Third party guest booking

[Jennifer878]

I have an issue, where the guests account was registred by someone else ( they claim the son )using an old phone number.   The guest does not have or use the app and as the phone number was verified but now not active the phone number is no longer valid.  I had been messaging and calling the guest for over a week to confirm arrival details but could not get any response.  I messaged and called Air B&B today and they also said they would try to get hold of them but that the booking was still valid.  They then turned up late tonight without have even advised me of their arrival time.  I think they expect that this is like a hotel and they clearly have no idea how Air BB works.  They couple are clueless and I did advise them how much trouble and stress they have caused me.  Still, I am really not comfortable having people in my home who are not appropriately registered or verified. and essentially using a fraudulent account.   And furthermore, I don't think these types of should be on Air B &B at all.

[Linda108]

@Jennifer878  Air BNB does not support this type of third party booking, so you are not covered by the Air BNB system.  Of course, a host has the right to accept any guest, as you have.

It is not an uncommon scenerio that a son or daughter will help the parent with booking because they are thinking it is like a hotel.  When faced with that scenerio, I always refer the guest to a hotel and will not accept the booking.  Of course, there is an exception under the business travel option, but that is supported by Air BNB.

[Jennifer878]

It is late at night and I thought it bad form to turn them away, even under the circumstances.  I also have instant book ( which I have since turned off ) so could not turn away the guest.  Still wanting for ABB to get back to me and they will hopefully cancel the booking on my behalf.  

[Shannon0]

This is total Bull **bleep**e. I am hopping mad at Airbnb.  I had a reservation made weeks ago.  I attempted to contact the guests to no avail.  Finally, as the Linda above experienced, they showed up at 1am.  There were to be 3 and then there were 4.  I do allow pets, but pets must be paid for and discussed.  I learned it is a third party from the guests because the booking guest was not here. I called airbnb and they did nothing but esclate it. I am like ???? It is 1am what am I supposed to do?  Finally the next day I get a silly message hoping I am having a nice day and then last night I get a call after midnight from support.    This is a 4 day booking that I scheduled renovation work around and planned to spend the money on the bathroom. I said to Airbnb you don't allow third party bookings, right? Well what happens if a guest books a month reservation and a month out which block the calendar for a month? I lose the business I could have gotten and would have gotten and then I get ZERO dollars? How is this protection. I felt forced into this third party booking. I was so tired and did not want to send them into the night at 1am. Then the next day I see them sneaking in the dogs. My rules say, "If you sneak in guests or dogs your reservation will be ended without refund." I called airbnb and yes I took a photo. Airbnb again said you can cancel and we give them back the remaining days. sigh. I say but they agreed to my terms!!!!! Still no help and no lessons learned for the guests.    I have lost all faith in Airbnb. They do not give a small care for us hosts.

[Paul154]

I understand your frustration and probably would have done what you did.

However, once you let them in your home, you really need to stay mum.

You have accepted them.

Forget good form or politeness. You had the legal right to turn away these guests.

When you were having communication problems, you should have told them and Airbnb that you will only allow the registered guest with other guests in the house.

[Shannon0]

Yeah, but we are in business for money. Not to waste our time and have our listings blocked.  What is the remedy for us? What is the protection? What is the policy? The policy says it is all about tranparancy. What is transparent is they don't give a rip about our businesses.  

[David126]

Not something that bothers me but when this happens I do tell them that Third Party Booking are an issue for other Hosts.

[Rebecca181]

@Jennifer878 If you have your own property insurance that covers your Airbnb guests you have a bit more flexibility than hosts who only rely on the Host Protection Guarantee (and we know from posts here that this can not really be counted on). However, it is against Airbnb policy, so if this happened to me, and they booked using Instant Book, I would explain to the guest that I am having Airbnb cancel them because it is against Airbnb policy to accept a 3rd party booking and the guest is not protected by the Host Protection Guarantee. If you learn only when they show up at your door that it was a 3rd party booking, you can turn them away (after contacting Airbnb - I believe they contact the guest for you to explain the reason they are being cancelled, not sure); however, if you have your own property insurance to cover your Airbnb activity, then you are not as vulnerable if you do decide to let them stay - but the booking is then outside the realm of Airbnb.

[Tony134]

3rd party bookings are almost always drop off babysitting jobs. I do my best to avoid them, the guests rarely treat the home well because they aren't worried about review, AND then the booker rarely leaves a five star review because they weren't even there.

Airbnb needs a process to transfer a booking to a newly created ahs govt ID verified account so these people know it's on them of they don't treat house well.

[Jill2]

The following was cut and pasted from airbnb...   Can I book on behalf of a friend or family member?

Transparency and trust are vital to the Airbnb experience. People rely on information in Airbnb profiles, reviews, and other verifications when deciding whether to host or stay with someone.

We require Airbnb reservations booked for personal travel to be booked by the person who's going to stay at the listing.

Instead of making a reservation for someone else, consider referring them to Airbnb. You can refer them to Airbnb directly by clicking the Invite Friends button. 

For business trips, Airbnb allows designated bookers at companies enrolled in Airbnb for Business to book trips on behalf of others.

I personally confirm in my initial welcome message template # of guests and that the person booking will be the guest.

[Laila99]

Hi Dear,

Could you please post an example of an initial welcome message in this case? Thank you.

[Rachel1655]

Are we allowed to ask for an ID? I have had folks showing up that look nothing like the tiny Airbnb photo and I have no idea who the second person is. This is a room attached to my home.