Company trying to book for employee

[Stephanie600]

Hiya,

I’ve just had someone contact me:

”  Hi, Stephanie! I’m Axxxx and I book business trips for Cxxxxxxxx and other employees at Bxxx xxxxxxx Your place looks like a good fit for the employee on this business trip. I think they’d love your place!”

I refused the booking: I don’t want someone staying in my shared house that hadn’t even seen the listing so doesn’t know what to expect (For example, I have two dogs). How can this be allowed, particularly in a shared house? I believe it goes against all the original Airbnb principles. Has anyone else experienced this? Which person writes a review? How did it work out for you?

[Steve143]

Hello @Stephanie600,

That's a third party booking and is not supported by Airbnb.

The article below has some more information on this.

I've always refused such requests. As I allow instant book I've had any such reservations cancelled by contacting Airbnb support and explaining the situation to them.

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

As you require guests to send a reservation request I'd contact Airbnb to point out that it's a third party booking and your refusal of it shouldn't count against you.

Airbnb does have a business travel feature but they require the company to have a specific booking person registered with them and the listings must, among other things, be enitre place listings with no animals allowed. This is described in the article below.

https://www.airbnb.ie/help/article/927/what-is-airbnb-for-work

Steve.

[Lisa723]

@Stephanie600 @Steve143 it looks to me like the booking request *was* a business booking.

(Steve, the requirements you reference apply to being listed in the "work" collection, but I'm not aware of any requirement that business bookings can't use non-work-collection listings.)

I've had one of these so far and it worked out great for me... of the four guests who were booked to stay three nights, one guest stayed one night.

My employer has also started booking this way.

[Steve143]

Hello @Lisa723,

Yes, someone travelling for business is free to book any listing, not just the former "business travel ready" or current "work collection" ones.

In the original post the only indication that Stephanie seems to have received that it was a business booking is that the booker claimed it was.

Can I ask how it's confirmed to you as a host that this is a booking from a registered business booker in a company which has been signed up to the Airbnb for work scheme?

If it's just someone's colleague or personal assistant who isn't registered as an official Airbnb booker who does the booking, just introducing themselves as someone who books travel for some company, then, if they don't stay with you, that would be just a third party booking.

@Stephanie600has a very valid concern as there was no indication in the initial message from the booker that the person staying had any knowledge of the setup of her shared space. There's no indication that the person staying agreed to staying in a place that has two dogs. She's told by the booker "I think they'd love your place". If I had dogs I'd have to hear it from the person themselves that they knew about them and were still happy to stay.

Steve.

[Letti0]

@Stephanie600  I have done two such bookings. They were business bookings and completely legit. The actual guest gets their own method of communication to you and can read everything you wrote in the messaging system and respond to it all personally in addition to the booking party and both the booking party and the guest get my review. You can actually see the profile and any reviews the individual guest has in addition to the booking agents, so you can judge on that also. 

[Steve143]

Hello @Letti0,

How do hosts get to know that it's not just someone in the office booking for someone else?

Do hosts get some official indication from Airbnb on the booker's profile or messages that they are an official registered, with Airbnb,  booker. i.e. not just a message where they claim to be such a person?

Steve.

[Letti0]

@Steve0 Not sure the tag will work you were not on the last 5 that replied ;D The two I've had were 4 guests (Computer nerds) and 6 guests (Helicopter crew) all including the booker were listed on the reservation along with their profiles. The bookers profile write up indicated she was a booker from human resources at Blah Blah Company on one of them. On the first one I called AirBnB and they verified it. Unfortunately even though they get their own dashboard to book and add all employees to each reservation, they do not get a special title or indicator that they are legit booking agents. If in doubt call AirBnB like I did they will verify the booker. The helicopter crew who gives rides at the Strawberry festival annually plans to use us next time as we were close for them to get to and from the small airport they use. They asked for a business card, so I am thinking they will book direct next time. 

[Niel3]

I'd have jumped at it, chances are going forward the company may give a fair bit of repeat business in the future especially in quiet months.

I had someone book a 3 night midweek stay last month and looking the profile/reviews they said they worked in the medical field and often were rota'd to different hospitals & had a few reviews from other local AirBNBs so thought at the time it would be nice to 'hook' them. I went out of my way with little extras to make them extra comfy after they returned from work & sure enough have been booking a 3 night stay every 2 weeks with me since (I also retrospectively refund then 15% discount for repeat bookings) in mid week days where my rooms are generally empty out of holiday season & have been a pleasure to host as both of us are benefitting from the arrangement.

Also working people tend not to be as needy as people on holiday, they just want to come back, do a bit of work, sleep then go out to work again. 🙂

[Victoria567]

Hi @Niel0

The reference to the medical field is amusing ....particularly as I had one chap.....a doctor from Aberdeen Royal instant book my only 2 existing bedrooms for 5 nights early this summer....I only have a maximum of 2 bedrooms, clearly stated in my accurate listing.

The party consisted of 2 female friends and himself.

Great I thought.....a medic.....( My own career was with the NHS)

I accepted the booking then immediately came his request of “ Can you answer some questions?”........fire away I replied.

I need 3 bedrooms......( note the word, ‘Need’)

My reply ........there are only 2 bedrooms.

Brief pause........

My female friends need privacy.........the word ‘Need’, is now a red flag indicator for me!

My reply.......there is plenty of privacy as it’s a large house. You can sleep upstairs in the spacious king size bedroom with large private sole use shower room and your female guests can sleep downstairs in the spacious double ensuite bedroom that has a large sitting area with a sofa and a tv. Or you can decide who sleeps where in the 2 allocated bedrooms, each with their own bathroom/ shower room.

Undeterred this genius of the medical  profession asked ( I made sure was going to be his last request).........Can you put up a bed in your living room, for more privacy?

My reply......Regretfully my living room IS for living in, its never had a bed in it before now and it

will NEVER have a bed in it subsequently.

I phoned up air bnb promptly in London and cancelled the booking without any penalty no to myself.

A professional medic?.....thank goodness he was educated otherwise he would be walking on ALL fours!.....( from a fellow retired professional person who spent most of her working life in the NHS and now retired.......not yet retarded thank goodness)

[Karen1677]

Hello Neil,

I am very new to hosting and I  recently have had an inqirely from a professor at a local college interested in booking with me for 3 days a week for the upcoming semester.  I wonder how the actual booking works. Can the dates be booked as one booking or does each week have to be a separate booking?  If you don't know the answer, might you be able to direct me to where I can get that answered.

Thanks.

Karen

[Marie21]

@Stephanie600 i have done many booking like this one without any issue, last week i had one leaving today and another one arriving late this evening 

i really love this type of business booking, as they are gone all day and only using apartment during evening time, barely any cooking, mainly take away.

I honestly love them, i have even have sets of bed linen only for business travellers.

More and more business travellers are using ABB and i honestly happy about it

[Victoria567]

Hi @Marie21

How on earth do you check up on the characteristics of the guest you eventually land up

with.

Do you get someone who burns the midnight oil up into the wee hours of the night and needs the central heating kept on all the time they work and endless cops of coffee and non stop WiFi etc?

Not to mention the tiny point of WHO is responsible for any damage seeing it’s a third party booking?......just wondering!

[Victoria567]

Hi @Stephanie600

Thank goodness you refused this booking via a third party.....goodness what pig in the poke you may have landed yourself with.

A booking like this screams Red Flag......thank heavens you were really smart in turning it away👍🏻

[Linda108]

@Steve143  In answer to your question about how does a host know that the third party booking is a legit I recall that I was surprised by the initial inquiry by a registered trip planner.  There was no indication other than the message from the planner.  @Stephanie600 as other hosts have noted, I also had a very positive experience with these business travelers.

[Lisa723]

@Steve143 yes, Airbnb should do a better job of informing hosts about these types of bookings. I had to ask the booker and she confirmed.