Guest booking for someone else (for work)

[David1716]

I understand it is not allowed to book for someone else unless using Booking for Teams.

My question is, how do you tell whether they are using Booking for Teams vs simply trying to use a personal account to book for someone else?

I have called AirBnB directly but they "created a ticket". But they haven't responded and I need to either accept or decline.

Anybody know how to tell?

[Ann72]

@David1716  No, I have no idea how you can tell the difference.  I have had an assistant use her boss' account to make bookings for him.  I guess that's totally different, since even though all the messaging was created by her, his account was used for the booking and he is the one who came to the listing.  Can you tell much from the messaging?  How about asking a few more questions?

[Debra300]

@David1716,

I'd suggest looking at the reviews left for and by the guest ID.  Maybe you can decipher if it's a business account used to book team members.

[David1716]

Ann: They mentioned the account was for the director of operations at their company. I've asked the person booking whether they are using Booking for Teams, but no answer - which may be an answer. 

Debra: They just signed up for AirBnB this month - they have zero reviews.

I'm not going to accept till I know for sure.

I've even contacted AirBnB but all you can do these days when you call is "open a ticket" and then wait for an answer. But AirBnB seems to be taking days to respond, yet we only have 24 hours to respond.

[Debra300]

@David1716,

I think you are taking the most prudent action.

[Ann72]

@David1716  I think you'll be fine.

[Sarah977]

@David1716  If it does turn out to be a legitimate business account, one thing to be aware of is that this type of booking, just like other third party bookings, can be problematic in that the person who has been booked for hasn't actually read the listing info, house rules, etc. 

 So if you accept a legitimate booking of this type, make it very clear to the person doing the booking that all of the listing information has to be shared with the guest who is actually staying. That not having been provided with this information or failing to read it won't be an acceptable excuse for not following the house rules, or being displeased with what was booked for them because they had false expectations..

[Helen350]

@David1716 Hosts DO sometimes accept 3rd party bookings. - I've accepted several from people booking for their adult child, or parents. I've twice had an instant book from different  men who booked for an employee, and I didn't cancel, I just took the risk. - All was fine, & one of them got the employee to create his own account for next time, after I'd explained!

Hosts will not get into trouble for accepting 3rd party bookings, but I do believe Airbnb will not cover them if things go wrong.....

Why not just MESSAGE the inquirer, and explain the situation, and ask that the person who wishes to stay create their own account?

(If it was a 'request to book', you can ask them to withdraw the request, so your acceptance stats are not damaged.)

[David1716]

Update: I had asked if they were using Booking for Teams, and since they weren't they tried to sign for a business account, but couldn't due to technical issues with AirBnB. So they withdrew the booking request.

I also found this page that answers my original question: https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/1311/who-can-book-trips-on-behalf-of-someone-else which explains that, "If you're a host, you'll see booked by and booked for in your communications with the booker and your guest."

@Helen350 When you say that hosts will not get in trouble if they accept third-party bookings, can you point to something on AirBnB that states this? It seems odd that personal third-party bookings are against AirBnB policies yet they would allow hosts to accept them without any consequences. Another concern I have is that if damage or injury occurs, that insurance may not cover for a booking that was against AirBnB policies. If you can point to pages on AirBnB that address these issues that would be very helpful.

[Helen350]

@David1716 They say it's against policy to make it clear you will not benefit from the so-called 'million dollar guarantee'. But they've happily taken the money/commission for those who've booked with me.... 

When I write reviews, I'll say "John booked for his son, Paul...." so that other hosts know that John does this. (And to show that the good or bad behaviour was Paul's, not John's.) When I look at other hosts' reviews, I see a lot of people do this...... Airbnb have never reprimanded me, how would they even know? - They're happy to take the money!

IF someone sent an inquiry for a family member, or colleague,  I'd ask them to ask the family member to set up their own account, and book under it. I suppose the reason why I don't make a fuss when someone Instant Books, is because I DON'T WANT TO SEEM DIFFICULT OR UNWELCOMING! - One person arrived at mine 30 mins after his boss booked for him, the guest was Bulgarian & spoke very little English; How could I turn him away? (Reading the profile, it appeared the account holder booked for many different Bulgarian workers, as hosts between them named 10+ people! Some hosts complained in the review, most didn't. There were 200+ reviews for this account holder in 3 months! - None with the official endorsement of booking for a colleague which @Emilia42 spotted!)

[Emilia42]

@David1716 

I saw this once last year. It looked like this:

[David1716]

@Emilia42 Thank you!

[Emilia42]

The booking was made by the employer but both profiles were available and I could communicate with both. The review was tied to the actual employee staying.

[Debra300]

@Emilia42,

Yeah, I had one of these types of reservations a couple of years ago.  The bummer is that the account holder didn't leave a review.