A friend of the guest made reservation

[Eileen99]

i have instant booking on and a man in my neighborhood made a reservation for his friend in China. He used his own photo and ID to get verified. He gave me his phone number so I called and asked him why his friend didn't just make the reservation herself and said I don't want someone in my house if I haven't even seen their photo and ID etc. He emailed me a picture of a young woman and the front page of her passport. He says he made the reservation for her since he used his own credit card and the friend doesn't have a creidt card. Should I be concerned?

[Cynthia-and-Chris1]

@Eileen99 Airbnb does not allow third-party bookings. I would contact Airbnb directly and ask them to cancel the reservation without penalty since this reservation is in violation of their terms of service. 

[Pritesh0]

Hey Eileen,

Initiate cancellation if you are not convinced with the narrative.

But on the hindsight its nice that instead of some one all the way from China whom you havent met or seen whole your life, your own neighbour has made the booking whom you know. He must have thought your listing is worthy of booking it for his known friend. Its like you have a brand ambassdor next door. Continue with the booking because if you are going to cancell the same person is going to give that booking to some other host in your area and that would be not good.

Cheers & Happy Hosting

Pritesh 

[Pritesh0]

You can very well put a condition that you will verify her IDs and Passport he has shared with you; at the check in time.

[Simon237]

I also had a guest that made a third party booking, for her brother and his friends. Unfortunately it was a same day booking, and once I realised what was going on, it was too late. Left a comment in the feedback for AirBNB in the review, but it seemed nothing happened. As I result, I will now only communicate with guests via the AirBNB app or the mobile number that is registered on their account. It has prevented a repeat occurance.

[Taylor59]

I just had a recent experience of this as well.. It was a mother trying to book her daughters stay with the mothers ID and picture and she also tried to convince me to let her pay with cash "off Airbnb" but to hold the room for her. I politely declined because it was making me uncomfortable. She went along to book a room with her credit card on Airbnb, said her daughter was coming and would present her ID at the door. Then they didnt show and I got a cancellation notification a few hours later... SMH lol.

[Carol-Lee1]

I had a woman book my place for her son and his girlfriend who is attending college here.  Originally it appeared she was booking for herself with her photo id.  I started questioning her and she told me it was for her son, age 19.  However as we progressed in talks I was convinenced to allow them to stay with assurances (her phone#, email, etc.) that they would be responsible.  It worked out fine and they were great young guests.  I guess you have to follow your instincts and make sure you spend some time chatting with potential renters to find out what they expect and who they are.  Another request for a group of young people last minute I turned down because I was pretty sure it was an after party place to flop.