What to do if a guest wants to book for a family member and wants to pay for them without them knowing the cost

[Shireen20]

Hello,

I am new to hosting and have had some requests from guests wanting to book for family members who are visiting them and staying close by. 

When I ask they have their family send request, they have answered that they want to pay and it would be a little awkward. Which I understand. 

Anyone know what the best protocol is?  I do not want to lose business, but also want to stay protected.

Thank you so much!

-Shireen 

[Katrina79]

@Shireen20 @If the booking guest lives in the same city, have them checkin before hand or along with the guest. That is if you feel comfortable with it! It’s not a 3rd party booking if the booking guest checks in. The booking guest will still be held accountable for the stay. 
What are the potential downsides? 
* the people staying don’t have access to the house info on Airbnb, extra communication required by you, possibly rules not followed etc.

* the people staying complain to the booking guest about things that are clearly upfront in your listing leading to a negative review.

* the people staying are not responsible for the outcome of the stay or review so they don’t feel the need to take care of your property.

* the people staying can’t contact you if something breaks etc and they don’t want the booking to know so it is never addressed during the stay.

* the people staying take advantage and leave a mess because they don’t have to worry about the repercussions of their behaviour. 

[Brian2036]

@Shireen20 

@Katrina79 has some excellent points.

You could ask that all of them meet with you for checkin and hand a printed copy of your house rules to the adult who will be staying.

If you stress that the party who booked will be held entirely responsible for any damages perhaps the guests will be extra careful.

That would include damages caused by a malicious review.

I’m not sure what would happen if you need to invoke the Host Guarantee, but it’s not worth much anyway so I probably wouldn’t worry about it.

Your big challenge will be in assessing the family dynamic.

Decent people won’t do things to injure a family member.

Then there are the others…with irresponsible, drug addicted, or insane offspring.

[M199]

@Shireen20 

Ultimately,  you are responsible for accepting the booking.  Along with the above comments.....

If you are comfortable to go forward, I would recommend that you make sure that you have verified copies of all guests IDs.  You can always agree to delete the information after the stay, provided that all terms of service and house rules were met.