Should I accept Booking a trip for his sons?

[Gemma8]

I received a booking from a man in Canada who said it was for himself and his brother. It then turns out it is for his sons who are brothers. Aged 17 and 19 for 5 days as a trip to England to visit relatives. I accepted the initial booking as I thought it was 2 50yr old men. I can now not add a security deposit. What would people advise? I know Airbnb do not accept third party bookings

[Marcus0 · Accepted solution]

This happens alot.  Companies booking for staff and so forth.

I assume you did not have a security bond amount entered into the listing and now you are concerned since young people are coming?

If this is right you can write to the father and ask if they can pay a cash security bond at check-in refunded at check-out as long as the apartment is returned in good order with the keys.

PS. you should always have a security bond amount otherwise you have zero recourse when problems occur. 🙂

[Marcus0 · Accepted solution]

This happens alot.  Companies booking for staff and so forth.

I assume you did not have a security bond amount entered into the listing and now you are concerned since young people are coming?

If this is right you can write to the father and ask if they can pay a cash security bond at check-in refunded at check-out as long as the apartment is returned in good order with the keys.

PS. you should always have a security bond amount otherwise you have zero recourse when problems occur. 🙂

[Gemma8]

Thanks for the advice. Is there any advice on the amount your security deposit should be? 100%?

[Marcus0]

The deposit is a fixed amount you must enter, no a percentage of the booking.

If you mostly receive short bookings under a week then usually one or two nights i find is fine to cover small things that may happen unless you have an expensive fitout.  Maybe for you this is 200 to 300?  Be aware that high deposits can scare potential guests off for short bookings.

[Frank10 · Accepted solution]

@Gemma8 I would contact Airbnb and ask them to cancel the booking. I was in a similar situation and I contacted Airbnb to tell them that I misunderstood who was staying and it was too late before I could advise them that the account had to be created under the actual guest's name. Airbnb read through the chat thread and cancelled my booking with no penalty. 

Do not accept bookings for other people, doesn't matter their relationship. In doing this, you theoretically have no information about the people staying (phone, verified ID... nada!) and if you try to ask for it over the airbnb system it will be masked out. Furthermore, if they are bad guests (God forbid) you can't review them because technically they didn't book. 

Also, I never accept funds off the site. There's no garuantee you'll get them and it introduces an uncomfortable element that the cashless Airbnb system removes.

[Gemma8]

Thanks Frank this was super helpful. I followed your advice and Airbnb have efficiently sorted out the cancellation and educated the booker. Any advice on what to do with a 17 and 19yr old brothers who are booking for 5 days is much appreciated. I was thinking a 100% deposit.