Guest booking for someone else.

[Ernie--and-Lenora0]

Hi, 

We recently had a guest make a reservation that was new to airbnb. He requested to book for 1 guest and only mentioning him staying at our place but didn't have any verifications. I told him to proceed we require him to verify himself. He did so but then put in another request after his verifications were complete and I accepted. I realized that it said 2 guests then and not 1. In the photo there is him and another woman. I do my research on facebook and find out he is married and pictures match his airbnb profile and the woman. I am assuming now that it will be him and his wife staying. When he arrived at my house there was a man with him. We are a little confused. They were both friendly and kind but we wondered why he didn't mention this other man staying but since he was new to airbnb we thought he maybe didn't realize that he should have told us?? 

To shorten this it appears he made the reservation for the other man! The guy who made the reservation never stayed the night. He booked for 2 nights. When we realized what happened (after 1st night) we confronted them and asked who the other person was in the profile and said the other man doesn't look like the woman in the picture with him. He says thats his sister in the picture. We tell him then that this isn't how airbnb works and you are to tell hosts who is staying. We could care less who he brings to stay as long as we know! They guy who made the reservation would be ther during the day and then leave at night. weird. we where then very uncomfortable with the situation and the next day for them checking out couldn't come soon enough.  

My big question is if this happens again where someone didn't match the photo or I felt uneasy about them staying how do I deny their stay?? I wished I had went with my gut and told them they can't stay but I am not sure how all rules work and with refunds. Which I gladly would have given. I want to know how to do this professionally and not upset the guests. 

They are not getting a good review, in fact I wish I could get them kicked off airbnb. He also broke house rules by his friend being a smoker! House rules say NO SMOKING

[Karen267]

Hello there how do I actully contact Air B & B direct please??  I have this problem right now:). 

[Zolly0]

Hi Karen,

Sign is as Host, then go to bottom of page and click Help. Find the link which says contact us and click it. Then send your message. Someone will get back to you about wht to do.

Zolly

[Karen267]

Hi there could  you please tell me where you find the ememergency Air B & B phone numbers please??   I have this happento me a chap has booked but ii is for his work staff not him!!! I am concerned if I cancel the booking and I  get a tut tut warning from Air B & B about loosing stauts re cancellng so I would like to do this the correct way :). 

[Helen280]

Hi there , I am concerned about a guest who has booked his parents into stay with me . They are due to arrive Ina couple of days and I have no details about them , Robert who did the booking has no reviews despite having been a member since Dec 2015 . Also he lives in the same town as me and has twice asked how to find me , even though it's a few days prior to the visit . This is making me feel uncomfortable and I would like to cancel but don t want to acquire any charges or penalties . Any advice please . Thankyou , Helen 

[Linda108]

@Helen280  I don't know if you read this discussion thread or not, but your discomfort is understandable because you are operating outside Air BNB policy by accepting a 3rd party booking.  People can book hotels for friends and family, but cannot do it on a platform that is based on the community of hosts and guests.  Perhaps the reason this booking guest has no reviews is that he books for his parents and no on bothers to review him.

Was this booking through Instant Book?  If you are not comfortable with this guest, you can cancel under the terms of IB.

Alternatively, you can go with this situation and you can feel better if you get more information about the parents.  Perhaps his parents are visiting and he does not have room for them to stay so your place is an alternative.  Get more information about the parents, like names and direct contacting phone number.  Remember, though, there is no Air BNB support should something go wrong with the guests be it damage or liability.

[Helen280]

Thankyou for your advice , I should not of accepted the booking in the first place ! I will contact him and explain the situation and hopefully he will find alternative accommodation for them . Or maybe they could register with airbnb themselves ! 

[Linda108]

Quite the bait and switch @Ernie & Lenora!  You obviously have a lovely home and are great hosts given the high praise in your reviews.  I see two issues:  First, your rules need to be beefed up with something like, "only registered guests will be allowed to stay at our place as there are no third party bookings".  The guests don't know Air BNB regulations and policies and their frame of reference would be a hotel or motel.  Secondly, since you cannot review the guest who smoked, your review of the guest needs to address the third party booking.  You can also report the booking guest via the flag under his name.

I always ask the name of all guests coming with the booking guest and repeat that only registered guests are allowed.  Even if the guest is a seasoned Air BNB member, it bears repeating.

[Ernie--and-Lenora0]

Thank you Linda for the tips! Yes this is a lesson learned to beef up the house rules for sure. And to question each person making a reservation and better job at getting details of if there is anyone else traveling with them. Its hard when every guest has been great and now this. I will also make it clearer that even though we have no smoking that still means NO SMOKERS even if its outside. The smoke is still smelt on them. Could I have told them to leave though is my big question right when they arrived and how would you have handled that?????

[Elaine-and-Duane0]

My listing says, Please do not book this listing if you are a smoker".  I know I can not regulate smoking off my property, but I can discourage people from booking. If a guest would smoke in my home or on my property, that would be a violation of my house rules and consequences would follow. 

[Kevin580]

What exactly is being accomplished by asking for the names of everyon who will be staying? Are you running some sort of background check on them or looking at their IDs? If not, they could just make up whatever. As long as its the same 4 people coming in and out if they booked for 4 I think thats good enough for me... though I;m genuinly curious, maybe there is some benefit I'm not aware of?

[Linda108]

@Kevin580  I have continued my practice of asking for the names of all the guests for the last couple of years since I posted my initial response.  My listing is a private room so I am here during the reservation.  I am not a remote host.  My initial reason for requiring all names was more safety oriented, which continues to be pertinent.  Now I have found having the names of the guests in advance helps me to remember their names which increases the rapport I have with the whole group.  Of course, I am a senior and memory prompts are often needed 😛

[Gerry-And-Rashid0]

Here's another view....

It's up to you to ask who is staying - lots of people post photos of them with other people. You can't just assume something like that. Ask the question - who is staying, it's a standard thing to do.

You are placing a lot of blame on these guests which I don't think is fair. I still don;t understand from your story why you are giving them a bad review, or why you were so uncomfortable.

In summary, they were nice, they paid, they didnt wreck the place - there was confusion on your side as to who was staying.

The only thing I can see they did wrong was one of them smoked - and that's not a reason to have someone kicked off AirBnB. 

Think carefully before you write your review as it could backfire.

[Ernie--and-Lenora0]

@Gerry-And-Rashid0 I am totally at fault for not asking more questions. I am not trying to put the blame but it did seem sneaky to make a reservation and then not mention who is coming and then for him not not stay overnight. I go get that I cannot make assumtions of who is coming and its easy to do when looking at the profile picture and this one slipped. I am now going to be more careful to assure who is staying. And  make it clearer about the no smoking rules. Whats uncomfortable here is that this was definitly a 3rd party booking and thats not ok. I am worried about giving a bad review as much as I want to. I don't want retialiation. He lives in the same town as me and now knows where I live. He needs to know that you cannot book for anyone other than yourself. Or at least I am going to make that more clear in my house rules. Thank you for feedback

[Gerry-And-Rashid0]

Good luck - we all learn by our omissions and thankfully this one wasnt that bad really - just stressful! 

It's sometimes hard to know when to draw the line with asking questions - you don;t want to seem too intrusive, but you need to be comfortable too. 

[Ernie--and-Lenora0]

Yes it was very stressful! Lessons learned here for sure.