3rd Party Reservations

[Nuha0]

I recently had a son book for his mother coming to town to help them with a newborn baby. How do you refuse that? Accepted with huge congrats!

Newlywed husband from a conservative culture, booking his wife to stay in a predominately female household. No problemo. We get cultural diversity.

But, this is off:

I recently accepted a reservation from a traveller that was booking for his minor, 18 year-old son to attend an 8 week study program.

I accepted, since many of the previous hosts who left comments on the father's profile had hosted the son and wrote glowing reviews of how respectful and personable he was. The correspondence was with son, not father, during the booking stage. Given that he was a minor, and needed his father's approval/credit card, I did not suggest - as I have in the past - that he create his own account and be verified, etc... Also, "glowing reviews"! Who doesn't love those?!

Fast forward 4 weeks later: Several complaints from other guests. Several conversations about personal hygiene with him. Several requests/reminders to clean up after himself. Etc, etc... 

My cancellation policy is "strict", and each time a new guest books, I have to talk to him about not peeing on the toilet seat, and not staying up to the wee hours screaming at his video games because it disturbs the person in the other room (next to his), not leaving dirty dishes on the counter/sink, etc, etc.

He has just over a month to go, and I am done parenting him. I can ask him to leave but do not want my calendar dates blocked - or maybe that's a small price to pay... 

Booking minors - extra charges? Seriously. He received a package in the mail yesterday and when I took it to him and he opened the door to his room I was shocked at the state it was in. Filthy & unhygenic. I asked him to please clean it - he said he would but stated that he felt "offended" by my request. 

Thoughts/Insights greatly appreciated!

[Gerry-And-Rashid0]

A few thoughts....

Anyone under 18 is still a child legally, and therefore you need to really think it through particularly for longer term bookings.

Long term cleaning: what's your arrangement for keeping on top of things for a month long (or longer booking). Perhaps a once a week visit to room, etc...to hoover, etc... or when bed linen is being changed?

Of course you can ask AirBnB to move him as you are not getting on with him as a guest - not sure how any penalty clause will come into effect in this instance.

[Serafina0]

An 18-year-old is an adult and should have his own Airbnb account. I understand, though, why the father might want to manage the process through his own account, both for safety reasons and perhaps increasing the likelihood a young man would be accepted by a host.

I can see why you'd want him out of your place. The best thing to do might be to talk directly and frankly with both your guest and his father to see if he will voluntarily leave. You could agree together ahead of time on the appropriate refund and allow the father to amend the reservation, overriding the long-term cancellation policy.  In my view, that's preferable to involving Airbnb.

If you can't come to an agreement, you could try to have the boy removed based on it being a third-party booking which isn't allowed. It's a little cheeky making that claim being that you accepted the reservation and have had him there for a month, but...

Also, you might want to think about your House Rules, which give Hosts additional ammunition for removing unpleasant guests based on the specific criteria you include there.