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This was actually one of the issues I encountered earlier this summer. For me it was not the insurance coverage, I have that. It was that the woman booking, for two of her employees, had inquired a couple of weeks earlier. I told her if she booked to either add them to her reservation or set up a business account to book. When she booked she had done neither and the booking was less than 24 hours out for two nights.
English was her second language, she had never used Airbnb, and she had difficulty communicating with me. I was worried that I might have the same issue with the guests as I knew nothing about them. The guests could not read or agree to my house rules, check-in or check-out info, or other specifics about what areas are shared with guests and which ones are not. I also have a hot tub and fire pit that require additional instructions.
I cancelled on the side of precaution as they had no access to my listing and I knew nothing about them.
I contacted Air to cancel it as a third party booking and got basically the same kind of pushback I posted about earlier today. It also took about 24 hours to resolve.
Reading this thread, I am reminded of the many times when I first started booking guests when I would get a reservation request saying âIâm booking this front for my husband because he doesnât use Airbnb}, or âIâm booking this for my husband because I do all this kind of work for himâ. I get it that you help your spouse out, but I felt uncomfortable when I met these husbands, they had no idea about house rules, their responsibilities as guests, and some of them had no idea that they were going to be in the environment that they walked into. It seem to me that there was no collaborative effort with the wife but that the husband was simply a boss and left those details to their underling.
A lot of boomers from my generation have lived their whole lives as privileged males floating from one situation to another with their wives, their women, etc. doing all the drudge work. When confronted with their misogyny they either bristle and explain that this is the right way for life to be, or look at me quizzically, thinking, I am sure, that I simply âdonât understand the rules of our generationâ.
I also see this when a couple comes in and one of them has taken charge of the booking, male or female, and the other spouse has never seen or heard of any of the lengthy exhaustive information in our listing. I cringe realizing how the booking will go.
Yes, parties is the problem. Itâs even a potential issue when the guest is staying at the house, but theyâve neglected to pass along the house rules to others.
Even if insurance covers damage, etc. I donât want to spend the time and energy⌠and it sometimes affects future bookings.
The other issue is keeping your rental license.
Recently we had a direct booking from a company, and the guy booking it wasnât staying. It wasnât disclosed to me ahead of time and it was only after they arrived that I found out the name of the new contact. I was really miffed. I like the actual guests to be prepared.
Iâve never been worried about them. I canât see why it would matter unless, as you say, the host doesnât have the correct insurance coverage.
Iâm sure that there are many so-called hosts out there who donât have STR insurance or any required licenses. In fact, quite a few of my neighbours have âtried Airbnbâ and lasted a couple of months, if that. I know that they werenât insured and licensed.
I donât worry about guests not having read the listing or about parties as both apartments arenât big enough to have any sort of party.
I donât like guests obviously asking for a third party booking in the Airbnb message system because if ever the company wanted to cause problems for me down the line (although why would they? ) they have the âevidenceâ.
Otherwise a third party booking is just a same as a direct booking.
Not sure what airbnb does but I imagine since my place requires verified id etc, that airbnb collects it from the second person. Then, you would send this person all the info about your place (house rules, exceptions etc) and hope they pay attention.
I would not do this when someone books a third party booking, but I have known airbnb to suggest this as a âsolutionâ. I think if someone knows this is against TOS and persists on booking my place, that is all I need to know about that person.
My son has a mental illness but keeps to himself and is very responsible, I opened an account for him and write his requests and reviews. I go over all the rules with him and check out information, so far so good. I book these trips for him to aid in his mental health as requested by his psychiatrist. If there was ever any problem, I would take full responsibility for him.
What? Do you mean that itâs because hotels have more to lose by being sued for discrimination? So, therefore the guest with a disability could receive a larger settlement from a hotel than they could from a host? I hope thatâs what you mean.
Disabilities are protected from discrimination everywhere.
Yes, but she also writes the reviews for him. How can someone write a legitimate review of somewhere they havenât experienced for themselves? That seems fraudulent to me.
Itâs no different than the loads of people who have personal assistants or nannies write the review for them.
Or other third party bookings. And it isnât fraudelent per se. Iâve seen a lot of reviews that start out with, âI booked this for my sister/parents/friend/whatever and they said they⌠and they also reported that they loved theâŚâ.
Thatâs still honest. Itâs just transcribing.
And in this case, it is literally a protected right and for obvious reasons. Thereâs nothing wrong with someone requiring assistance so that they can have access to stuff and live a full life.
Thatâs interesting. I guess it doesnât bother me. If itâs coming from the guestâs account then it doesnât seem any different than someone typing up a document for someone else who then signs it as their own. The signature is what determines the ownership of what is said, not who has typed it. A guest profile does the same. It determines who the review is from, not who types it up. A lot of people really donât create their own documents but they donât approve things that donât accurately represent them either.
And it doesnât apply here anyway. Having a disability gives someone the right to have assistance with stuff like this. And if you read everything that @Snowy said (she goes over the rules, etc), then thereâs no reason to believe that sheâs just making stuff up for the review.
I certainly understand that in this case, if her son has written communication issues, there is nothing wrong with her handling that aspect of her sonâs bookings. And also nothing wrong with her writing the reviews, as long as they are based on what he has conveyed to her about his stay. Which I canât presume either way unless Snowy clarifies.
) they have the âevidenceâ.