference request—you can’t proactively leave a reference for someone.

References are different from reviews, which hosts and guests write after a completed trip.