Guest misrepresented herself

[Neil707]

I have a guest that just booked.  They have no reviews and wanted to book for 6 adults for a birthday celebration.  I asked for more information and explained that our place is not appropriate for parties.  I didn't hear back from them initially, so I denied the booking request.  After the denied booking request, they told me they are 58 and have 4 adult children and it would be a quite family celebration.  They asked if I would still take the booking and told them I would allow them to book. 

Now after the booking, I have the guests full first and last name.  I looked them up on social media and they are much younger and it is very apparent from their social media presence that they like to party.   They purposefully did not provide the names of the other guests in my supplemental rental agreement.  What should I do?  Cancel the booking and take the ding?  Will Airbnb cancel their booking for me since they are obviously already lying to me?  From now on, I will only be accepting guests with reviews as this is the second issue I have had with unreviewed guests in under 2 months of hosting.

[Abi010]

Compliment of the season, and so sorry you are dealing with this at just 2 months of hosting. I am in the same situation, even though I have been hosting longer than you.  This situation seems to crop up often and put one in catch 22 , **bleep** it if you, and **bleep** it if you don't.  What I meant is if you stopped them from staying,  they get a full refund and you missed out on the booking .

So what I did was to take a.copy of the said guest ID and contact details for my own piece of mind, but the downside is, if you need to make a claim, it will be difficult as it will be impossible to proof with Airbnb  regardless of whether they have a review or not

Hope you don't have to deal with this often.  Happy hosting 

[Joelle43]

Hello @Neil707 

Do not cancel the booking yourself Neil since you will incur a financial penalty and your calendar will be blocked anyway but phone Airbnb and explain that their ID information is incorrect and that you suspect that they will break your no party rule.  Say you are very uncomfortable with hosting these guests and if you have proof, keep that handy too.

Ask customer service to cancel with NO penalty to you in view of the circumstances.

Keep us posted and good luck!!

Joëlle

[Neil707]

Airbnb is denying canceling, even though they completely misrepresented themselves to me.  The best I can figure out is to turn off instant booking and deny all future guests that do not have any reviews.  I guess that will have to be my new policy.  I really hope there is no issues with this reservation.  

[Joan2709]

Hi @Neil707 

Hmmm...here are some ideas....

House Rules

Be sure your House Rules say that only the guests listed on the reservation may be on the property:

"No unregistered guests, third party guests or unapproved visitors. If unregistered guests or visitors are on property, your reservation may be cancelled without refund. The fee for unregistered guests or unapproved visitors is $100 per day (part of day)."

If you didn't have this in your House Rules when they booked, I would add something similar to this wording in your check-in message:

"Please note: Only those guests listed on the reservation may be present during your stay. No unregistered guests or unapproved visitors."

Airbnb's Terms of Service

If you really don't want the booking, I would try again to get Airbnb to cancel this booking based on the fact the guest falsified their age. Per the TOS:

Airbnb Terms of Service - Guest

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/2908#4

1. Airbnb Platform Rules.

12.1 Rules. You must follow these rules and must not help or induce others to break or circumvent these rules.

• Act with integrity and treat others with respect
• Do not lie, misrepresent something or someone, or pretend to be someone else.
• Be polite and respectful when you communicate or interact with others.
• Follow our Nondiscrimination Policy and do not discriminate against or harass others.

[Joan2709]

@Neil707 

***--edit your statement to say the fine for unregistered guests or unapproved visitors is $100 per person/per day (or part of day).