I want to host for a friend

[Marjet0]

I  have my own breakfast in Italy but I am Dutch. Nearby lives a nice family. They are Italian and don't speak English.I would like to help them to create  an announcement on Airbnb. It looks like as if Airbnb prefers that they do it by themselves but they can't. I think it is possible when they use their own credit card and that I only give my email address to answer the questions of the guests and to complete the bookings. Would it be the nicest solution?

[Danny9]

@Marjet0

I doubt that Airbnb would mind at all if you gave your neighbors a helping hand with translation/listing in English, photos, descriptions, etc.

You may want to make sure that you understand the full extent of your personal commitment once the inquiries start landing in your mail box though, since the neighbors cannot quite speak/write any English. It is also important for both you and them to understand that you are taking it upon yourself to decide whose booking requests, at what prices and other conditions that may apply, get accepted or conversely, rejected. True, you can consult with them on each and every communication in English that you receive, but that takes even more time and energy. 

I have been managing one listing for a good friend of mine in his absence. He returns the favor by managing one of my listings in my absence. Both of us were amazed at the amount of additional work and coordination involved. Since we run listings at a popular tourist location, and the guests come and go frequently, we felt in necessary to introduce a bit of an internal bookkeeping, so that neither he nor I end up feeling being taken advantage of. 

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[Marjet0]

Thank you much Danny! Your reply is really helpful. I always do my listings by myself, also when I am abroad, but you are right: I will ask them explicitly to delegate all the decisions that I have to take, to me. Actually, they promised me also a kind of commission for all the work. As he make wine and oil, I am happy! And they as well!

Airbnb warns for the responsibility, legally. I want the owner to remain responsible for his listing. In fact I don't want to put my name and photo on the place of the host, as a friend of mine does, who is also helping a non English speaking Italian host (that's the problem, Italians don't learn  English very well). Just to avoid that people might think that I am the responsible person.  I am only the translator. 

thanks again for the quick response. 

Best,

marjet

and of course my thumb goes up! 

[Lizzie]

Hello @Marjet0 and @Danny9,

Lovely to meet you both and welcome to the Community Center.

It is interesting to hear more about how you run your listing and help others. I just wanted to ask if you have seen the recent feature announcement on 'Adding an Additional Host'? I wonder if perhaps this is something you would find useful in this situation? 

Lizzie 🙂

[Danny9]

We had no knowledge of this functionality at the time we were setting our arrangements up. Both my friend and I work in travel industry and are very much on the go. I see a merit in the idea, and will explore it shortly. 

The functionality that is so sorely missing is that one which would allow the guests to specify their arrival and departure times, as well as mode of transportation with their bookings and/or via Airbnb. 

We have a heavy turnover here, and would badly need to know the few basic bits regarding the guests' arrival and departure WITHOUT going into lengthy correspondence to figure this out!

[Raquel13]

Danny, you are absolutely right! I hope someone at airbnb is already on implementing the features that you have suggested.  

"....The functionality that is so sorely missing is that one which would allow the guests to specify their arrival and departure times, as well as mode of transportation with their bookings and/or via Airbnb. 

We have a heavy turnover here, and would badly need to know the few basic bits regarding the guests' arrival and departure WITHOUT going into lengthy correspondence to figure this out!"