What should I do if I get a booking enquiry on behalf of a third party?

[Chris15722]

Hi Everyone, I'm new to hosting (one guest stay so far - which went great). A couple of days ago I got an inquiry from a profile called "HRS" asking to book my accommodation. The message said they wanted to book our accommodation for a client that needed urgent short term accommodation due to an insurance job… they wanted to book it for a week starting that day, (the inquiry came through in the evening which made me suspicious).

I Googled "HRS" and they are an accommodation booking service - but the AirBNB profile had no reviews and was a recently created profile (2021)

I replied saying I would need the guest to provide ID and to be approved via the AirBNB app, I didn’t hear anything more from them, it seems a bit suspect to me?

Is it OK to take a booking for a third party, can I insist on sighting guest ID and having guest verified by AirBNB? I'm not sure how that works if they are not the ones booking and paying. I don't want to lose out on bookings but at the same time don't want to be scammed or not follow AirBNB proper policy?

Any advice greatly received.

Thanks, Chris

[Sarah977]

@Chris15722  No, you should never  accept third party bookings. Certainly not as an inexperienced host. They can be extremely problematic in many ways. 

Third party bookings are against Airbnb's terms of service, although they aren't exactly "not allowed"- Airbnb will tell hosts it's up to them if they want to accept or not, but in fact, there is no assurance that Airbbb won't wash their hands of any support if there are issues with a third party booking.

The only necessary reply to a third party booking inquiry is "I'm sorry, but I don't accept third party bookings. The guest who wants to stay should set up their own account and inquire for themselves."

There is an exception. There is something known as a work account, where employers can book for their employees. But you should see something written on the account that makes it clear that it is a work account. 

Even those can often be problematic, as the guest who actually stays hasn't read the listing description, house rules, or anything, and the employer fails to pass on the information. 

There was a thread on this forum a couple years ago about exactly a situation like this inquiry, which turned into a horror show. There was nothing wrong with the guest, who had posted here. What happened was that his house had had a fire and was uninhabitable. So his insurance company was paying for his interim accommodation. A third party booker, I guess used by the insurance co., just like your case, had booked a house for him. He had been in residence a few days when the booking agency was told by the insurance company that they wouldn't pay for that house, it was too expensive. So the booking agency cancelled the rest of the booking, and was demanding a refund from the host, who had a strict cancellation policy and wouldn't refund. 

The guest and host, who had no problem with each other, and were commiserating, were caught in the middle of this big hassle. The guest left with no place to stay, the host having the booking agency sending them and Airbnb threatening messages to refund.

[Chris15722]

Thanks so much Sarah, I really appreciate your words of wisdom, we will definitely adopt the policy of not taking third party bookings.