Do you accept a guest if they have unnamed guests?

[Ian57241]

I have a guest (verified profile) who wants to book and they will be bringing a guest but that person doesn't have a profile on AirBB. 

Would you rent to them for a two night stay?

[Guy991 · Accepted solution]

Hello @Ian57241and welcome to the wonderful world of hosting.

Welcome to the community as well. It is great that you found it right at the beginning — make sure to use the search button, there is a lot of useful information already here.

Regarding your question: most of my reservations are like this.

There is the primary guest, the person who made the booking, whose identity is verified by Airbnb. They will usually bring guests with them — friends, a partner, kids, parents, or other relatives. Some of them have an Airbnb profile and will be added to the reservation, and some simply don’t have an account or prefer not to be added. That is their choice.

What matters for you is that the booker must be present during the stay, otherwise it is considered a third party booking, which is not allowed.

It is also important to know the nature of the relationship between the booker and the other guests — family, friends, and so on. Make sure the actual number of guests is reflected in the reservation.

Finally, in your scheduled welcome message, kindly mention that even if there are multiple guests on the reservation, you prefer to communicate only with the booker and not with other members of the chat.

I hope this is not too overwhelming. Read it carefully and take what works for you.

Happy hosting!​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

[Greystone0]

Hi @Ian57241  - agree with @Guy991 , this is fairly common.  On our end, we can have up to 10 guests and so we don't necessarily expect all 10 to connect to the reservation or even have a profile set up.

*not sure based on how you mentioned it but - the other guest may have a profile on AIRBNB they just haven't connected to the reservation which doesn't happen automatically, in case this is the case.

You CAN ask all guests to connect to the reservation and have ID verified with a profile photo - that is an option available to you, but can be cumbersome. For some hosts this is mandatory, but generally speaking it seems to be some sort of share situation or smaller group.

AND now we have this new development to contend with @Guy991  - third party bookings now part of AIRBNB terms. Here's a recent discussion: https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Host-circle/A-person-stating-they-are-helping-booking-for-someon...

And here's the policy info: https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/4134

Would love to hear your thouts Guy (don't mean to hijack this discussion but maybe on the other discussions). I am really at odds with how I feel about it.

[Guy991]

Hello @Greystone0 and thank you for joining in. No, you are not hijacking the topic at all. @Ian57241 

The new policy separates the booker from the primary guest, which in my opinion is not truly a third party booking since the actual guest is identified and added to the reservation. That part works.

But before any of this can happen, the guest needs an Airbnb account and must actively accept the invitation.

In my experience, people often book for others precisely because those others cannot navigate the digital world.

So in my opinion we are back to square one.

You could argue it works well for corporate bookings. Maybe. But I once hosted a work team who didn’t speak any language I speak and turned my parking into an aluminium storage area. Not the experience I host for.

Regardless of the reason, I do not accept third party bookings and I will be adding that clearly to all my listing descriptions.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

[Ian57241]

Thanks @Guy991  and @Greystone0 for replying so quickly. I was hopeful that it was a normal requst (sounds like it's common) so I'm moving forward with the booking.

And I'll definitely read up on third party bookings - great addition to the topic!

So glad to get started and I hope I can contributer here and help others as you've helped me.

Ian

[Guy991]

You are very welcome, @Ian57241 .

I remember the kind host here who replied to my question just before my first guest arrived. It set the tone for my entire hosting experience and I was lucky to find this community early on.

Two things as you move forward:

Turn instant booking off. At least for now.

You must explain to guests before checkout how the review system works. A 5 star hotel experience is not the same as 5 stars on Airbnb, and many guests simply don’t know this. On Airbnb, 5 stars is the default expectation and anything below makes it very hard to maintain the 4.8 average you need. Search the community — there are a few hosts here who have written brilliant posts on how to explain this to guests.

Enjoy hosting! You will collect so many stories along the way, and before you know it you will have plenty to share at dinner parties.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​