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

[Linda108]

Anyone can contact you and anyone can set up a profile.  Air BNB is a public platform.  Advertising is not allowed on the Community Center by anyone, but it is also a public platform. What did they want?  Are they working for a specific traveler and setting up a trip or did they want something from you?

[Mathieu-And-Kunj0]

For some reason Linda I am not able to tag you.. I get an error msg. But they wanted to make a reservation for a group and as we are one of the few listing big enough to accomodate a large group in the center of the town. But what I am not sure is how can they verify their profile.  Also my understanding was that airbnb does not allow 3rd parties.. 

[Bryan10]

It's correct that third parties can't make a booking on Airbnb, so the travel agent wouldn't (or shouldn't) be able to book on behalf of their client. They could point the guests in your direction for them to book, but it does beg the question, why can't the guests simply research & book for themselves? 

[Niki80]

I am a travel agency owner, and we have many clients who prefer to have us (their travel designer) to take care of all there travel needs for them.  Many times the clients are busy professionals and trust us to take care of these plan on their behalf.  So I can see where a personal partnership with travel agents and Airbnb could be a deal for both parties.  

[Tyler409]

Have you been able to find anything out about booking for someone else, or booking as a third party? I find great deals and my friends always want me to book for them! 

[Sarah977]

@Tyler409  Third party bookings are against Airbnb Terms of Service. If you find some great deal to tell your friends about, what is stopping them from setting up their own account and booking it themselves?

Hosts are not covered by Airbnb for any issues or damages that might arise if the booking party is not part of the reservation.

The only exception to 3rd party bookings is if you have a business account set up and book for employees.

But the main problem for hosts with 3rd party bookings, aside from not being backed by Airbnb, is that the host can't communicate with the actual guest if they don't book themselves through their own account. And quite often, if not most of the time, the person who booked doesn't convey any of the important listing information to the person they booked for. So the guest arrives not knowing that smoking isn't permitted anywhere on the property, that they can't have visitors, that there isn't high speed Wifi, that pets aren't allowed, expecting to have a full kitchen, when the host only provides a microwave and an electric kettle, etc, etc.

[Brandy103]

Hi , I am looking for a travel agent who can use Airbnb . Can you help?

[Renee499]

I am a travel agent, however most airbnb and vorb host  that I can work have their listings for their property with one of my vendors. It is a high end vendor so your property has to be very appealing.

[Lily452]

HI @Niki80 

I would love to be on your roster/ list of airbnb units for your clients. How do I go about that? Thank you!

[Mathieu-And-Kunj0]

@Bryan0 To be fair I can understand that there are certain reason people choose to go with travel agents and do not want to be bothered by the hassel of going through the process of planning and preparing for a trip. Language, in-experience in planning travel, comfort of having a group in a unknown place etc. However what I don't understand is that why are these profiles which in our case were clearly showing the logo of the travel agent on the profile picture are floating on airbnb. Also puts an even bigger question on the credibility of the entire profile verification process of Airbnb. We also had couple of messages exchanged via airbnb messaging portal in which they clearly mentioned that they are trying to booking it for their clients.

Ps- again not able to tag you.

[Angela1220]

I too am a travel agent. The majority of my clients are elderly and can not use a computer, let alone the internet which is why they book through a travel consultant. I source out properties on air bnb for my clients especially if the destination is in a small town and my wholesaler can not help me. In regards to your issue Matthieu, at least the agent is being honest and booking for their client who might not be in a position to book directly through air bnb. The agent may even be adding an extra touch to their clients holiday and helping them out. 

[Lily452]

hi @Angela1220 

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!

[Ken3543]

The issue, which is why we are researching this here, is our inability to vet the guest directly ourselves (what is their AirBnB guest rating) prior to deciding whether to accept the reservation or not.

[Sudsrung0]

We had a situation similar last year with a Chinese tour operator who wasnt completly upfront about everything, we at first didnt know until the guest arrived which was a family with 2 kids.

Then the husband started to kick off with himself about how he had booked a villa on the beach and we are not but we dont say we are on the beach we actually say we are 1.5km to the beach.

Now, the person who booked our villa was not able to contact My question now was who are you? they had the right paperwork only in this other womans name but she was nowhere to be seen.

The short story is they didnt stay and there was nothing they could do or complain to,

I think bewear of 3rd party bookings as this one was not telling the true story to her so called clients