How Packhood Verifies Hosts and Renters (Stripe Identity KYC)

Every Packhood host completes Stripe Identity Know-Your-Customer verification before any listing can publish. Every renter completes the same check at the moment of their first booking. The provider is Stripe — Packhood does not run its own KYC stack, does not store the ID documents, and does not see the underlying biometric checks. The platform sees only one bit of information: verified, or not verified.

This page explains what that verification actually checks, what it doesn't, what's shared between parties, and the operational SLAs.

What gets checked (host side)

The Stripe Identity flow on the host onboarding path checks four things:

1. Government-issued photo ID. Stripe accepts a passport, a driving licence, or a national identity card depending on country and document availability. The host photographs the front and back (where applicable) inside the Stripe-hosted flow.
2. Liveness selfie. Stripe captures a short live video selfie and runs face-matching against the photo on the ID. This step blocks the most common identity fraud, which is photo-of-a-photo or ID-with-someone-else's-face.
3. Document authenticity. Stripe's verification stack checks the ID for tampering, expired status, MRZ checksum (passports), and known-stolen-document blocklists.
4. Bank account verification (for payout). The host's Stripe Connect account is verified against the bank account that will receive payouts, typically via micro-deposit or via instant verification where the bank supports it.

Only when all four return verified does the host's first listing become publishable. There is no manual override at the platform level — if Stripe says not-verified, the listing stays in draft.

What gets checked (renter side)

At first booking the renter completes:

1. Government-issued photo ID (same accepted types as host).
2. Liveness selfie with face-matching against the ID.
3. Payment-card verification. The booking-time card is verified via Stripe's standard fraud checks plus 3DS / SCA where the issuer requires it (Strong Customer Authentication is mandatory in the EU/UK for most card transactions).
4. Phone verification. A confirmation code to the phone number on file, sent only after both parties confirm the booking.

Subsequent bookings on the same Packhood account reuse the verified identity; the renter does not re-verify per booking.

What's NOT checked

The honest version, because the brief was to write the honest version.

• No criminal record check. Stripe Identity is identity verification, not background screening. Packhood does not run criminal record checks against hosts or renters in any of its markets.
• No credit check. The renter's ability to pay is verified through Stripe at payment time, not through a credit reference.
• No employer verification. Hosts are not asked to prove employment or income.
• No site survey. Packhood does not inspect host properties before listing publication. The host's photos and description plus renter-side reviews are what the renter sees.

If those gaps are deal-breakers for your use case, you may want a different storage model. Commercial self-storage facilities run their own access checks; specialised secure-storage providers run insurance-grade vetting. Packhood is calibrated for peer-to-peer, which means trusting Stripe-verified identity plus the renter-review feedback loop.

What's shared between host and renter

SLAs

• Stripe Identity automated check: typically completes within 60 seconds.
• Manual review fallback: triggered for edge cases (poor lighting, ID condition issues). Resolution typically within 24 hours, sometimes 48.
• Stripe Connect bank verification: instant where supported, 1-2 business days for micro-deposit fallback.

If the verification stalls for more than 48 hours, contact `support@packhood.com` and the trust team will manually liaise with Stripe.

Where this fits in the trust stack

Verification is one of four trust mechanisms on every Packhood booking:

1. Stripe Identity KYC (this page).
2. Stripe-held payment escrow. Renter funds held until move-in confirmed.
3. Packhood Host Guarantee — €300 per booking (£260 in UK) aggregate across claims, plus €25,000 items cover and €100,000 host liability cover, with no opt-in. Detail at /trust/host-guarantee-explained.
4. In-platform dispute adjudication — 14-day claim window after move-out, 10 business-day adjudication SLA.

Together those four steps are the substance of "every booking is protected" on the homepage. None of them is marketing language: each one is implemented and verifiable in code, with the file references in the host-guarantee detail page.

FAQ

What ID is required to host on Packhood? One of: a passport, a driving licence, or a national identity card. Stripe accepts the relevant document types per country. Hosts upload it during the Stripe Identity flow before their first listing publishes; the file is held by Stripe under their KYC retention policy, not by Packhood.

How long does host verification take? Typical completion time is 4-7 minutes for the user-facing steps. The automated Stripe Identity check usually returns a result within 60 seconds; edge cases (low-light selfies, partially-obscured IDs) can fall to manual review and take up to 24 hours.

What's shared with the other party? Only verification status (verified / not verified) and the first name + initial of the surname. The full ID document, date of birth, and full surname are never shared between host and renter through Packhood. Hosts and renters communicate via the in-platform message system; phone numbers are exchanged only after both parties verify.

Is renter verification also required? Yes, at first booking. The renter completes Stripe Identity at the moment they make their first booking. Subsequent bookings reuse the verified identity. Payment-card verification (3DS / SCA where applicable) runs in parallel.

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