Booking request from 18 year old for after prom

[Victoria69]

I received a request from a guest (who I'm assuming is 18 since you need to be to create an account) and she's asking to rent our house for after prom and the weekend to celebrate before graduating. I thanked her for reaching out and asked how many would be coming over, and staying the night. Her response was: "No one is staying the night, but my date & i . Umm maybe 10 folks at most ...were not trying i throw a kickback or anything but inviting a few longterm friends over too hang for a while".

I've hosted hundreds of people and this is definitely a first for me, usually my guests are couple or families. I'm just nervous based on her response that there could be partying and not all people may even be 18. I'm not on site but do have on-site hosts that are right next door and monitor/clean our home for us so we would have someone watching the place, but the situation still makes me really uncomfortable that there could be underage drinking. I'm also assuming her date is 18 or older who will be staying with her. I'm at the point now I really need to decide if I accept/decline before time runs out but thought I would reach out here for any thoughts! If I do decline I'm honestly not sure how to respond now that we have been having a conversation.

Thanks for any tips!!

[Jackie570]

Do you have "no parties or special events" as a house rule? If so, that's a very good reason to decline. Also, what is the maximum number of guests on your listing? If it is less than 10, that is another reason to decline. Tell her that your place is not suitable for that sort of activity, and wish her luck on finding an appropriate place.  A prom after-party would be a hard no for me as a host too. 

If the booking does happen, make sure they know that underage drinking and other illegal activities will not be tolerated, and that law enforcement will be informed if such activities occur. You are a business owner, not a party host.

[Sarah977]

@Victoria69  I wouldn't accept this booking. It's a party. 10 will turn into 20 or 30. 

And at this point, with the coronavirus, proms and graduations may be cancelled or postponed, anyway. 

[Mark116]

@Victoria69  Just say no.

[Luana130]

One word for you: Party

Refuse! A bunch of teenagers trashing your house is not something you want.

Huge red flag!

[Sarah977]

@Victoria69   There would definitely be drinking and underage, as well. Many high school graduates are only 17.

[Theresa418]

I have no events on my listing. I’m sure if you reach out to “help” you will only have to wait five days and they will throw you under the bus. Argh I have customer device tire tracks on my head after this virus cancellation bull crap that is not protecting us hosts income at all

[Chris76]

Don't do it. 

@Victoria69 I just had a guest host an unauthorized party at my house that was in violation of my house rules and Airbnb's no open-party rule. My house was damaged and my neighbors were inexcusably disturbed. My situation was a bit different as the guest clearly set out to be deceptive about this party. 

When I reached out to Airbnb's support, they were extremely unresponsive. Ultimately, they told me I should go write the guest a bad review (guests can always publicly refute your review on their profile, making it a public he said/she said exchange). I asked about having the guest removed from the platform, and was informed that they would not do that unless this is a clearly established pattern of behavior. In other words, you have very little recourse should your event turn into a party. All guests will have at least one free pass to have an unauthorized party. My guests declined to pay the damages that I requested, and Airbnb has yet to respond to my escalation.

Personally, I would not take the risk. The potential legal liability should underage drinking occur is too great.  Don't count on airbnb to support you should something go wrong.