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

[Dan-And-Melissa0]

We agree with Gerry and Rashid. We love their replies and always seem to agree with them! Regardless, we are sorry about this stressful situation you guys had.

We, too, have had some stressful times, but all in all, it has gone decent so far.  I would agree that third party bookings are not good. Also, the party that made the reservation was present, although didn't sleep over. So that means one less bed to make and clean, right? Plus less wear and tear as only one person is actually utilizing the space!

smoking is also against our rules, but if they smoke outside, that is their perogitive! 

Please try not to feel overwhelmed, and since you said they are both nice and kind, I don't think they deserve a bad review, unless we are missing something.

we all have our own strict ways that we operate, and often others are just different, but don't mean any harm.

[Cynthia-and-Chris1]

I agree with Gerry & Rashid - I really don't see what the big deal is. 

They seemed to be fine guests, didn't trash anything, and came and went without incident.  I dont really consider this a "third party booking" because the guest who owns the profile was present, just did not stay at night.  His reservation requested 2 people and you assumed the second person was his wife - but it seems you have learned you lesson about assuming.  Also, I'm not a smoker, but when I see "No Smoking" on a profile, I take that to mean no smoking in the house (which this guest didn't) unless there is more added to say "No Smoking Anywhere on the Property."  I dont see how you can leave a bad review just because he is a smoker who smoked elsewhere.  In fact, I dont see grounds for ANY bad review.

I think you might be overreacting a little, but that's your perogative since it is your home.  Just my $0.02.

[Cats0]

Im getting that alot too. Someone booking for someone else. I NEED to know who the heck it is staying there. I dont too strict but **bleep** We need to know who we are dealing with if anything happens. ..

[Jee0]

We were told by guest that he made a reservation for his friend due to his friend's failed credit card. His booking was made for 11 days(10 nights). After his friend came and stayed 4 nights, his friend told us he would leave urgently and requests refund for his cancellation of those last 6 nights. Shall we refund to his friend in cash or contact AIR BNB center ?  How do we refund to guest since we already received payout?

[Linda108]

@Jee0  I hope you took time to read all the entries of this discussion thread.  If not, you should so you can really understand the full impact of what you are asking. Tell your guest to work it out through Air BNB.  Do nothing!  Do not agree to the modification so you do not incur penalties.  Do not refund the guest since it was his friend's credit card.  In the future it is best to not accept third party booking because it is more than just who's credit card is used.  

[Helen3]

Hi @Jee0

As @Linda108 says you don't need to provide a refund. Tell the guest the person who booked needs to cancel through BNB and BNB will deal with the person who has booked regarding the cancellation.

If you receive a notification from BNB saying that the guest wants to cancel you don't have to provide any refund.

BNB makes it clear that you shouldn't accept third party booking and that you won't be covered in the event that something goes wrong, if you do. A good reason not to accept these bookings.

[Winnie7]

Hello Ernie & Lenora:

 We currently have a similar situation. We just started hosting, so far we had wonderful guests, we also accomandated one guest from one night stay into long term stay by opening another listing. I think there is always a chance for weird and potential bad cases. One guest started booking inquiries in Nov that he is relocatingto our area in Dec and would like to stay with us for at least couple of months. Since we were new kid on the block to hosting, we were very excited and responded fast, but never heard back from him. My husband told me he probably found other options. Then he contacted us again and booked for nine days, and we informed him there is another guest staying and using the common area.

Everything was good until after he booked, he stated in his message that we will meet his girlfriend and stated her name and she will bring their belongs since he will be working during the day. Jerry and I were shocked since we did mention in our listing there is a 10 charge for additonal person, and he only booked one for 9 days. I didn't know what to do so I immediately contacted airbnb and asked for help. We also discussed with the registered guest and he accepted that he had to pay extra for his girlfriend. We did the reservation alteration and recieved payout the next day. There are little things here and there make us feel weary about them, the fact they only know each other for only one month, they left lights on, constantly in and out of the house.

His girlfriend is not an airbnb user; therefore, has no verification and no reviews, so we googled and did some research on our own, we found out she had two records of possession of drugs in different state. I have to say she was very shifty when I greeted her, but otherwise extremely nice person and gave us lots compliments. I really have torn up feeling about them. I think honesty is very important especially this is a listing that we live in. We just have very uneasy feeling about them. Another thing is both of them smoke, they don't do it inside the house, but one is a chain smoker, who constantly goes in and out of the house. There is a big TV in their room but they like to hang out in the living room.  We have security cameras in common area only for our and guests peace of mind, but found them being adjusted toward the ceiling. The other long term stay guest informed us the bathroom shower one day went on an hour long, and since I wasn't home, he went to gas station for bathroom. Since that incident we tidy up upstair bathroom just in case it happens again. We thought about cancelling this ongoing reservation but decided to tough it out since our listing rules were not strict. This guest talked about becoming a host in our area as well and hopefully he will understand our pain in the future.  

Because of this experience we immediatly updated both our listing from $29 to $39 and $34. We beef up our house rules and turned instant booking off while they still staying with us! At this point I am not sure how to leave the review either, I think I will just give a neutral review. We are considering add in registered airbnb user only in the future! Our first guest was not an airbnb user, but his girlfriend booked for him, he turned out to be a great guest.  

I saw a lot of different replies to similar posts, some positive some negative regarding host feel weary about guests. I also understand people are just different, but if you don't feel safe, change the settings to weed out future weirdos, and people with criminal background. I have to say it is your place, your serenity, you decide what you want to do for your well being.

Good luck for the future bookings 🙂

Winnie

[Pernille4]

I'm having this problem now. How do I report this to Airbnb? 

[Linda108]

@Pernille4  Not sure what "this problem" is from your posting, but if you need to reach Air BNB, here is a link to a guide about how to do that:

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Community-Help/Contact-Airbnb-A-Community-Help-Guide/m-p/16165#M...

[Tamara53]

Hello hosts,

I am finding this issue of guests booking for other guests/family members happening more frequently.  Having two homes that sleep 8 and 10, I am also finding the booking guest not being the guest who checks in to the home, and they may arrive days later.  I have been very diligent about asking if the guest booking is also staying.  I am sure this is listed somewhere in the Airbnb terms, but it would be helpful if booking guests were aware of this BEFORE they request.  This situation makes me-HOST, have to decline their booking and give Airbnb an explanation why, then I request that a staying guest request the booking.  Having to micro-manage this issue is frustrating.  And for legal purposes, if it slips by and the staying guest is not the booking guest, we have NO contact information/verifications.  Airbnb - PLEASE make this large and in charge on the request to book page for potential guests. - Tamara

[Claire160]

Hi

I had a request for a booking from a guy a couple of days ago saying he was booking for what I presumed was him and his nephew. So I accepted the booking and then he sent me a message to say that the booking was actually for his nephew and his partner and that he was paying for the accommodation as a treat. I was quite suspicious at the beginning as his profile picture is of John and Paul of the Beatles.

Anyway after checking airbnb guidelines that state you can't book for a third person I cancelled the booking and sent him a message explaining why I had done this. This was all done within 12 hours. However I'm annoyed that I am now penalised  and those 2 nights are now blocked. Surely he has broken the airbnb rules about booking and the fact that he did not explain exactly who was coming at the outset.

I've tried to find a way of contacting airbnb but just keep on getting a load of drop downs that don't match my query.

[Linda108]

Rule of thumb, @Claire160 is never cancel without contacting Air BNB.  The system responds automatically and doesn't "know" why you cancelled.  Hopefully all communication was on the Air BNB messaging system so the third party booking can be viewed by the staff.

Best to contact Air BNB and let them do the cancelling.  Here is a guide to contacting Air BNB in various ways.

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Help/Contact-Airbnb-A-Community-Help-Guide/m-p/16165#M728  

Call early in the morning before the call volume is high and to avoid a long hold. Hope this helps.

[Claire160]

Dear Linda

Thanks for that. I will remember the next time but hopefully it will not happen again.

Claire

[Jennifer--And-My-Brother0]

maybe this requirement is anti terrrorism?   I just had to cancel a booking after just learning about this rule which means I will be penalized $50 AND denied superhost not that I was going to make the cut anyway.  😞

[Linda108]

Please see my previous posting as it might be usefule for you as well, @Jennifer--And-My-Brother0.  It is a couple of postings above yours.