3rd Party Reservations

[Joy28]

Hi fellow-hosts,

Has any of you experience from renting out your whole property to  (foreign) athletes where the booking is done by the local trainer, who has a registered company. I guess this does not fall under "booking for your employees", because these athletes are more like clients of the local trainer.  I have so far advised the trainer to ask one of the athletes to create a profile and make a booking, but haven't heard back yet. 

What risks do you see here?

best,

Joy

[Sarah977]

@Joy28  Requiring that one the guests who is staying do the booking in their own name is the right idea. Also make it clear that the guest who does the booking will be held responsible for the behavior of all of the group. So everyone in the group should be given a copy of the house rules, read them and agree to abide by them. No excuses afterwards that "they didn't know" that smoking wasn't allowed, or anything else.

Also require a complete list of the names all the guests on the booking and make it clear that you'll be asking for ID from all on arrival. (If that's not stated in your house rules, do it quick before they book, otherwise Airbnb can call you to task for it). Stress that no one but the names on the booking will be admitted to the listing, and that they may not have any other visitors at any time.

Also you say these are foreign clients. So be aware that there may be some language barriers that could prove challenging should they not be from an English-speaking country.

And you may not even hear back from this trainer.

[Joy28]

Thanks for great advice Sarah,

I believe he might  be coming back, because this is not the first time he contacted me asking for a special price.

[Sarah977]

@Joy28  Oh, wants a special price, does he? That I would say no to. This group, while they may turn out to be fine, respectful people, could just as easily turn out to be a nightmare. If it was me, I'd not agree to a discount, but maybe say you'd be willing to reimburse xx amount after the stay if all rules are followed and there are no damages or over-the-top extensive clean-up.

Does this guy have any reviews?

BTW, as an Airbnb host, I host a private room in my home for solo guests, so I don't ever have to deal with these types of requests. What i wrote above is based on my reading here on the forums from hosts who have stand-alone properties that can house large groups, and some property management and my own whole house rental when I lived in canada. maybe some hosts who do large groups will have more to add here.

[Joy28]

No, he has no review and so far only one verification.Signed up on Airbn in 2016. 

[Helen427]

@Joy0

We all start from somewhere and have NO Reviews.

Ask the Guest questions, as many as you feel you need to.

If you can ascertain where the Group are coming from, what sports they are playing and where so you can cross reference with upcoming events in your area - have a look online so it can give you a better indication of what you may be in for, and remmeber we were all younger once.

Most people who play sports are ordinary everyday folk who are well behaved.

All the best

[Sarah977]

@Helen427  While all you say is true, @Joy28's caution has zero to do with whether these people play sports. It's a third party booking, from someone with no reviews, wanting to book a large group. What sports they are playing and upcoming sporting events are irrelevant. If it's a bunch of 20 year olds, it sends up the same red flags and cautionary response on the part of the host as any group like that would send up. They may be perfectly respectful of the property, or they may start partying as soon as they are done with their sports for the day and/or have no idea nor care for cleaning up after themselves.

[Joy28]

hi Helen,

thanks for your comments, Helen.  We do host a lot of young people from all over the world while we are at home ourselves and have had many good experiences with them. Just har three long-distance runners from Norway for a month. Some of our guests have no reviews and we have accepted them, because we want to show what Airbnb is about. Only a few times we have had problems with young people and I have warned other hosts (in a review) about them.

The issue with this requester is that he will not be staying in our home himself (and we will be out of the country during that time) and even though I have asked for the names of those who would  be staying here, he has so far not delivered any names or any other information about them than that they are runners. In his last email (he found my contact info on my internet blog and wrote to my private email)  he asked me to advise how to create a "travel organizer profile" on the internet. At this point I don't want to spend any more time on this requester and answered that he should contact Airbnb-helpdesk to get help using the platform.

Btw. I was traveling alone in New Zealand last December at stayed with some wonderful young Airbnb-hosts in Auckland, both in downtown and close to the airport (missed a return flight...).

[Helen427]

@Joy28 @Pete69 @Michelle-And-Michael0 @Sarah977 

Hi folks

Joy I can understand your concerns if you are away for a month & having a 3rd party wanting to book, perhaps they have undertaken to arrange accommodation arrangements as a package deal so the runners ( their clients) wouldn't need to try find somewhere suitable - just like we hear on CC there are many, many complaints about one's Homes NOT been in a GOOD LOCATION and been ranked down in Reviews!!

Isn't it better to have people stay in your home who have a common purpose of health orientated goals?

And who has someone who is likely to be checking on them that all's well?

We have a coach in NZ who looks after younger athletes and does a fabulous job nurturing them when away, including in the USA for performance training.

I've also seen first hand groups of teen water polo players away from home with a Guardian & they were always well behaved.

Have you got someone who could Co Host for you?

Perhaps that's an option should the person making the bookings wish to go ahead.

Good to read @Joy28 you have visited NZ, and had an extra night.

All the best

[Sarah977]

@Helen427  "Isn't it better to have people stay in your home who have a common purpose of health orientated goals?"

It's rather naive to assume that just because people are athletes, that they don't party and won't leave the house in a dirty state. I live in a surf town. There are many pro surfers here. That doesn't mean they don't get drunk, snort cocaine or behave badly. And professional dancers are often heavy smokers. I attended a professional dance performance and during intermission all the dancers were out back in the alley behind the theater, chain smoking.

[Michelle-And-Michael0]

@Joy28 I think the advice that @Sarah977 has given you is good. 

Making one of the staying guests set up their own profile, and accept responsibility will hopefully encourage the right sort of behaviour. 

While we are usually in the practice of giving most new/no reviews Airbnb guests a go..... this is a different situation. The trainer making the booking will not be showing up and doesn't have an existing reviews profile that he wants to protect. So no one has anything to lose if they choose not to be good guests. 

[Joy28]

Wisely said,  thanks Michelle and Michael.

[Pete69]

Maybe there's a reason why the trainer is booking. That undisclosed guest might be Tyreek Hill or maybe Johnny Manziel and Josh Gordon looking to turn your place into a party palace.

Airbnb does not support 3rd party bookings.

[Joy28]

hi all,

Just to share what I just learnt when I called the Superhost-hotline  15 minutes ago after the trainer had informed me in a Gmail that he now had created a "travel organizer profile" , which tells his first name and that he has joined 2017 and has four verifications).  Lesson 1: as a host we cannot see who is a travel organizer because the profile does not show it.

The hotline person confirmed that the person is a business traveler and a travel organizer. Upon my question about why he hasn't any reviews and why the newly created profile shows  the year 2017, the answer was that the person has a second profile. Lesson 2: Anybody can create at least two profiles, which can be practical in many contexts.  Lesson 3: These multiple profiles are connected with each others  in some way, since the hotline staff can see it (computers are so clever).

Therefore, my understanding now is that whatever legal and insurance issues may occur they must all be the responsibility of the person whose profile has made the booking and whose credit card has been used to make the payment to Airbnb. Is this your understanding?

[Linda356]

I also just had to contact airbnb re: a third party booker. Yes nothing indicates that they are a 3rd party booker so I was contacting airbnb to have the booking cancelled as I don't accept 3rd party booking.  Only to be told if I cancelled I would lose superhost status.  I was not happy the airbnb rep then said he would do it as a once off courtesy.  I said no let it stand. He said he would send me details of the 3rd party booker. When his message came thru I was going to open it, but my Norton advised it was dangerous link. All very odd what do others think.