Instant Booking - reservation made by guest for some other guest

[Magdalena-and-Richard0]

Hi, I am in a tricky situation where guest 2 weeks ago send reservation request for other date (visible booked in calendar) asking if it is free, that she would like to see the room as it is for her colleague.  I declined it. Now she booked the room via instant meeting without even seding us message. So I asked her wheter the room is booked for her 2 times with ni reply, so I sent her note that if she will not reply if the room is booked for her I would need to cancel her booking.

Now she is comming back with that she replied, but it did not worked, that the room is not for her but for her colleague.

I do not feel comfortable with this situation as I have no idea who will come to our place! What shall I do?

Thank you for your help.

[Donna15]

@Magdalena-and-Richard0, third-party bookings are against AirBnB terms of service. Contact AirBnB and explain the situation. In all likelihood, they will cancel the booking. You might also inform the person who booked that the reservation will be cancelled because it is a third-party booking.

https://community.airbnb.com/t5/Tips-Tricks/Contact-Airbnb-A-Community-Help-Guide/m-p/16165#M728

Under no circumstances should you cancel the reservation yourself, as there are penalties for the host. 

[Jeff-Noble-and-Susan0]

I had a similar situation of someone booking for her employees who were not members of airbnb. Here is th response from customer service 

Airbnb Customer Experience Samantha Rozendaal, Apr 10, 08:42: Hi Susan, Thanks for calling in to Airbnb today! It was great talking to you and I hope this message finds you well. I'm just reaching out to you in case you have any concerns that I might address. I'm here to help! Like we discussed, third party bookings on Airbnb are discouraged, but they do happen. Because Christiane booked your listing on behalf of someone else, any damages or liability would fall back on her, since hers is the only name and information we have in connection to the reservation. You'd still be covered by our host protection insurance, which is designed to protect you in case of third party bookings or bodily injury. You're automatically covered whenever you become a host! If you'd like more information on our Host Protection Insurance, please see:https://www.airbnb.com/host-protection-insurance We also have a Host Guarantee, which would protect you against property damage, regardless of who made the reservation. You're automatically covered by that as well, and for more information, check out: https://www.airbnb.com/guarantee Also, since the reservation was supposed to start today, (and Christiane never informed us otherwise) you can expect your full payout to be released tomorrow (4/11). It could take a few days to appear in your account. Even if they decided to cancel, you'd receive the full payout. If there's anything else I can do for you, or if you have any other questions, please let me know and I'd be happy to help you out! Thanks for being such a wonderful host and a valuable member of the Airbnb community! Best wishes, Samantha Rozendaal www.airbnb.com/help THIS EMAIL IS A SERVICE FROM AIRBNB CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE. THIS EMAIL IS A SERVICE FROM AIRBNB CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE. For more information visit our Help Center

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[Lee27]

I have also had similar situations recently.  The Airbnb member has booked for a 3rd person, or a family member has used a member's profile to book.  In all circumstances, I only found out on the day of arrival or the day before.  How do I report this to AirBNB?  I cannot provide a review to the member as they did not stay...that impacts my hosting profile.  I managed to ask the geusts to complete a "check-in form" so that I had their contact details and address.  If I decline these bookings and cancel the booking, I have a strict cancellation policy, do I get paid? With only 1 day's notice, I am not likely to replace the booking. So, I accept the booking and hope that it all works out, but the Airbnb member whose profile was used for the booking is not penalised for this behaviour, and I spend more time that I should on the admin for the booking.