Guest booking for someone else.

[Chris-And-Rachel0]

Wow, I can't believe this.

We had someone book our room last week. Then they told us they had booked for their husband because they didn't have room where they were staying and he didn't have an accounnt (and their host had never met the husband).

So I asked her politely to cancel and apologized telling her we like to book direclty with people who are verified and vetted through AirBNB. (AirBNB should have a way to prevent people from booking for someone else!)

She came here with her baby and mother a half hour after check in. She smeared her awful smelling cheap perfume all over our couch, which still stinks.

She picked up the key. Then picked up her husband from the airport (who hadn't seen his child in a month because he'd been away on business), and brought him back to look at the place. "WOW! I heard him say, THIS IS GREAT! Thanks for getting me this great place."

They didn't drop off his bags, kept the key all weekend (two nights). She texted me the first night at 10:30 p.m. after I had gone to bed, stating their other host decided it would be okay for her husband to stay with her at the other hosts's house and that he wouldn't be sleeping here.

Rather than returning the key the next day and asking for a refund, she kept the key all weekend and returned it a half hour before check out.

And she had the nerve, unmitigated gall to say in her review that "There was a bit of miscommunication/misunderstanding during the booking process which made my husband feel unwelcomed (???!?!?!?!?!?) since he does not have an airbnb profile. We were hosted by another airbnb host in Hamden where we felt more comfortable."

She also said the place was smaller than expected??? Please!!!!!!! Our house is 2,000+ square feet and they have access to the entire first floor.

What an awful person and liar she is and we can't delete her review????

Oh my god. I'm becoming less and less enanmoured of this site and the people who use it.

[Alice-and-Jeff0]

Just read both the review and your listing.  It doesn't look like you have Instant book turned on - did you approve her stay and I've misunderstood?  You can always turn it off so you vett each and every guest, that may help.  I also believe that there is not a penalty for cancelling an instant book if you know they are violating the rules - in this case - a 3rd-party booking.  This is a bit of a grey area these days with the business traveler bookings, but I think that you would have been in the clear.  

Have they asked for a refund of their money? If not, seems perfectly resonable to me that they would keep the key - they kept the reservation.  Doesn't it strike you as being more odd that suddenly there was room at the other host's home when there wasn't before?  I note that host has not yet reviewed her.  

Her public review isn't that bad, really.  I don't think you should worry. 

People are sometimes just nutty, it's part of the fun of hosting, being able to laugh about it later.  

We just had a woman, a first-timer, coming to town for a wedding.  I made the mistake of asking if the Bride and Groom live here in town since their wedding venue wasn't one of the usual ones.  She got all upset and started ranting that she loved her husband, very much, because she is straight, but her BFF's daugther was marrying another woman, it was going to be a Bride/Bride wedding, was that a problem for me, she really loves her husband even though he isn't coming with her,  she was no longer comfortable staying with us, cancel my reservation.... all in less than 1 hour.  Then she wanted to know why we were charging her fees to cancel.   LOL.   People just have to make you laugh because they are dealing with their own stuff.  

[Annette33]

Sounds like the trouble started when you asked them to cancel because the husband didn't book for himself, but you let them in anyways and gave them the keys. So sorry this has happened to you, I guess it is hard to follow through when people are insistent and show up anyways.  😞
Sounds to me like they weren't serious to begin with, maybe just wanted to compare your place to the other one. You kept your cool and wrote a very disciplined comment under their review. People can look right through it, don't worry about that part!

But looking at the woman's profile, I am surprised to see that you gave her a very nice review, in contrast to your venting about her here. With all due respect, I personally wish all of us hosts would be more forthcoming if we have something not so nice to say about guests or their aborted stay... it would only help other hosts! Thank you.

[Bridget20]

I'm not understanding why you're so worked up over this. If I were a potential guest and was able to read this post of yours, and sde how upset you are over a fairly minor problem, I would steer very clear of you. Yeesh.

You had a couple options:

1. Cancel their reservation and explain why on the automatic post that is generated (no one would fault you for such a thing- I do agree that booking for someone else should not be allowed)

2. Happily accept the money that you hardly had to work for at all

Since the reservation was paid for, what's the problem with keeping the key? It was returned within the timeframe it needed to be. She communicated that he wouldn't be staying. I'm failing to see the real issue?

Also, you responded to her review in a fair and balanced way. But then you gave her a review that mentioned nothing of the problem. So which is it? If she was perfectly fine, why are you so bent out of shape? If she was an "awful person" and a "liar" then why didn't you review her as such?

Hosting takes some humor and patience. Miscommunications and kerfuffles sometimes happen, and you've got (!) to understand that travelling humans sometimes change plans. I suggest you work on this, in order to make yourself less anxious and upset, and to improve your guests' experiences as well.

[Bridget0 · Accepted solution]

Since she didn't actually stay on your property you have a strong chance of having Airbnb remove the review if you ask them.

[Taryn4]

@Bridget0 great point! You shouldn't have to be more flexible to a person leaving you a review that you've never met. That's crazy. 

@Chris-And-Rachel0 I'm sure you'll learn how to balance the acceptance/welcoming dance. We're still working on it ourselves. It's tough to set boundries but then still be a super lovely hospitible person at the same time (by guest perception). 

Hang in there! 

[Kristo0]

where do we contact airbnb to request to remove such reviews - coming from guest that actually never stayed?