Agents Representing Clients (Third Parties)

[James2566]

I’m curious what’s your standard response to “agents” inquiring on behalf of “clients”, which is a third-party request or booking and do you report their profiles? Travel agents, or any representative inquiring on behalf of “their clients”?

I always say thanks but their clients need to contact me directly and I’d have to evaluate the request based on their profile, their history using Airbnb and the purpose of their stay. Even local agents who find me off-platform cause I pay less commission through AirBnb. Do you report agent profiles who contact you on AirBnb given that third party bookings aren’t allowed? Sometimes they feel like scammers so I feel inclined to flag their profile. 

With experience, I’ve learned that guests up to no good don’t want any of their contact information or credit cards linked to the transaction, and will have a “representative” act on their behalf. I might be jaded but I don’t believe anyone is a real “agent” anymore, even off-platform unless they’re local and I know the company well. I much prefer the transparency of dealing directly with the guests staying in our homes. 

Every agent who contacts me never mentions their company, has zero reviews and has just created their account. I’ve been asked what my commission is to agents (nothing, and I don’t work with agents). I’ve been asked by most agents to communicate off-platform and I say no, thank you and I do report those profiles. I’ve also been contacted by multi level marketing “travel agents” which is people who pay a couple hundred dollars online for a fake travel agent license they can then use to appear legitimate and solicit agency discounts from hotels. These ones will ask for a discount saying they’re an industry “colleague” and give you an “agency number” (that you can trace back to the MLM website).

Should I also report these agent profiles to AirBnb? I can’t imagine they allow profiles created for the sole intent of third party bookings and soliciting additional fees from hosts.

Once someone said their “client” wants to remain anonymous, cash only and no name, and I immediately thought, whelp, sounds like someone needs to bury evidence in my garden. No thanks!

[Sarah977]

@James2566  Odd that you get so many of these. Yes, I'd just report them, they sound decidedly scammy. No assurance that they are travel agents either, seeing as how you say they don't identify who they work for. They could just be a friend of a guest who's been banned from the platform.

There is one situation where 3rd party bookings are allowed- the booking account has to be a business account and employers can book on behalf of their employees. But if you ever accept one of these, you have to make sure the employee who is staying has received all the listing info, house rules, etc.

[James2566]

That’s strange. In that case, your guest is the corporation? You review the individual on a corporate profile? I don’t like guests texting me directly unless it’s an emergency. How would you communicate with guests who booked through their employer’s profile? I’d much rather the guest book directly and then deal with expensing it. 

[Sarah977]

@James2566  I can't say, I've never had a booking from a business account like that. But I have read posts from hosts who did, and yes, they were sometimes problematic because the host couldn't communucate directly with the guests who were staying before they arrived. And the employers didn't convey the info to the employees who were staying, so the host would find the guests smoking in the house or ignoring other house rules they were never made aware of.

[Anonymous]

@James2566  In the past, when a business account placed a third-party booking, the actual guest would have a profile linked to the booking. So the business account would handle the payment but the review would go to the guest.  I don't know if this is still the case - a lot has changed in the last couple of years, and business travel isn't much of a thing at the moment.

In your case, yes - decline, report, and block the user account(s). Airbnb probably won't tell you what action they take against the user, if any, but hopefully they'll at least leave you alone. I wouldn't be surprised if it turned out to be all the same person or organization rather than a multitude of legit operators.