The person who rented my house did not stay there

[Todd462]

I recently hosted 5 people in my mountain home in Colorado (they had the entire house to themselves).  After accepting the rental I learned that the person who rented the house had no plans to stay there.  Instead, it was her parents, son, his friend, and an au pair.   This made me nervous but I wasn't sure if I could cancel at that point. 

I ask that people check in between 4 and 10 pm - they arrived at 1:40 in the morning and promptly got stuck in the snow (I warned them there was a snowstorm and it wasn't a good idea to arrive so late).   The walked to the house and my neighbors helped them dig out their rental car the next morning.

Things seemed to be fine for the remainder of their stay.  When my cleaner went to the house she found a total mess.   Stack of dirty dishes all over the house and they had not run the dishwasher as instructed in the house manual.   All of the thermostats were set to 90 degrees (we typically keep them at 65 when we are there).   It appeared that a cup of coffee or a soft drink had been thrown against two walls in the bathroom.

My question - are the actual renters required to be present in the AIRBNB?   I have rented regularly on AIRBNB for 4 years and this is the worst renter I have hosted.

Thanks,

Todd

[Sarah977]

@Todd462  Yes, the person who books must be among the guests who stay.  3rd party bookings are not really allowed, although Airbnb takes the stance that the host can accept them if they want. But there is no assurance that Airbnb will have your back should things go awry, and if you become aware that it's a third party booking, before the guests arrive, Airbnb will cancel it for you. So you should have contacted Airbnb at that point.

There's little to be done now, except for slamming them in the review and making it clear that it was a 3rd party boooking.

[Flavia202]

Airbnb's policy says that you can’t book on behalf of family and friends unless you're staying together.  But the policy is slightly different for booking business trips.  See below extract from Airbnb Help:-

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/427/booking-for-friends-and-family

How-to

•

Guest

Booking for friends and family

We’d love to welcome your loved ones into Airbnb. But to help maintain transparency and trust throughout our community, you can’t book on their behalf unless you're staying together. 

Why? 

We require all personal travel reservations to be booked by the guests themselves because Hosts rely on reading their profiles, reviews, and other verifications during the approval process. If your friends and family aren’t on Airbnb yet, here’s how to get them started. 

Booking business trips for others 

If your company is enrolled in Airbnb for Work, you can designate people to book trips on behalf of others.

[Flavia202]

(Reposted):

@Todd462, Airbnb's policy says that you can’t book on behalf of family and friends unless you're staying together.  But the policy is slightly different for booking business trips.  See below extract from Airbnb Help:-

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/427/booking-for-friends-and-family

How-to

•

Guest

Booking for friends and family

We’d love to welcome your loved ones into Airbnb. But to help maintain transparency and trust throughout our community, you can’t book on their behalf unless you're staying together. 

Why? 

We require all personal travel reservations to be booked by the guests themselves because Hosts rely on reading their profiles, reviews, and other verifications during the approval process. If your friends and family aren’t on Airbnb yet, here’s how to get them started. 

Booking business trips for others 

If your company is enrolled in Airbnb for Work, you can designate people to book trips on behalf of others.