I have a guest that booked but is not staying - his girlfriend is.

[Bernadette82]

The booking came from California, his girlfriend is here in Vegas and is the one that is in my room. Possible with her friend also. I don't have a problem with the amount of people, I host up to 4 in that room, but the booking was for 1 adult and 1 infant. So now it's his girlfriend and her friend. I am a little leary and have locked up the rest of my house. (I still have children in the house with me.) Is that wrong of me to do that? The guy that booked has been approved by ABnb but I have no idea who this person is that is in my guest room. Apparently they have been doing this throughout Vegas and all but one comment were good. He just now booked them for the whole weekend. I need some reassurance or advice please. Thank you, in advance. 

Bernadette

[Alexandra316]

@Bernadette82 If you're not comfortable I would contact Airbnb right away to get the situation fixed. Bookings on behalf of someone else aren't allowed on Airbnb, so they are in violation of the rules for sure, and I understand why you're not feeling comfortable. 

I like contacting Airbnb through @airbnbhelp on Twitter, but you can also call. There are a bunch of ways to contact them at https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Help/Contact-Airbnb-A-Community-Help-Guide-UPDATED/m-p/413245 .

[Mike340]

@Bernadette82

Third party bookings are not allowed, but, of course, they happen. You should explain this to your guest, and that as the property owner, you have the right,as per the rules of Airbnb, to see and note some form of ID of the person "booked in". As you can host up to 4 people, are you sure that the guy doing the booking isnt going to join them at some point during their stay? I always ask all my adult guests to provide a b/w copy of their ID/passport and say I have to book them in, due to fire and building regulations. I then always have an idea of who the whole group is, and not just the person doing the booking. The reviews of the person doing your booking sounds fine, but as I say, you are the property owner,so you have the right to know who your guests are..explain and ask politely.

[Chris232]

@Bernadette82

Third party bookings are not allowed. If anything goes wrong you will not be covered.

You mention you have children ..... and you have a complete stranger in your home whom is not registered with AirBnB.

If it was me contact AirBnB immediately to have them removed. Your kids are more important than a few quick bucks

[Bernadette82]

Apparently 3rd party bookings are allowed. I spoke with a representative and she said as long as I approved it, it was ok. But I didn't and this was an automatic booking. It took me 45 minutes to respond to him telling me that his girlfriend was coming and then the automatic booking came in in about 30 minutes. So I am a little miffed on this auto booking. How was I supposed to decline if I didn't even have time? All kinds of stuff ended up happening, tons of people coming in and out, no rules were abided to, missing food & laundry items and laundry being done for 2 days. (Laundry is not included in stay). The girlfriend lives here in town and texted me on many problems I caused to her and her bf. So I'm afraid she might come back to my house. Bad decision on letting her stay here. I know that now, follow you're instincts. 

[Ange2]

@Bernadette82   If in doubt cancel, but call Airbnb first so you are not penalized. If you want to go ahead tell him that his girlfriend needs to set up a verified account and added to the reservation. I have done this a few times and all bona fide guests have no problem with it.  As a back-up tell him, and add in your rules, that only guests named on the reservation are allowed to enter the listing, and that a show of ID is required to enter.

[Christine615]

Right. The problem was letting her in. I have had two instances where someone booked on behalf of someone else. The first was a family and I verified the circumstances. The second was a woman who booked for staff members and had good reviews from other hosts verifying that it had been a good experience.

But for individuals? That's an issue  because if there is damage, then who is liable? The person who booked can claim innocence because they didn't cause it.

[Mike340]

"The person who booked can claim innocence because they didn't cause it."

@Christine615

@Bernadette82

Yeah,true....but you will probably find..that if a member of a group causes any damage then the person making the booking doesnt take the responsibiti, because they didnt do it either...and that you should speak to the group member. The person who booked most likely will not, and you will have little chance because you probably dont have all their details.In other words you have as much chance getting anything out of the group member as you have out of the 3rd party person...they are not in effect,much different.

[Christine615]

Right. I did it early on and decided that unless the person has a lot of reviews, I won't do it again. Not going to take the chance (although the people who didn't follow house rules or broke things were often the companions of the guest who did register for the entire guest list.)

I'm learning a lot, for sure.

[Rebecca181]

@Bernadette82 Sure, the ABB rep may say it is okay as long as you approved it, but the fact of the matter is, 3rd party bookings violate Airbnb's policies and you will not be covered by the Host Protection Guarantee if something were to happen with this unregistered guest. Sometimes us hosts have to educate the Airbnb Customer Service Reps, because some are new and frankly do not know what they are talking about. Has happened to me a few times. But it is supposed to work the other way around, of course.

[Bernadette82]

Thank you for letting me know. Thankfully I did get reimbursed for the missing items. At least I know I'm not alone in this.