Hello, I have been a host for over two years. I have four units in a busy tourist place. Recently I received an instant booking from a person from the US with one review. The comment said only, “hi”.
The day of the reservation the guest, clearly chinese, with a chinese phone number, messaged me that they would be arriving very late. We live on property and try to greet all guests. I asked if I was talking to D, the name on the reservation. The guest responded that D was not traveling. I mentioned that it was against ABB policy, and that the person on the reservation must be present. The guest then responded that D had been called away on a business trip.
I thought this sounded fishy, and so I googled the name on the reservation and found the person! I emailed her and asked if she had made a reservation for this guest. D was shocked that her account was being used! She hadn’t made a reservation in months.
To make a long story shorter…I called ABB and explained the situation. D also called and had her account flagged. ABB cancelled the reservation. The ‘guest’ was shocked that I had complained to ABB, but didn’t show up or cause any trouble.
So, my question is this: Why would someone do this? They didn’t use the original account holder’s credit card…but put in a new one and paid for the reservation. Why not make an account?
I have 2 theories.
- To avoid discrimination. Some places don’t like to rent to Chinese. However, we do it all the time and have many reviews.
- Third party. I believe that whoever made this reservation and hacked the original account re-sold the reservation.
Again, why?
I have made several changes to prevent this sort of activity, but it still boggles me!