Guest is booking for other people

[Xavier18]

Hi, I've only just listed my house (whole house) and have started getting bookings. I've received a booking from girl who it turns out is booking on behalf of the theatre company she works for.

There will be 7 guests but she is not one of them. She hasn't tried to hide this - I just assumed she was one of the guests. I'm not sure this is really within the 'spirit' or rules of Airbnb? Does anyone else have experience of this sort of booking? Am I allowed to cancel the booking without penalty? The booking is in 10 days.

Any advice welcomed,

Xavier.

[Nannette0]

  She needs to show up  otherwise you have no obligation to allow her guests in and she will suffer the financial consequences.

Call Airbnb if you can and give them the heads up.  Airbnb will cancel if necessary with no penalty to you if she does not abide by your rules (and thirs since that is against the Airbnb rules).

Revies your page and make sure to insert and reinstate that rule so that there are no future surprises and penalties to anyone involved.

[Amaris0]

Hey, 

Airbnb do not allow 3rd party booking for personal travel.

3rd party booking is possible for business travel only. However your property will also have to be approved as business travel ready with the briefcase icon. There is a different process to be followed for business booking permitted by Airbnb, please see the guide -

https://www.airbnb.co.uk/help/article/427/can-i-book-on-behalf-of-a-friend-or-family-member

https://www.airbnb.co.uk/third-party-booking

3rd party booking not made via this specific route invalidates any protection you or the guest would normally have from Airbnb in the event of any issues. So, if you are not business travel approved then she has to be one of the guest who will stay in the property.

Hope this helps,

Ama

[Victoria57]

Booking on behalf of a 3rd party is against AirBnB rules - see https://www.airbnb.co.uk/help/article/427/can-i-book-on-behalf-of-a-friend-or-family-member.  You could cancel this booking then give the reasons to AirBnB so you don't get penalised.

[Xavier18]

Thanks everyone for the excellent and speedy advice. I simply sent her a link to this discussion so she understood I wasn't being difficult, and I think we'll be able to sort it out by cancelling and rebooking with one of the actors as the lead guest.

Thanks again, Xavier.

[Helen56]

Don't cancel the booking yourself or you will be heavily penalised by Airbnb.  Have the guest cancel.

[Xavier18]

We've agreed that we'll cancel her booking and then immediately rebook with one of the actual guests.

Is there any way she can cancel her booking without incurring the cancellation fee? My cancellation policy is "strict".

There doesn't seem to be any way to contact Airbnb itself (am I missing something?)

Thanks, Xavier.

[Helen3]

Yes you can phone their UK customer services,  but she will need to contact them directly as she is the one who needs to change the booking.

It's probably worth you having a good read through BnB's terms and conditions around issues such as cancellations, who can book etc. I know when I started out it took a bit of time to get things straight in my head.

But what did jump out was that only those staying at your place can book.

This protects you and ensures you will be covered by them in the event of problems with your guests say damaging your property.

If you want to accept business bookings I think there is a separate process you need to go through.

[Xavier18]

I can't find an actual phone no. for customer services anywhere, not even an email. Any ideas?

Xavier.

[Helen56]

Here's a link to the phone number list for contacting Airbnb.

https://community.airbnb.com/t5/Community-Help/contacting-airbnb-list-of-numbers-by-country/m-p/9818...

I've now put our usa contact number in my cell phone.  I had to call them to ask about taxes, and they were very helpful and even sent me a follow up email.