3rd Party Booking, weeks old, just let me know that their son and girlfriend are coming

[Kenneth12]

Just got a note from a guest (night before) that not they,  but their son and girlfriend are coming.

What are our options in a situation like this, again?  Cancellation policy is moderate and account holder has not replied to multiple previous enquires-- looks like she may have let her son use her account.

[Lawrene0]

@Kenneth12:

"Oh my goodness, Betty, Airbnb does not allow third-party bookings! Either you have to come yourself, or you have to cancel and your son or his girlfriend will have to set up an account and book. You will need to do that right away! Really sorry about this, but it is company policy. If you have any trouble with it, just give Airbnb a call. The contact information should be in your itinerary."

[Kenneth12]

Thank you.  Modified version sent;  I can't say they are very happy;  reply was "we did it before!"

[Lawrene0]

@Kenneth12:

"Well, Betty, you cannot blame those other hosts. You barely gave me time to react, and I know the rules! Thank goodness you found me." 

[Letti0]

Reply: The host should have never allowed it neither of us whether guests or hosts would be covered by the AirBnB Guarantee Liability.

[Kenneth12]

"But it was an honest mistake that my son booked a room for himself and his girlfriend to come to a music festival and do who knows what under my account,  and you should now give me a full refund and let them book with you under his brand new account."

Plus ABB CS advocating for that refund,  of course :Z  🙂

[Kenneth12]

... I thus leave it to the creatively minded,  to think of what nightmare scenarios could have been the case based on the facts known to me,  and/or guess what nightmare scenario was the case.

As well,  may I take this moment to note how much Airbnb CS tries to slop the work of educating guets and enforcing policy-- and costs-- off on hosts?

[Noel63]

If you can fill the vacancy by the son booking with his own account, then I would give a refund.

[Kenneth12]

Sure.  If it had been the case that I would have accepted the booking from the son under any conditions,  and it was purely and clearly "just a misunderstanding." 

In this case,  I would not have accepted a request from the son;  this was an attempt to get around my House Rules and requirements;  on top of that,  I was lied to and then told stories that didn't add up;   on top of that,  there was a big problem.

So,  I wind up losing the 50% refund on future days,   as well as dropping two hours that I didn't have to lose on dealing with it.  That's a loss,  and one in which ABB CS did not have my back-- they want me to cover a customer courtesy refund that benefits them at my expense.

Again,  I invite hosts to think through the potential problems here,   and guess the real deal-breaker problem.