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OK, OP is back with an update. The guest who wanted the refund for the non-refundable stay did indeed leave me a retaliatory review, which lowered my stats. I contacted Airbnb support and the support person agreed that the guest review was retaliatory and promised to remove it. They kept my host review of the guest, which is as follows:
“Mxxxx booked a non-refundable (and heavily discounted) month-long stay on behalf of her husband, Dxxxx, who travels for work, saying that she would be joining him for a few days mid-month. About five days into his stay, I received a request to shorten the stay, but no explanation was provided. I reached out to Mxxxx and she told me Dxxxx had been unexpectedly called to work elsewhere. I explained that they had agreed to a non-refundable stay, but I offered to reimburse them for any days I could re-book. They suddenly came up with a new laundry list of complaints and asked for a large refund. I do not want any repeat business from Mxxxx or from her husband.”
I really appreciate all the comments and suggestions. They were very helpful, and it was definitely a learning experience for me, albeit with a big time investment and a lot of stressing over how it would ultimately be resolved. Airbnb did not give her a refund, and to date no one has requested to re-book the dates. I am still saddened that this experience was so unsatisfactory for all parties, but I guess it is par for the course. Most of my guests are wonderful people and I feel enriched having met them. I did feel I ultimately got good support from Airbnb, although I was required to post my host review before they would consider taking down the retaliatory guest review. Fortunately, my review of the guest remains visible. I gave 5 stars for cleanliness, one star for following house rules, and two stars for communication.
Thanks again!!
By the way, in response to one of the discussions above, it appears that US Marshalls may have a similar housing situation to traveling nurses in that they are well-compensated but must book and pay for their own accommodations. The husband mentioned that he had previously rented places for longer periods of time, but that they wanted to just try month-to-month on Airbnb, since he sometimes got sent away and had to pay for accommodations he was not able to use. But I guess wifey didn’t read the cancellation policy.
Another question, this one about third-party bookings, but related to this thread. The wife booked the stay on behalf of her husband. Normally, I would have asked that her husband book directly, but she mentioned that she was coming out to stay with him for a few days mid-month, so I went ahead and accepted the booking. In hindsight, this turned out to be problematic because in the aftermath I was mostly dealing with the wife and with her speculations and hearsay. In the future, I would be reluctant to accept a booking like this.
But there is another situation that has come up a few times…an adult child booking a reservation for an elderly parent who is coming to visit. I haven’t had any problems with this, and I do understand that many elderly people are not computer-savvy and might have difficulty initiating their own booking. I understand that this is technically in violation of Airbnb’s policy to not accept third-party bookings, but it seems like a humane thing to do. Any thoughts?
A few years ago, I accepted a third-party booking by a local adult on behalf of some young adult relatives who were coming for a wedding. They turned out to be entitled little brats who left the place a mess, presumably because they had no skin in the game. I would be very reluctant to do another booking like this.
But any thoughts on accepting third-party bookings for elderly relatives?
I had one of those this past summer. And it was for a longer than typical stay. I had hesitations about it and asked for one of the parents phone numbers so we could begin direct communication. They turned out to be great guests. When I first started using the platform, I booked a trip for my husband and daughter, not knowing it wasn’t allowed. My husband is a technophobe and the daughter was too young to book (a trip to visit a college). So not all third party bookings are problematic.
I would take third party bookings on a case by case basis. Elderly parents who aren’t tech savvy, as long as I was given their phone number so I could communicate directly seems pretty safe.
Parents booking for their kids, even if they are over 18, no way. If they are old enough to have an Airbnb account, I don’t see why Mommy would need to book for them.
I once read a guest post where she said she knew that third party bookings aren’t really allowed, but she wanted to book a place for a friend who had just had a rough time going through cancer treatment, as a surprise gift. The guest had pages of 5* reviews. I’d probably consider allowing something like that depending on how the booking guest communicated.
We’ve done it several times when my in-laws have been coming to stay. Not because:
The reason we do this is because we can take a look at the place first. Either that or we book with hosts we know.
Because we live 3,000+ miles from our relatives, we do so to save them time and trouble as travelling those sort of distances at their age is tricky enough so we do it to save them the hassle.
I also accept third-party bookings and older people tend to be great guests.
I frequently get bookings from adults in my neighborhood booking for their parents. They are invariably lovely guests, and some have become repeats. So I have no problem with that, as long as they’re upfront about it (they always are). I’ve also had parents booking for their adult children to visit, but that is much rarer. I definitely wouldn’t accept a parent booking for their (any age) children to just visit my city. Agree with Muddy…if mommy has to book your AirBNB, there’s something wrong.
I would explain that – for legal reasons – the guest must book under their own account. I would then go on to suggest that the sin/daughter help the parent set up an account, and can even log in (the way an executive assistant logs in for a CEO)… but the account, the credit card and the photo must belong to the person who will be staying there.
That way – if the guest sues you for slipping on a banana peel when your insurance company looks into it the name matches the reservation… or if the parents unwittingly leave a tap running and you call Airbnb, the names match.
In our case, if the guest family won’t play ball, it always seems to work out that someone else comes along a bit later and books the vacant dates.
