Verified Guest no longer attending

[Ruth1116]

Hi 

I’m reasonably new to hosting (9 stays) all been pretty good do far. 
However I have an upcoming guest who has first tried to get a short notice cancellation, which we said we couldn’t offer a full refund on. In this case we had a) booked the cleaners already b) adjusted our own holiday plans to accommodate the guests requested dates, c) we have a ‘firm’ cancellation policy d) refused other guest requests due to this reservation 

The guest has now told me they will not be attending but 5 other guests will be, none verified by AirBnB. I have asked the guest to verify another guest with Air BnB, they havn’t responded. 
AirBnB have told me if I’m not comfortable I can cancel the booking with the associated penalties - however we feel the guest is at fault in this case. The reservation is for 2days time do we are unlikely to get another booking or recoup costs. 
What should we do? 
Thanks

[Colleen253]

@Ruth1116 CS is wrong, as they often are. Third party bookings are not allowed. You do not have to accept these other people into your listing, without the booking guest in attendance. You’ve offered a reasonable workaround that you aren’t obligated to offer. The booking guest is attempting to change the terms that were agreed upon at time of booking.  Bottom line is, if the booking guest is not going to cooperate, the booking should be canceled by Airbnb and your cancellation policy upheld, with no penalty assessed to you. Reach out to CS again and quote the below to them,

https://www.airbnb.ca/help/article/427/booking-for-friends-and-family

@Catherine-Powell This is yet another prime example of the level of ineptitude in CS reps that hosts have to deal with. 

[M199]

@Ruth1116 

@Colleen253is correct.  Stick to the legal contract you have with the booking guest.  Keep at Airbnb, have the policies at hand to quote to CS.  If the booking guest doesn't show. You are not legally obligated to allow access to others and should deny access.

[Ruth1116]

Thanks for taking the time 

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Colleen253 whilst I fully agree with your sentiment I don't think it is very clear what should happen in this situation. If @Ruth1116 refuses entry due to the booked guest not attending will the booked guest get a refund?

I am wondering if this guest has found a clever way around the rules. If I put myself in the shoes of a customer service person I do not see clarity in the rules as to what I should do. Happy to be corrected.....

[Colleen253]

@Mike-And-Jane0 

I would think if the booking guest does not cancel and does not show up, then it’s a no show. @Ruth1116 would not be refusing entry to the booked guest, after all, if the guest doesn’t show up. She would be refusing entry to anonymous strangers. Dollars to donuts they are on the booking as ‘Guest 1’ ‘Guest 2’ etc with no profile, zero info for host. 

Part of the larger problem here is Airbnb’s penchant for not sharing any guest info with hosts. We never really know who is staying at our property. For the booking guest, all we get is a phone number, which can be bogus, and the name on their public profile, which can be anything at all, even just initials. As far as ‘other guest’ info, we get nothing, unless we ask the booking guest for names, and who knows if those are even real names. And let’s not forget either that Verified ID is meaningless (many of you already know my sorry first hand experience with that, with my ‘verified ID’  yet known to police guest). One cannot simply trust that Airbnb has done any homework on their member guests. 

IMO if the booking guest is not showing up, then no one else in the party should be allowed entry, completely anonymous perfect strangers that they are.

[Emilie]

Hi @Ruth1116, 

I'm sorry to hear you've ran into a bit of an issue and aren't sure how to proceed. I've checked on my end and it looks like someone from the Support team will follow-up with you soon. Do let us know how things progress please!

Thanks @Colleen253 @M199 and @Mike-And-Jane0 for pitching in with some useful advice as well. 🙂

Emilie

[Amanda660]

@Emilie I had a similar situation last year when a guest caught Covid and wanted to cancel then changed his mind to have folks stay without him as lead/booking guest last minute.

It would be really helpful to get some advice on how this should be handled as it’s likely to happen again in the future.