Hi all - I am new to hosting and have my first people coming tomorrow. Yeah! My question for all of you is this - when setting up the requirements I allowed people with no ratings/reviews to book, I got a notice that a person who lives close by (less than 20 miles) booked with me for mid-October. I thought that was odd so I googled her name. She just turned 20 and has an assault charge against her. The victim has a restraining order that she cannot come within 500 feet of him. She pled it down to a disorderly conduct and got by with a fine that she has not paid. She has no ratings/reviews and told me she is coming for a homecoming weekend. I looked it up and the college where she lived when she had the assault charge against her is having their homecoming that weekend. In the town where her address shows that she lives now. So it makes no sense that she would come to stay here when she actually lives in the town where the homecoming is. So now I want to cancel and I am afraid that AirBnb will hold the cancellation against me. Like I said I am just getting started and feel certain I will have good feedback when my people coming this weekend leave on Sunday. What is the proper course of action here? I am distrustful of her because her story does not make sense and the fact that she has not paid the fine for this assault charge. I really want to not allow it because of this distrust. This is my home, not a separate building. Thanks for your help and input!!! So appreciate it!!!
CALL Airbnb. Explain the information you’ve discovered about this guest, just as you’ve described it above. If you don’t get a satisfactory answer (we’ll cancel for you) ask to speak to that person’s supervisor and keep escalating until they cancel her.
If all else fails, just cancel the Guest anyway. One of the questions you’ll get is WHY? Just respond with “Not comfortable with this Guest.”
Also, you might want to tighten up your requirements to prevent this from happening again, if you haven’t done so already.
Sounds to me like she’s having a party with all her college friends. Are parties not allowed as per house rules? If it’s against your house rules, I would send her a reminder that parties are not allowed and if you see a party at the house, you will contact Airbnb to cancel the reservation and she would have to vacate the permises. Maybe that will scare her enough so she is the one canceling the reservation and not you.
Hello, if you have instant booking option turned on you can cancel penalty free. You have the right to cancel at any time if you feel uncomfortable with a reservation. Just call Airbnb and say I am uncomfortable and they will take care of the rest.
Thank you all very much for your assistance. We suspected the party with her friends also. She booked as one guest and I told Airbnb that she did that. They did let me cancel and said I would have no penalty. Yes I have a “no events or parties” but I think a 20 yo probably didn’t go that far into the rules. So appreciate all of you and your responses and this forum has helped me already!!!
You may want to set a minimum age limit of 25. It’s not a guarantee against partying people, but it will mean that when you ask them to send you photo ID ahead of time (just say “insurance purposes” in your message), you can check the ages.
I thought this violated Airbnb’s terms of service?
I don’t think so.
202020
It is against the TOS. I had to supply my company bylaws to AirBnB that stated renters must be 21 yrs old. Someone reported me for age discrimination for not allowing an 18 yr old prom rental. I could have been delisted for it per AirBnB. HOA and senior retirement rules will also be supported by AirBnB, not just company bylaws otherwise you must rent to someone that is at least 18 yrs old.
This is why nobody gets a complimentary adult beverage. I had intended to provide a couple of beers in the fridge for everyone until I realized that I can’t restrict the renters to persons of the full legal age of majority.
Since I live on site I can give them away to people in person. I’ve only given or shared in certain circumstances like if the guest had an issue checking in or if we are sharing one together in my part of the house.