How would you deal with this?

1

I just got a request from a person who claims to be from a rather big consultant company who is without references, but it seems rather legit. This person wants to book our place from the end of may until september but wants a special price since the person who should live here wouldn’t be here for the weekends.

How would you deal with this? We do not live in a busy place and I know the person who lives with us should be the profile holder on Airbnb, but to be honest I think our bookings so far have been 50/50 because people wants to use their mothers discounts etc.

2

So you have a couple things going on here.

First is a 3rd party booking. Second is a long-term stay.

A large consultancy should be able to set themselves up with an Airbnb business account so they can legit book their employees. You’re right - if you book them as-is, it’s a third party booking and Airbnb won’t intervene on your behalf in case of damages, etc. Only you can decide if the risk is worth it.

This is also a long-term stay. In most US states a stay this long establishes residency. You’d need to go through eviction proceedings to get them out. Paired with the 3rd party reservation on an unreviewed account, this would give me pause.

Personally, I’d only book them if they establish a legit business account. https://www.airbnbforwork.com

I’d allow a discount if you’re going to have them checkout on Friday, leaving your calendar open for weekend guests. If the guest wants to leave their stuff all weekend, they should pay the full rate (with monthly discount if you offer that).

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3

When you say “the person who should live here” it sounds as if it’s a third party booking in which case tell them that only the actual person staying can book. In the message back to them I would indicate that you would apply a 10% discount for a Mon-Fri booking. Weekly or monthly discounts won’t apply and you could try to also book out the weekends if you can stomach the quick turnovers. The advantage of having them out in the weekend is that you can check on the place and avoid the eviction scenario described above. I would definitely offer discount straight away because a Mom-Fri booking for months on end sounds like gold dust to me.

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4

The problem is our weekends wouldn’t be open on weekends since we would need one day for cleaning before any other guest.

5

Since we rent out one of our rooms in our home it would be like having a long term person staying here and I guess it would be nice to have the house to ourselves during the weekends.

6

But I worry about insurance issues since its a third party booking.

7

they definitely need to make a business account. And also I would break it up into separate 28-day bookings.

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8

Yeah I sort of agree. They made a pre-booking for 12 days which we accepted.

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9

When someone brags he/she is a doctor, CEO, or top corporation manager, but asks for a discount, that smells of self-misrepresentation.

You have a lovely home, as I saw on your Airbnb profile weblink. However, having this guest rent a pull-out sofa bed and living many days in a small bedroom sounds odd for someone who brags he/she works for a “big consultant company.”

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10

To me it sounds like a cheap boss. My boss is like that so to me it was normal I guess. :stuck_out_tongue:

11

Thank you for the compliment by the way. :slight_smile: This wouldn’t be the first “company” renting our place third party. But it would be the first renting for that long and with no reviews.

12

I would take the booking, I offer 20% off for over 30 days. No work on a bunch of turnovers.

13

I wouldn’t touch it with a barge pole.

A summer-long stay can seem like a brilliant opportunity for hosts who are new or new-ish but they are a nightmare. As @Allison_H says, they can claim tenancy after only 30 days (or 21 or 28 or 31 depending on where you are).

The fact that they’ll not be there seven days a week makes no difference - you can’t rent the place at the weekends so they are full-time tenants.

So I’d ask myself these questions:

  1. Why are they using Airbnb rather than going to a more accepted long-term rental agency?
  2. Why would a large company ask for a discount?
  3. What reason do they give for wanting a discount?
  4. Why is this person coming to your area and can you verify it?
  5. Why would a company that has decided to use Airbnb NOT opened a business account?
  6. Does my STR insurance cover this person staying as a long term guest?
  7. Will they need fresh linens, towels etc. every week? (Probably)
  8. Will they need the place cleaning every weekend? (Probably)
  9. Why doesn’t the company have a business account with a chain like Marriott? (Most companies with frequently-travelling employees do)
  10. As you’re a homesharing host, what if you absolutely can’t get on with this guy no matter how hard you try?
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14

Tenancy isnt any worry here with our laws since we live here too.

  1. They are cheap.
  2. See number 1.
  3. The long term booking.
  4. They are working in a neighboring town and this doesn’t sound unlikely.
  5. I think the person doing this is unused to Airbnb (which would also explain the lack of references) and probably wants some discounts for themselves (private companies are not always honest).
  6. The home insurance should cover it.
  7. This Im still waiting a reply to. However they are allowed to wash their clothes here and they could probably wash it themselves.
  8. Still waiting for a reply to this too.
  9. It is probably not that big. Marriott Ive never even heard of in Sweden and no major chain is in these small towns (ours have like 8500 people living here and the neighboring town is around 8200).
  10. Well what we’ve noticed most people who book us with Airbnb stay a lot in their room (compared to when we give the room out for free via Couchsurfing) but I thought we could ask them to book us one month at a time or something to make sure we get along.
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15

Heck yeah, I’d start with a trial WEEK and then renew from there if it works out.

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16

I’ve been working for a big company (Fortune 500 with > 100K employees) for over 25 years and I know that sometimes employees do things specifically to work around their company’s rules/processes because the rules/processes are broken. In the case of travel, exclusive deals tend to be struck with travel agencies and it may violate corporate policy to create a corporate account with Airbnb.

BTW, what happens if you give them a big discount for this 3+ month stay and they cancel after 3 weeks? Make sure any special offer you give accounts for things like that.

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17

By the way how does one see on a person’s profile if they signed up to the business Airbnb? Does it show in any way?

18

We have plenty of guests who are not here on weekends. They pay the allotted price, unless they clear out during the weekend and I can rent it. (Never happens).

What does happen is inclement weather, so they have to stay. Or they want 2 weeks off in December or for national holidays.

Not very professional for a big organization.

19

Maria, so a “big consultancy company” is trying to book a room in your home for one of its employees? That’s ludicrous. If the company is a well established one, it would have the employee book his own place and submit expenses to be reimbursed instead of paying for it directly to you. Besides, as someone who has worked for major multinationals, I have never heard of a company book a room in someone’s home for an employee…What makes it seem “rather legit”?

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20

Check your state’s landlord-tenant law! In my state, tenant rights apply after 31 days whether they rent a room with shared spaces or the entire house, so any stay over 31 days can establish tenant rights, which means a 30 day notice to vacate to get them out, and even more time if you have to go to court for an eviction action.