Executive Admin booking business travel for guest

[Tommy256]

Hey there-

trying to figure out if this is a scam. A person claiming to be an executive admin for a CTO/CEO wants to book the property but says they won't be there or staying there while the guest is there. They just joined the platform, are awaiting their id verification and have no reviews. It seemed sketch but they weren't asking to pay outside or anything like this.

thoughts from the community? 
best,

tommy 

[Sarah977]

@Tommy256  There exists such a thing as a business account on Airbnb. If the account is designated as such (not simply some claim from the account holder), then they can book for their employees. 

But just like other 3rd party bookings, while this type is allowed, they can still be problematic. Often the person who will be the guest hasn't read the listing at all, arrive expecting things you don't offer, hasn't read the house rules or anything. 

Personally I wouldn't accept a third party booking except in some special circumstances where I could determine the booker was being honest and there were no red flags. Perhaps a user wanting to book as a surprise anniversary gift to their parents, or booking for non-tech savvy elderly parents. But I woukd in that case want to see that the booker had a history with Airbnb and good reviews.

[Tommy256]

Thank you. I say always go with your gut and there was something fishy/sketchy from the start. Ultimately, I still can't figure out what the scheme was though they also were claiming to be from a foreign country. Eventually they did verify their ID, but I still felt uncomfortable with the reservation request