Couples sharing a profile

I am of the opinion that each individual guest and/or host should have their own profile. Please comment on your thoughts. If a couple host their home, do you think it is more prudent to list one as primary host and one as co-host or to combine the two into one profile?

The reason I ask is my wife thinks guests don’t know she lives there. She is of the opinion co-hosts don’t generally live on property.

Since we live in the house and have shared space, my wife & I share our profile… for the name on the account, we put “_____ & _____” as the first name, and have our profile photo with both of us. And we communicate with our guests the same way.

Oh yes, most of our guests simply book in one name, and say “my partner / spouse / etc named ______ will be coming”.

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I’m can see it either way. For Hosts, I can understand the value of letting the guest know from the start there are two people in the home & available to provide assistance. For Guests, it is nice as a host to get to know the couple via Airbnb.

Where it gets muddy: Guest profile is of couple, reservation states 1 person. Ok-who? Is the phone number on the profile & email for that guest? Which guest on the profile is the ID validation for?

I recently had a “couple” reservation. I thought I was communicating primarily with the Husband through Airbnb-it was the wife. The phone number they gave was for the husband. Communication consistency was difficult.

Well, I’ve just talked my way into thinking everyone, host and/or guest should have their own profile. It makes communication easier and clearer.

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Same here, our host profile says Mr. and Mrs. with a pic of both of us. Then in the host profile I say that my husband typically greets guests.

When we use Air as travelers we use one of our profiles and book for two.

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Have also seen situations where a guest got a bad review and then booked under her bf’s profile.

@billtroyer yours seems like a sensible solution.

@zeno I can see your wife’s point. If you are hosting jointly then it makes sense to have a joint profile.

Unless you are happy for the listing to be in her name only with you tagged as the co-host :slight_smile:

My husband and I have separate Airbnb profiles but we use mine for hosting. the picture is of the two of us for a couple of reasons. The first being that when we started hosting it came up in a few threads, I think in Air Community, that it was a better idea for female hosts, if possible, to have a couples photo if their husband was involved as well. The thought being that people that tend to try to take advantage of lone women might not be so inclined if it was clear a man was also involved. We also travel together, almost exclusively and mostly use my profile because I generally take care of all the arrangements. That way, they can see both of us right away when I make the inquiry or request, even though I add his profile as well.

Our Profile shows a picture of the two of us, for q couple reasons, but then says “Hi, I’m Ken” and in the body the pronoun used is “we”. We aren’t married, it’s her house, but I do the vast majority of the Airbnb work and split the money. We each have a profile for trip booking, but mine is the one for hosting.

I think every married couple we’ve had book with us has a “joint” account. I also think it doesn’t matter. The thing you as a host need to know is how many people will be coming.

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I would ALWAYS prefer to deal with an individual rather than a couple.

Our profile is “Peggy and Mike” and it’s set up that way because we are joint hosts. I handle all the communications and Mike is on-site as many times I am not there when guests arrive. The biggest benefit is that my husband isn’t great on tech and so we need to be on the same page and one account does that, plus we always travel together so when I make bookings they see both of us. It’s never been a problem in two years and it works for us so “if it ain’t broke…” I think you should decide how you’ll manage the listing and go from there. As long as your communication is clear with guests, you’re good.

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@Atlnative
This is exactly our scenario. Husband’s greets, I’m the communicator and handle the listing.

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I would find having two accounts confusing, especially when it comes to who gets paid. I am taking care of the Airbnb part of our lives and although my wife comes and goes, having her on the account (or with her own) would muddy the waters. I think it would be confusing for the guests.

Our daughter-in-law (31) has been paralyze from a brain aneurysm for two years. My wife often stays with her at another location and takes care of her 24/7.

If i was opened to require listings with two owners to have two individual accounts that would not work at all for us.

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It’s not something I care about either way - either as a host or as a guest.

Almost every time, we host couples. Mostly it’s one who has the account and books and the partner/spouse is mentioned in the profile and/or the message.

Very occasionally I’ve had the partner/spouse not give me their name while they are here but that’s okay too. I imagine it’s because they don’t want to risk their name being on the review. Sometimes I’ve suspected that was because of an illicit affair but not always.Sometimes Jack is happy to travel on Jill’s account knowing full well that he and Jill might have split up in a year or so, so the fewer references to them as a couple the better :slight_smile:

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My husband and I have separate accounts. The unit was set up in his name, with a picture of both of us, but I am the co-host operating from my own account. It works well for us and I’ve never had any confusion or issues over it. I do 90% of the communication with guests, while he is on site to oversee the cleaner, maintenance &/or repairs, and greeting guests. The only downside is the co-host can’t see or do some of the financial things, but I just log into his account for that. Most annoying thing is the co-host can no longer see the stats or star details of reviews, so that is what I mostly log in under him for.

Interesting, my wife and I are opposite of your arrangement.

A friend of mine with a guest room booked a woman who wanted a staycation away from her husband and kids. Two people showed up and proceeded to have very loud “biblical relations” that made the house awkwardly uninhabitable for the day. You met my friend said in the review, “future hosts be sure to clarify the number in the party.” The guest was livid at this review and tried to get it removed since I presume her husband would see it.

As for me, couples sharing one account isn’t my preference. It strikes me as old-fashioned, like a husband and wife sharing one email address. But I don’t lose sleep over it and it doesn’t affect whether I accept a guest or book a host when traveling.

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