We don't allow Third Party Bookings. In hindsight, there were warning signs. First, the bride's mother tried to book our place for out-of-town family wedding guests, and when I told her one of the guests would have to book it, she said ok she would ask them to do that. I then got a request from someone referred by this woman & who wanted to book for 3 couples who wll be in town for a wedding. She has several glowing reviews, so we accepted. All throughout the subsequent correspondence, she is "we are so excited!", "we're looking forward to our stay!". But questions about the other couples in her party go unanswered, odd, but she has glowing reviews!
The day of check in, I got a phone call from one of the guests (not the booker) complaining that they booked the whole house & 1 bedroom isn't made up - I said the booking was for 3 couples & the 3 requested bedrooms were made up. She says " there are 9 of us". I said can I speak to the booker? She said she didn't know the booker was staying, that was news to her & she wasn't there. I contacted the booker expressing my concerns that this might be a 3rd party booking, there are more people than booked, there are more than our max. number of allowed guests - she assured me she was staying, there was some confusion as her cousins decided to also stay too, but she would pay for the extra & make up the additional bedroom herself. She paid for 2 additional guests, our limit is 8. When my husband arrived with the bedding & asked to speak to the booker, he was told she was the bride(!) & she was out getting her nails done.
The next day, there were 9 people who left the house (our max. is 8), dressed up to attend a wedding, no bride - and all 9 people returned late in the evening. Of course the bride had no intention of staying - when I had declined the third party booking from her mother, she simply decided to do it herself, sure in her deviousness that she would pull it off.
I know we aren't covered by Airbnb Host Protection & I am annoyed. The guests are older adults, mostly in their 60's & 70's & 3 younger adult "cousins" - they seem responsible & aren't partiers. We didn't have the heart to cancel the reservation, although I would sure like to give the bride a piece of my mind.I t's annoying because her mother tried to do the same thing!! And if she had been honest with me, I would have directed her to have one of the guests do the booking, or at least get one of them to create an Airbnb profile & then ask Airbnb to add that guest to her booking. Easy & everyone's happy. The way she did it stinks - she was completely dishonest with us.
So - how to review? I haven't had a 3rd party booking before. As she didn't stay, does it mean I can't review her? I would like to say it was a Third Party Booking but how much detail can I go into? All suggestions welcome.
