Anyone else had travel agents approach them about their Airbnb listing?

[Mathieu-And-Kunj0]

Hello Everyone,

I have recently been contacted by 2/3 different travel agents in my city. I wanted to know if anyone else have seen such requests or profiles and if so is it permitted to entertain such requests? In my understanding 3rd party vendors are not allowed on airbnb... Shouldn't this be against the policy and these profiles be blocked?

Any thoughts?

Cheers,

Mathieu and Kunj

[Tasha31]

I am also a travel agent, and I book large parties (families) especially in the summer. Most of the time each family member is putting money into the vacation itself and hotels are not able to accommodate large groups who want to stay together..its a FAMILY vacation right? So it is frustrating when as an agent I tell them "You can book Airbnb on your own" when I clearly state that I can handle all their travel needs. I think Airbnb should consider reputable agents as 3rd party bookers. It would be beneficial to our clients, us, and Airbnb. We all win.

[Lily452]

Hi @Tasha31 

I would love to be on your roster/ list of airbnb units for your clients. How do I go about that? The unit is based in Nashville, TN. Thank you!

[Cherra0]

Hi there.

I am also a travel agent. To be honest I useAirbnb either for me and  my familie, but also for costumers.

I am very transparent with my costumer when I make a reservation with Airbnb and also with the owner of the property.

What I do is, I sent the Airbnb link to my costumer  so he/she can see the property as I do and has the same information I have. When he is ok on the propperty I make the reservation and charge him the face price of Airbnb plus a handeling fee we have allready agree.

I am also very clear with the property and I identify my self as a travel agent, and let him know I will charge a handeling fee to the end user.

The problem is that, we travel agents are use to get the our benefits from the supplier, and that in my opinion is wrong. We need to make clear the costumer that setting up a travel programme is quite time consumer, and we need to get paid for that, on the fee we afree with the costumer.

So far I haven´t got any problems with owners or with costumer, and will keep on working this way.

[Jessica1435]

how do you keep them from just booking this on their own after sending them the link? i mean it would obviously be cheaper for them to book directly than to pay the agent fee plus the booking price. I am a travel agent as well and am researching the best way to book airbnb

[Kelly1310]

air bnb now has an affliate program. send the customer to book through your website or property link and get 30% commission. @Jessica1435 

[Kristina550]

@Kelly1310 

Hi I would like more information on the affiliate program. Thank you.

Kristinacnewkirk@gmail.com

[Tricia3470]

So do you confirm your identity when you book for your clients and in turn advise your host of your clients names and proof of ID so they have confirmation of who their guests will be?

[Tricia3470]

So do you confirm your identity when you book for your clients and in turn advise your host of your clients names and proof of ID so they have confirmation of who their guests will be?

[Lily452]

hi @Cherra0 

I would love to be on your roster/ list of airbnb units for your clients. How do I go about that? The unit is based in Nashville, TN. Thank you!

[Maxine3]

@Mathieu-And-Kunj0  A short story about my past guests: I had a very nice personal Tour agency contact me (through a different hosting site). They were planning a once-in-a-lifetime trip for an Australian couple, who were retired and they made a booking with me. The couple arrived and told me that they loved staying in historical buildings, (mine is Georgian), visiting Navy ports, and were on an extended cultural tour of Europe, with many stays in different places. 

The guests had all the details of every booking, regular contact with their Tour planner and were thoroughly enjoying themselves. 

A trip like this was so complex that they needed someone else to organise and research it for them. 

To make sure it all went smoothly. I actually thought it was great and I appreciated the Tour planner’s approach. She was obviously highly specialised and new exactly what she was doing. 

I wonder if a ‘Business Travel booking’ would come under this area? When you get business travel bookings they have the logo of the company on and the Booker states (e.g.)

 “ I am booking these people on behalf of my company..... their names are ....... etc. This is perfectly acceptable and allowed in the rules.  They are booked using a company logo as the profile picture.

- Would the agent therefore  be considered as acceptable? I think it is always best to ask ABnB to clarify as I can see the dilemma you are having 🙂

[Johan139]

Nobody should be contacting you from third parties. Thats a scam, please DO NOT give away any personal or banking information as its a scam. It hasnt happend te me however you are right about the private policy from airbnb in regards to 3rd pasties contacting you. 

[Danielle681]

Hello Airbnb hosts!

I am glad to come across this for we recently encountered a travel agent booking for our guests.

Whilst we appreciate everyone needs to make their 'bread and butter', we are sad that Airbnb's platform moved away from hosts opening up their homes and spaces to persons offering them great experiences through personalized services to hotels and travel agents and large companies providing short term rentals for travelers trying to oust home owners and so forth.

The same way hosts have to be verified with photo, id and so forth, why aren't travel agents provided with a travel agent badge on Airbnb so guests and hosts know who they are and that they are not the ones actually staying at your property/villa/share a room and it is someone else. 

We understand everyone is technologically savvy and may have a hard time figuring out how to use Airbnb and that's where these 3rd parties come in. 

A young lady instant booked our place and said she and her family are looking forward to their stay with us. More communication was exchanged as we usually have a booking form for our guests so we know who we are welcoming and in cases of emergency who we can contact as well as pool waivers. Not once did she welcome she was a travel agent.

It is only until she mentioned another name in the conversation that we realize something was wrong. She insisted this name is on the booking and we should double check. We always read everything, profiles guest information and the lady's name or photo nor her family was there. When we informed her of this error on her point she didnt even apologize and only then said she is the travel agent is booking for someone else. As a travel agent, she also was asking alot of questions of the island, obvious information about the property which is listed on the site and the airport information. This tells us she failed to read all details on our listing.

Whilst people will not know everything in life and having studied Tourism and Travel, all travel agents should have at least basic information or conduct personal research on travel destinations as well as the particular country the client is travelling to as well as where they are travelling from.

We will not call out the travel agent's name nor agency as she wasn't rude but she was not truthful from the getgo and seemed to have been "shocked" we "discovered" her "company" as we never heard of it nor do we know its validity. The last time we heard from her on the message board was if our guests checked in. She never followed up during their stay or at check-out.

Once we had the ACTUAL guests who were staying with us information and communication became easier and we later found out our guests expressed alot of issues with this travel agent. Plus the agent didn't relay some of the information we asked her to provide our guests with.

Despite that, they had a great stay and will be returning with us AND will book with us directly.

We cannot paint the same brush for all travel agents as we know some good ones. Whilst some people can argue travelers should conduct their research, again some travelers are very busy and use a travel agent, some are unsure of how to use the site and are afraid of scams.

What was most hurtful for us? We lost out on a review and rating. We still decided to leave a review on the agent's profile but noted the review was for the guests and informed them of it. We reported it to Airbnb and just wanted to verify if 3rd parties are allowed to book and is there is a badge for travel agents to show this. The rep said no and that there is nothing they can do and suggested we offer our suggestions of a travel agency badge on Airbnb. We left our feedback and left it there.

Going forward we as hosts work extremely hard every day to ensure we are transparent, accommodating, responsive and upgrade where possible. We lost a review but we gained new friends and knowledge and that's better than any "superhost" status on any platform!

[Elizabeth1745]

How about If I am Representative of Travel Agency and wanted to be an Agent And Refer a Travelers to Airbnb is that Not Allowed ? 

Many Travelers , Friend Asking me and Many times I refer airbnb and send link to the travelers and Helping them is that ok ? or not allowed, 

Elizabeth Aida 

[Matthew1248]

What about hosts who are third party vendors or travel agents that set up profiles for hotels accommodations?  It looks like there are fishy hosts out there who are not actual proprietors and may create complications such as: reservations cannot be fulfilled, high cancellation fees, booking delays, host information delays...

I would like to know what AirBnB's policies are on this. 

Is there a thread for this?

Is there a policy section that should be managed better here?

Cheers

[James2566]

Guests who require the assistance of travel agents or their tech-savvy children to make a booking on AirBnb are guests who need pampering or special handholding, which goes against the modern self-catered travel experience that AirBnb is meant to provide. Bad news all around, and not allowed.