Guest Misrepresented Herself

[Ricky94]

[Guest name], of San Diego, made a reservation to stay at my home for 2 nights.  She said there would be 3 people in her party.

When "****'s" party arrived, **** was not present.  Instead, there were 4 teenage boys, one of whom was ****'s son.

Not only were there 4 and not 3 people, as Joyce indicated, Joyce wasn't even one of these people. She had made a reservation in her own name, for 4 teenage boys.

This is NOT cool, as far as I am concerned.  Not only is the room overcrowded, it's overcrowded with  4 unsupervised teenage boys.

I allowed them to come in and stay, but I do not feel good about by mislead and lied to about the reservation.  

So far, the boys have been well behaved, but this is not the way AirBnb is supposed to work. As I host, I have been taken advantage of.  And, I don't like it.

*[Personal information hidden for privacy reasons – in line with the Community Center Guidelines]

[Alon1]

@Helen3 & @Ricky94 

I would like to see the mother's actual message on the booking:

Did she explicitly state, 'I will be coming with my son and one of his friends'?

or did she just make a booking for 3 people, without further explanation?

If it's the latter, I would hesitate to just accept, and would probe further, especially as a live-in host.

Moreover, I've got quite a lot of experience with ambiguous messages, and once I start scratching beneath the surface, I discover something unexpected.

It's also one of the primary reasons I don't do Instant Book, and take as much time as I need to decide if I wish to accept an Inquiry.

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Furthermore, I would be interested to learn if the mother knew the 4th person would show up? Or was it a surprise for the mother to learn that her son had taken this liberty?

Of course Ricky should charge extra.

  However, I see that she charges the same price for 1 - 3 persons, so there is no ready figure for an 'additional' person. Consequently,  it would have to be negotiated in this instance. 

[Alon1]

@Karl6 

Making a generalization from this instance isn't particularly helpful.

In this case, Ricky has only repeatedly stated 'I have contacted Airbnb and to inform them of the situation'. She has not revealed how Airbnb responded! 

We can at best adduce that Airbnb attempted to negotiate the situation which they couldn't have foreseen.

                   Presumably Customer Service informed Ricky of her  options, including to terminate the booking. More so, it's likely Airbnb inquired about the age of the teenagers, and if they were under 18 it would have given Ricky further reason to terminate the booking.

In the event, Ricky chose not to terminate the booking. But lesson learned, and evidently she won't let it happen again.

Similarly, hopefully lesson learned for the mother Joyce. It's doubtful she will repeat the exercise knowing the potential outcome that the kids maybe refused entrance. The expenses involved would also be a factor, not only in respect of Airbnb payments, but also travel costs, etc. 

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Otherwise, I can speak from experience how Airbnb have managed my complaints with undisclosed 3rd Party Bookings, which have ultimately proved satisfactory.

But I'm not qualified to comment on your general prognosis, because I'm a live-in host, not an absentee landlord managing various properties. I believe our experiences are vastly different. 

[John1080]

@Alon1., why don't we allow all contributors to add what they like. If you don't like what someone has to say, being quiet, rather than being a bully is probably the route to take. If you don't like @Karl6's generalizations, why not ignore them and add something positive that you can contribute? The need by some to control others on this forum is really disappointing. 

[Alon1]

@John1080 

I'm not stopping anyone contributing what they like, and whether I like it or not is irrelevant.

It's my nature to find out all the facts before rushing to conclusions.

In this case, what is missing is twofold: the precise wording of the mother's inquiry, and how Airbnb dealt with Ricky's complaint. 

The bottom line is that the booking went ahead. Ricky didn't turn the boys away. 

[Alon1]

@John1080 

re. 'Karl's generalizations'. 

I addressed it for reasons stated in my response.

Please also note as stated that my experience is quite different as a live-in host. Moreover, in my experience, Airbnb do a satisfactory job with 3rd Party Bookings issues when they are reported. 

Consequently, why should I demure or inhibit myself from commenting on something that directly contradicts my experience with Airbnb the company?

[John1080]

@Alon1, alright. I think Karl's post is as valid as anyone else's and we should all attempt to respect each other here instead of being so negative. I'm not only speaking of your post but a pattern I've noticed among many posters here. I will continue to read and enjoy your input. Thank you.

[Alon1]

@John1080 

In Karl's case, it's not a question of disrespect.

  Rather to reiterate,  I'm not sure how valid Karl's comment is, and so it's worth questioning, certainly from my perspective which is not negative. On the contrary, as stated my experience is a positive one when dealing with Airbnb re. 3rd Party booking.

It's worth putting my views in perspective. I'm not an unquestioning advocate of Airbnb:

- Like many others, I'm against the new policy of no profile photos prior to booking.

- I have an entirely negative view of Instant Book, and don't like the hierarchical structure of Super Host.

- I dislike Airbnb flooding the market with professional managing companies, which I consider radically undermines Airbnb original ideal of 'home-share', added to which is the introduction of 'no service fee' to Guests booking with these companies while raising the service fee to up to 20% for Guests booking with private Hosts.

These policies unfortunately attract what might be deemed negative responses, though many might call it constructive criticism. 

Best Wishes. 

[John1080]

@Alon1, great post and I agree with all you mentioned, and I agree that constructive criticism is important, but probably not needed on an individual basis when someone is simply expressing his opinion in passing. I think this has exploded into a bigger deal than it should have been.

Best wishes to you too! 

[Alon1]

@John1080 

I agree there is a tendency for 'individual' cases to mushroom & diversify during discussion on CC posts.. (Perhaps it's unavoidable on a global forum?)

However, to bring it back to this particular case, I believe my primary questions are still worth contemplating: a) What was the precise wording of the mother's message to Ricky; b) How did Airbnb deal with it?

The reason I think these queries are worth articulating is because Ricky states she's not experienced, and it's part of a learning curve.

I would only add that about 4-5 years ago, prima facie, I experienced something similar, but which I initially managed to address before accepting the booking:

  A woman sent an ambiguous Inquiry for 3.

  I questioned who they would be?.

   She then revealed it was her son and two friends, (who were musical students attending audition at Royal College of Music not far from my home).

   After the booking, on arrival the 3 teenagers turned up with an additional friend... and would it be ok?

Yes, it was ok, because I could accommodate the extra one.

  The mother hadn't been aware of this addition, but happily paid for the extra guest.

  End of Story.

In this case, I didn't even involve Airbnb. But I don't recall if the 3rd Party Booking Rule was already in place. 

[Costa2]

Why you are letting them in if you do not have to. Why do you care that they coming. Kick them out as any other strangers. Use the guns if needed to protect your property and call police to remove the bodys if any.

[Sarah977]

@Ricky94   Well, you always have the option to not let people in if this ever happens again.

Make sure to mention the guest's deception in your review and flag her account.

[Ricky94]

Thanks for  your comments.  I have notified ABNB.  And, I sent a note of disappointed to Joyce, the mother who made the arrangements.

[Alon1]

@Sarah977 

Please see my other responses to John & Karl.

Consequently, I would not automatically 'flag her account', certainly not till one discovers Joyce's response.

Airbnb already know the situation, and won't learn anything new until both parties Review & Respond, if indeed they do. 

[Sarah977]

@Alon1  As per Ricky's OP, I think Joyce knew exactly what she was doing and she lied, as I read it. She said there were 3 guests "in her party"- they weren't in her party, they arrived without her and there were 4, not 3. I guess it's possible the boys added a friend to the group without her knowledge, but that still doesn't excuse her from not messaging the host when booking to state who this booking was intended for.

[John1080]

@Alon1  @Sarah977, it's apparent that she knew exactly what she was doing and this is the exact sort of behavior that needs to receive a bad review as it was not some random accident.