BEWARE OF INSTANT BOOKINGS BY GUESTS FOR NEXT DAY

[Jeff69]

I have had to turn OFF instant booking recently because of a serier of similar incidents.  Over the past couple of weeks, I have had 2 next day instant bookings, "to visit family in town", which I did not think much about, until the second guest arrived.  He was verified through Airbnb and lived in Santa Maria California with a CA phone number.  

Yet, he had no luggage, he was in a black Escalade with totally blacked out windows, and FL plates - so you could not see the other guests, and rental companies don't provide cars like that.  I told him, the dryer was broken and I would have a service person look at it, and I would text him the wifi password.  He proceeded to give me a local phone number.  When I questioned him about the phone number, he said he used to live here, which is why he is returning to visit friends.  

While in my car, texting him the password, the back door of the Escalade opened, then immediately closed, and they remained in the car for (no exaggeration ) 10 minutes while I sat in my car watching them, after which they drove off without exiting the car.  My front door is a key pad door lock which registers each time the door opens and closes.  That evening, feeling very uncomfortable with the guests,  at 11:00pm I checked my computer app for the door history, and the door opened 77 times between 2pm and 11pm.  Absolutely, unusual for guests coming to town to visit family and friends.  

Next day, I made the excuse that I needed to see the dryer, and there were 2 different cars in the driveway.  I texted the guest, and he said NO NEED, I WON'T BE USING THE DRYER".  I told him I was just down the street, and no problem if he was not home, I had a key. I politely knocked, and heard shuffling in the house, and after knocking 2x and then getting ready to open the door, a different man answered the door, while another closed the bedroom door and another closed himself in the bathroom.  Total count - 4 men.  

So I decided to ask where was the host - JOHNNY... (who's name on Airbnb was different).  One guy said he was showering in the bathroom, never asking "who is Johnny".   

MY REAL CONCERN IS THAT PEOPLE ARE USING AIRBNB AND OTHER VACATION RENTAL SITES TO RENT HOUSES FOR ILLEGAL ACTIVITIES.  Since yesterday - I have had 3 more "NEXT DAY" requests to book, and in researching the guest further, found out they have local phone numbers or IDENTICAL phone numbers.   

I reported this activity to Airbnb, who I am sure will take measures, but I think the HOST COMMUNITY needs to be aware that criminals are wising up and using alias' to rent properties for short periods of time and running illegal activities out of the house.

BE CAREFUL - BE SMART - BE SAFE.  

Jeff - Tampa Florida USA

[Emily7]

I require 48 hours to book my homes  - For Security Purposes - I request same required documents whether Guest books ONLINE or through me...

I require valid Identification and Credit Card for the person who is responsible for the reservation and who reserved ONLINE with their Airbnb profile.

Also, if the responsible person who reserved ONLINE is not staying in the house - I will require valid Identification and Credit Card for at least one of the people staying in the house.

TO RESERVE,

Please complete our application questionnaire below and send back for our review and approval. 

As soon as we approve your request, we’ll send the credit card authorization & disclosures for signature.

Submit the Required Documents within 24 hours for FINAL BOOKING:  

Signed page of Rental Agreement/complete Credit Card information/Authorization

Signed page of Rental Rules (Exhibit A) 

Signed Reservation Application with Guest list,(NAMES & AGE of all Guests staying overnight with you in the house).

CARDHOLDER'S Valid Identification – copy front & back

CREDIT CARD (used to reserve ONLINE) - copy front & back (SIGNED)

A copy of a government issued picture ID such as a current drivers’ license or State ID card, Passport, Immigration card, etc. must be included with your application.

Credit Card information is required whether you already paid ONLINE.

Our policy is NO documents on file NO entry to the house.

Thank you,

Emily

This is properly disclosed in the Rules before you clicked the rental agreement to book it ONLINE.

For security purposes and to weed out the scammers OR fraudulent transactions we must verify your identity and have the required documents in our file PRIOR to Check-IN...

Please read the rest of the TERMS AND CONDITIONS posted ONLINE on Airbnb site... 

AIRBNB IS ONLY USED AS A LISTING SITE, ADVERTISING OUR HOMES

and when Guest books ONLINE they provide the service to Guest for a fee to process the credit card payment, they in turn pay the Homeowner the rent minus their fee.

AIRBNB DOES NOT OWN OUR HOMES NOR DO THEY MAINTAIN THEM. 

Guests must go direct through the Homeowner to secure the booking and submit all the required documents.

[Momi0]

@Emily7  You and I are "2 peas in a pod when it comes to documentation".  But I would like to point out that what you wrote in your FIRST paragram seems to go against ABB terms and conditions about Third Party Bookings.  I may have misunderstood what you wrote, but I did read it 3xs.....and if someone is using their ABB account to book your home, then they are REQUIRED to be your guests.  People cannot use their own account to book anyone elses'  listing for other people.  I'm continuously educating my potential travelers about this when they book my home for their parents, friends, colleagues, etc.  This is not allowed.  I simply remind them to cancel their booking and have their relatives set up their own account.  This just happened last night again. And thankfully the guests apologized to me for his ignorance and admitted he had not read the rules on the ABB site.  Seems to be a growing problem as many hosts are accepting this from their guests as appropriate bookings when in fact its not. I had one young lady from China who ripped into me because she said that other hosts have allowed her to do this with her account for her relatives. Well, I solved that problem by contacting ABB and reporting her (and flagging her written admission). 

Dear Hosts :  Please do NOT accept Third party Bookings.  If you are not sure what that is, go to the ABB site and read the topic on it.  Always, always, always confirm with your guests in the message board that they are indeed the ones coming to check in and staying.  People have been so mad at me because I am refusing them, and some have been grateful that I helped them to understand. And with regards to what is being said on this thread about IB.....that is absolutely not true that you can't stop or cancel an IB.  I have done it twice.  Just make sure to have an ongoing positive instant text conversation with your guests on the ABB message board to make sure they have read your rules, good fit for all involved and you feel comfortable having them in your home.  As I have said many times before, this is your precious HOME....treat it as such. Take the time to ask the appropriate questions....there is nothing wrong in doing that.  Unless of course you enjoy having loud reckless party guests damaging your home with 50+ strangers going in and out.....if that's not your rule yet, then add it.  

[Valerie105]

Good ideas, thanks.

[Martin-and-Phuong0]

Thanks Jeff for the post and alerting all of us about this.  Very unnerving for sure.  When something doesn't sound/seem right, we most definitely should ask more questions and take extra precautions. 

[Amanda52]

A very similar thing happened to me 2 years ago! I then developed a product called Party Squasher - it counts the number of mobile phones in a house. I also wrote a blog about it to warn about last minute instant bookings if the guest doesn't have a photo or if other things seem odd about the reservation. In my case, they were making drugs in the house too.

Check out our website and/or contact me if you need more info about our device which helps give hosts more control and peace of mind!

I'm also at Airbnb Open in case anyone else is here. I'm running a Brain Date session on this topic!
Amanda

[Jason84]

I had the same thing happen.  It was an instant booking and said there would be two guests.  By midnight my brother called me, he lives down the street, said there were about 100 people going in and out of the house.  We called the police and they couldn't do anything about it.  There were underage drinking and they couldn't go in the house to arrest anyone, because we had given them ppermission for one night stay.

[David126]

Just wondering what happened next, you closed the party down?

[Momi0]

@Jason84   For some reason, I can't look at your listing today, but I do have one question...."Does your rules include guests not being allowed to have Parties or Visitors?"  IF the answer is yes, then the next call should have been to ABB.  Im not sure why hosts don't understand this, but if a guests is found breaking a written House Rule, then they will be cancelled on and asked to leave the home. I have already done this myself after calling the police back in 2015 when a guests caught smoking TWICE, refused to leave our home.  ABB and police handled it beautifully.  Police removed this difficult guests at 1:30am. immediately....... in handcuffs too.

They even called the next day to check up on my family to make sure we were doing better.

 IF your answer is NO, then by all means, add that rule immediately.  If your brother does live nearby, remind him to make a video of the ongoing party and partygoers if this happens again. I promise you one thing,  ABB is amazing when it comes to handling guests who break rules!  This is not tolerated.  And you should not tolerate it either. They will be asked to leave if they are found violating one of your important House Rules...and receive no refunds either. 

One more piece of advice, when you communicate with your guests, have them write you back saying they have read the House Rules and agree to them 100%.  That's what I do.  They don't do that, they dont' get booked. Its as simple as that.  And yes, I am well aware that guests have to "tick" off the box for ABB they have read the host rules, but let me tell you something....THEY DON'T READ....they just want to get through the process as quickly as possible...and thats not a good thing for any hosts.  Its my way of letting the guests know I am dead serious when it comes to my House Rules.  Respect them, and we will all have a good time. 

[David126]

@Momi0

I can see his listing and there are no rules about visitors or parties.

I always feel the rules are there to support whatever action you may need to take if things go wrong, you still need to take that action as you did with your call to the police, may be different when you live on site rather that renting a property out.

[Momi0]

@David126 Yeah I discovered that I had been signed out of my ABB profile which is why I couldn't see his listing.  Odd I was signed out when I just signed in 22 mins earlier. But I can see his listing now.

This is what happens when Hosts don't take the time to write out important "House Rules."  I sent him a private message as well about his need to update his rules and how to handle the "UNEDUCATED cops" who said they couldn't enter the home HE OWNS to address that party with "supposed" underage drinking....... Its baffling to me the number of many hosts who don't know their rights as taxpaying homeowners.  Hope he updates his listing soon.  Or sadly, it will happen again. smh

[Lilian20]

Wow, we don't see that in my area (south of france)

[Deborah160]

Hi there community.

I am new to this, when my posting went up, i would get a girl that was verified then last min oh forgot to say my b/f is with me or so on. How does this work? do i have the right to ask who will be sleeping in the room with the verified person?

I might just change it to singles only if thats the case, its only 1 b/r and when i see pics of the size of some of these b/fs its beginning to creep me out. How do you hande two guests?

[Jeff69]

Hi Deborah,  I have a 2 guest maximum per room (as each bed is a king or queen). If a guest books 1 person, and a second shows up, then I require the second to provide photo ID.  I have also had incidents - not often but it has occurred - whereby the person booking the place does not even show up, but rather 2 different people.  In those incidents I have flat out refused to allow the 2 unregistered guests enter the house.  I also put in my house rules that prior to arrival, all guests must be registered (the host must provide the guest's name), and upon arrival they must present ID.

It is your property.  If they register as 1 and a second shows up, then you have every right (and Airbnb will back you up) to refuse the to allow the second guest access.

Welcome to the Airbnb family.  there may be one or two bad apples, but the rest of the bushel is full of great wonderful guests.

Happy Trails, Jeff

[Elizabeth16]

Follow your gut. If ANY of your Airbnb rules are broken, the contract is broken.  Call the police.  Don't be "nice". Be safe.

[Laurie74]

Thank you for sharing! I am new to this......I have not allowed instant booking and may not!!!!!! I appreciate! I think this a great way to travel...... and if we all work together and share, we can help to make this a totally awesome way to travel!!!!!!