Writing my 1st negative review

[Christina355]

Ugh! I was just forcred to write my 1st negative review. I knew it would happen at some point. Just need to vent a minute! 

I had a woman with a nice selfie book my place for just herself for 3 nights. Her message to me is "Hey Christina, I'm just coming in to town for a graduation".  I send my little house guide with everything you need to know about the space- the little nuances, where to find extra sheets, what parts of the property are off limits (like my house) etc. My place is a camper on a separate part of my property and I rarely see my guests unless they need something. I send the lock box code and ask that she let me know her arrival time. No response at all... Day of check-in I'm cooking dinner and my dogs start barking so I look outside. To my surprise a vehicle parks at my door and 3 people hop out.. they walk up to my house. I meet these people outside and they inform me that they are staying in my camper.... Um, you are not the person in the picture and there are three people here... not 1 like the booking?! I'm told the neice booked this for them and she failed to pass along my guide, obviously hadn't read my listing and didn't have the code to the lock box. One of the people tries to hand me her credit card to prove she paid. I have no way to know what card was used! They had a kid with them and it was already after 6pm on a graduation weekend, so I decided to let them stay. I explained the issues with 3rd party bookings and then I heard no peep out of them the whole time. I went in today after their check-out and they left a note saying they couldn't find the extra sheets to accomodate the extra people that had spending the night, but they didn't want to bother me by asking... the nerve! It was so odd and I think they genuinely didn't understand how Airbnb works, but I was glad for them to leave. I doubt they'll write me a review, but I left a straight forward review for the woman that booked even though she didn't even stay here (mainly because she didn't stay, actually). 

These 3rd party bookings are out of control! Airbnb needs to make it VERY clear to guests that this is not ok. Not to mention that its not ok to book for 1 when 3 will be staying. If we could just force them to READ haha 

[Inna22]

@Christina355

I assume you do not charge for extra people? Nice of you to not leave them stranded with the child late in the evening. I would have probably asked them that the person who booked originally adds these three to the reservation before they can go inside.  What if the original person claims extenuating circumstances no show and claims does not know who these people are. Or they damage anything and you are not covered because technically they are not even staying there. These days I am not surprised at anything. I hotel would have never let them in.

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Christina355

I would not have allowed those people to enter..... they are total strangers and who knows if the "niece" story is even true??? I would have at least called the guest to confirm, ask to see ID of the people who came to stay, and call ABB to get everything on record before deciding whether or not it is worth the risk of allowing strangers to stay. 

[Christina355]

Thanks for your replies! I think I was just so shocked and caught off guard that I definitely could have handled it better, but there is no way they could have had my address or even known that I rented with Airbnb unless the booking story was true. I was definitely lucky that it ended up working out ok and nothing was damaged! I updated my listing to state that I do not accept 3rd party bookings. I'll definitely not be so kind if this scenario ever happens again. I'm still new to hosting, so this was the first time I've had a guest totally disrespect my trust. 

It's really so stupid, because if they hadn't come up to my house I wouldn't have even known and it wouldn't have mattered, but since they didn't take the time to read my house guide they screwed themselves into a bad review. 

[Mike340]

@Christina355

Once I have a booking I send out a standard arrivals message asking for arrival details.

I also ask for NAMES of ALL adult guests and in that part I add a '**' and add at the bottom a reminder ** to the  guests that ONLY those named and an equal number (or less) of guests on the reservation will be allowed.

I remind them that 3rd party bookings are not permitted.

I also ask adult guests to bring a black and white copy of their ID or passport. All adult guests..period.

This is common practice for hotels to take a photocopy of ID/passport and ALL hotel guest they have to be booked in. I tell them it is building and fire procedure regulations.

Anyone else DOES NOT qualify as part of the reservation. Period. 

If a 3rd Party makes a booking it is THEIR responsibilty to follow the rules.

The issue often seems to effect guests from Asia who do not speak very good english and do not know anything about Airbnb.I think the 3rd party just thinks we will take them in regardless. 

[Christina355]

@Mike340 I appreciate your response! I'm glad you have found something that works for you in preventing 3rd party bookings. I can't see myself going that far with it, though...I know that leaves me vulnerable for this type of thing to happen again. I just host for fun and if I have to start meeting every guest and collecting IDs, then hosting will no longer be for me. I don't want to be like a hotel and I think people stay at my place, because it's not anything like a hotel. My place is actually more of a camping expereience. 

I honestly don't think there is anything I could have done differently to prevent this particular incident. The person booked for 1 and wrote "I will be coming to town for a graduation". I would never have asked her for a list of names since it was just 1 person. 

[Linda108]

No matter what Air BNB does about third party booking, @Christina355 it is up to the hosts to enforce it.  Unfortunately most hosts are not prepared to do so.  I think you have covered all the issues that could go wrong and you have learned a valuable lesson without too much damage.  I suggest you report the booking guest to Air BNB, this may not be the only time she has done this.

[Fred13]

@Christina355 You did well considering it all took you so by surprise.  And your aftermath was even better; no sooner they left you RAN to your description/house rules and changed it to lessen the 3rd party scene to happen again, and wasted little time waiting for Airbnb or anyone else to prevent it.

[Christina355]

@Linda108 Thanks for the suggestion, I just reported her. I hate being negative towards other people, but I don't want other hosts to deal with her either. 

@Fred13 I actually changed it as soon as I went back inside after meeting them lol 

This was actually my last guest before we closed for the summer. It's way too hot and rainy right now, so I'll take my little break and get back into it when it cools down 🙂 

[Fred13]

Enjoy the summer, and I already started the regular summer prayer of anyone living in the tropics- 'I Hope no Hurricane Comes Our Way'. 😉

[Christina355]

Ah, yes, the hurricane prayer. Hope it works this year! 

[Catherine827]

I feel your pain @Fred13. On the other side of the world, we experience the monsoon and cyclone season. So I tend to only have Airbnb guests six months of the year, as monsoonal rains make cleaning and laundry difficult .... and I really don’t want to deal with others if in cyclone preparation mode. 🙂

[Fred13]

We are a bit more fortunate in these parts, we get 'monsoons' for 1 month (June) then goes quiet and comfortable till September and then one more month of rain.

[Susan1040]

How do you stop 3rd party booking? I am new. My first guests will be the end of June but I am not at the house.

[Christina355]

@Susan1040 if you read through some of the comments on this thread, people have given tips on what they do to prevent 3rd party bookings. It sounds like the best way would be to ask the guest to supply the names or each person that will be staying and to tell them that it is required that the person booking be present during the stay. You can also put this in your house rules if you'd like. Of course, we can't control what others do so there is still a chance that you may end up with a 3rd party booking. If you do end up with a 3rd party booking you can contact Airbnb right away to let them know, but you'll have to determine if you want to let the guests stay or have Airbnb cancel the booking.