authorised 3rd party bookings - can we decline then all without penalty?

[Rp1]

Hello fellow hosts,

In recent times, one of my lisings has had two unrelated bookings where the guests' initial research and inquiries were made by one party, but the actual guest(s) to check in was someone other than that initial party.

In both of those bookings, there was no violation of the AirBnB 3rd party booking rule because in the first instance, one account did all the up front communication, then another booked.  In the second instance, the person who made the inquiries also made the booking, but did not intend to check in or stay herself. When I checked with AirBnB, they said it was OK for her to do so because she was booking for her staff / co-workers.

That said, in both of these reservations, the people who actually checked in had had their expectations set by the party who had found the listing, and not necessarily by reading the listing themselves.  In both cases, the guests who actually checked in were disappointed because the expectations they had had for the space were different than what was in the listing (for example, one of them was expecting 4 beds when the listing clearly shows there are 2, and in the other case, the listing shows the kitchen is shared, but the guest who checked in said he didn't realise that would be the case).

And the kicker, in both cases the guests who checked in wanted a refund.  No refund was given, of course.

So I am wondering a few things of my fellow hosts - have you experienced something similar, and is there a way to just carpet decline ANY kind of third party booking without AirBnB penalising me as a host? 

[Inna22]

@Rp1

You get to use a couple of no penalty declines a year, but I would not waist them on third party. When someone books on behalf of co-workers or employees, I make them add these people to the reservation. This way they see all the communication. In both cases, when the people are added or when the travelling party books, perhaps reach out to them with something like “looking forward to hosting you. Since someone else took care of finding the place for you, please take a moment to look through the description in case you personally have any questions”. At that point they can read, not like what they see and cancel during grace period or read and know what to expect. If they do not reply, I would check in with them again until they acknowledge.

[Rp1]

I ended up adding this copy to the house rules:

"PLEASE NOTE: We do NOT accept 3rd party bookings, of any kind, not even the ones AirBnB sanctions (i.e. travel agents or travel managers booking for others). Our experience with 3rd party bookings has been horrendous every time. What this means is if you are planning to book our listing, please ensure that YOU are among the guests staying at the listing, and that you are booking the correct # of guests including yourself."

[Rachel177]

@Rp1 I've cancelled third party bookings through customer service - it doesn't affect your status (the cancellations don't count towards that) but I did have my instant booking turned off for a few weeks after a run of cancellations.

I've also updated my house rules to be clear that I don't accept third party bookings and that all guest names must be included on the booking.