Third Party Bookings - there is hope!

Terri38
Level 10
Auckland, New Zealand

Third Party Bookings - there is hope!

I had a booking enquiry on Sunday (received while I was asleep)   "....I am inquiring in regards for my parents who are arriving from ..."

This was confirmed half an hour later (while I was still asleep).

 

Later that day, I replied to the person who booked.

"As this is a booking for your parents only, it is considered a third party booking and is not allowed by AirBnB.  If your mother or father create their own account, I would be happy to host them."  (link to AIrBnB statement re booking for parents)

 

His reply:(he created his AirBnB account 2 years ago but has no reviews)

"I was not aware of the third party booking criteria, but my parents are already in transit and they are not very good with phones and computers and especially making accounts and things like that. Hence why I made on behalf..."

 

AirBnB customer support was contacted.  And guess what?  I did get this in writing (instead of falling victim to the He Siad/She Said contradictory information trap.

"... We would like to let you know that [father's] Airbnb account is now also included as a guest on the reservation this coming March 12, 2019.

As a promised for a confirmation in writing:
1. The guest father's Airbnb account is now added as a confirmed guest on this reservation
2. The booking would stay as it is and would no longer be treated as a 3rd party booking even though it is his parents staying and not him.
3. You will be covered for by the AIrBnB policy for any damages or travel issue during or after this reservation.
Hope this information would reach you and we have covered everything that you needed.
"

 

The guests are arriving this evening.  I have messaged their son asking him to make sure his parents are aware of my house rules etc and that I would be going over the rules when they arrived.


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11 Replies 11

@Terri38:

A guest made a reservation about a month prior. Two hours before arrival he messaged that he was not able to come but the rest of the group would be there. We quickly informed him about third party bookings and suggested that he contact Airbnb to add guests to his reservation. Within a half hour Airbnb had it sorted out and the stay went perfectly.

 

On the flip side, we are sitting on an IB for April in which the guest hinted that it was third party. Despite our sending multiple messages over the past week (the first one within minutes of booking) asking him to confirm his presence he has not responded. I talked to Airbnb and they stated that they will not cancel the reservation unless the guest confirms it is third party or the guests arrive on the property without him. (WHAT???)

 

I'm glad your situation worked out!

Huma0
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

@Terri38 

 

I'm also glad your situation worked out, but personally I would not be 100% happy with this solution. I would not be comfortable with a reservation where the booking guest is not staying. Asking him to make sure his parents read your house rules is one thing, but them actually doing it is another, especially given his descripton of them.

 

I never accept third party bookings, but I have had a couple of instances where I thought I was communicating with the guest and then it turned out that I had actually been communicating with the guest's husband or son who were not on the booking. Not a good start.

 

One of these guests had not read ANYTHING and even admitted that she had only looked at the photos but lets her husband book everything for her, while her husband (posing as her) had confirmed that she had read the full listing and house rules, which she broke straight away and then blamed him as she did not know about it!

 

The other one turned up with her son, who had also been communicating with me posing as her, and even though the booking was for one person, they both proceeded to cook, eat, sit in the garden etc. throughout her whole stay. The only time he wasn't here was overnight (I think) and I actually saw more of him than her. My other guests were startled to find this random guy freely wandering around the house.

 

I'm not saying the stay won't go well as your situation sounds less complicated and it's good Airbnb hae confirmed you will be covered, but I want to be sure that the person I am communicating with is the person who is staying and that they have understood and agreed to everything. I would not be satisfied with a third party confirming this. That is meaningless.

Noel102
Level 10
Houston, TX

I'm really glad this thread got posted.  I didn't realize this was an outright violation that could get a booking canceled.  I've had numerous third party bookings for family members, and I had no idea the AirBnB host guarantee is null and void in these situations when the booking guest doesn't physically stay there.

Very interesting. We have had several successful third party bookings, not knowing it was against Airbnb policy. With the next third party booking arriving in two days, I have asked the daughter for the names of her mother, brother and brother's friend plus id photos but stated that if these are not sent we will require id and take photos. We won't be covered but at least we'll feel safer. 

Linda-And-Richard0
Level 10
San Antonio, TX

All this is another STRONG argument in favor of photos on guest profiles.  As a host, I want to know who to look for when guests arrive for check-in.  I shouldn't have to ask for photo ID when the guest is at my door.  And this is why I will NEVER allow instant booking.

 

Robin129
Level 10
Belle, WV

I just had a third party two-night stay. I'm struggling with how to review it. It turned out okay but I don't feel I can ingore the booking party's disregard for the rules when posting my review. 

---> That's how I look at most guests, like cousins. And you know, some of those cousins are kooks.
Sandra126
Level 10
Daylesford, Australia

I have people booking for their parents all the time. I accept. I have elderly parents myself who would never dream of signing up for anything on the internet, no ability or interest. I wish Airbnb would make it a possibility : Maybe a family option?

I would prefer Airbnb just allow me to turn off the ability by third party bookers from booking my listing. 

 

Also should Airbnb not have a flag that makes obvious a booking is from a 3rd party rather than depend on the guest to call it out when making the booking?

 

Airbnb is getting ridiculous in how little they care about the hosts!!

Cynthia129
Level 4
Raleigh, NC

I'm was usually okay with the 'I'm booking for my mom" type of third-party booking, but I have recently stopped taking them when I can. I had a guest who's wife booked for him (he was 'not technical' and didn't use the internet) so she made the arrangements. He did the following:

1.left all the normally refrigerated things (condiments) out on the counter (maybe for his whole stay?) 

2.didn't report a HUGE water leak to us even though you could hear it when you opened the apartment door. It was in the crawlspace and was gushing. When asked he said he had heard a really loud crash the first night of his 5 night stay and then the gushing but thought it was the river. There is NO river in Raleigh, NC. 😉

3.check-out is at 11, when my cleaner showed up at 1:30 he was not there and there were clothes and items everywhere. We were worried he was dead somewhere. Called his wife, she didn't get him to answer. Finally he strolls up at around 2:30. He said he assumed check out was at 5 pm. Where in the world is check out at 5pm? No where. His stuff was already in a garbage bag in the shed. We lost the next booking because of the water line and our city fined us for having a large leak for 5 days and doing nothing about it. 

 

the second nail in the 3rd party coffin was a sister who booked for her brother and his roommate who were travelling to our town for their mother's funeral. He was already on the road, she said. He showed up and was quiet enough, but left evidence of lots of smoking, drug use and major alcohol consumption in the apartment. I posted this in a review to the sister's account and she called me very angry. I told her to talk to her brother about it and sent her pictures of the monogrammed bong he had left in a kitchen cabinet. She stopped complaining to me. 

 

Now I cancel them, even if they are instant book (I explain why to airbnb) 

Karen466
Level 3
Seattle, WA

I have a guest arriving in a couple of hours, who booked over a month ago. She JUST told me that it is her parents staying, not her. She had previously booked for one person, not two, but kept using the word "we" when talking about her booking.  I got the reservation changed to two guests, but she STILL never mentioned that it was her parents who would be staying.  Even today, she said "we will arrive at 4pm," and then parenthetically said it was her parents, not her, "if that's okay."
I don't really want to cancel at this late point, I could certainly use the income, but I've had a  bad experience in the past with the parents showing up and breaking all the rules because they hadn't read them.
I suppose I'll just tell her she is responsible for making sure her parents understand the rules, but I really have no recourse.  Last time, the person never left a review, so my review of her never got posted. Help! What should I do?

 

Update: I told the booker that one of her parents needs to sign up and get added to the reservation before they arrive.  Based on the the OP here, I hope that will solve the problem!