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When seeing the multiple posts about 3rd party bookings lately and speaking of having them “invite” the actual guest to book I had a thought the other day and was interested in your thoughts:
When Guest Suzy books for her and her husband she may say so or his name or whatever. When you click on the “2 guests” link it shows “Suzy” under her round profile pic and a second guest is usually shown as “Guest 2” under an anonymous grey profile pic. Occasionally her husband will have an account and it will show up as “Joe” under his actual profile pic. I have noticed some reviews for Joe will show the name Suzy but not Joe in the write up because then all the booked guests get the review. (I have ALWAYS include first names of ALL guests, regardless, so my review will show up for both Suzy and Joe with both their names.)
I have never required all the guests to be “invited” to the reservation in this manner but was thinking about maybe charging more for those that aren’t invited to the reservation this way. Really offering a discount to those who do is how I would want to word it to be positive. Currently my extra guest fee (after 1) is $20, regardless of the listing or date. I was thinking of upping it to $25 recently and then offering the discount of $20 for those who are “included” in the reservation as an incentive to do so.
It seems to me that you’ll just be causing yourself extra work. If your insurance insists on having all guests completely named then I’d shop around for another.
Different hosting styles. I rarely mention the other guest in the review (our rentals are two people max). There have been times when guest number 2 has been perfectly friendly and part of a lovely couple but they pleasantly avoid giving me their name. Fair enough - they are probably a temporary couple and ‘Suzy’ doesn’t want ‘Joe’ mentioned on her profile in three years time - two and a half yars after they stopped being a couple.
I also get guests who are very probably an even less permanent couple.
However, if you think it’s a good idea for you, then go ahead. Your house, your rules
I have a similar situation now. A woman called Helen&Anna booked my place for 11 nights saying she was coming from another country to visit her partner. Looking back on her reviews as a guest I see Helen&Anna as well as other combos of people names. On the day of arrival I get a text from a local number saying this is Helen we’ll be checking in after 6pm. The name on the text is who she is visiting. When I greeted them I said “oh I was expecting an Anna.” No explanation of who Anna is forthcoming. I can see where being interrogated about the names of everyone in the party is a complete turn off and for me, not worth my time. I suspect I’ll find out in the coming days because I’ll be chatting with Helen while xxx is at work during the day.
Agreed. Hmm, let’s figure out some more ways not to host while we are at it.
I am in business to host people, not to look for reasons not to host. Not to put up barriers to hosting. My biggest barrier is price, I figure once they are willing to pay over $300 a night after tax and fees I will deal with the cigarette butts outside or whatever.
This is the rub. Since Airbnb started as inviting people to crash on air mattresses in your living room it has moved quickly and in a straight line towards the hotel model. There’s a simple explanation, that’s where the money is. It’s just a matter of time until Airbnb runs off most hosts who have requirements that are above and beyond what a hotel has.
Are NOT above and beyond I think you meant to say…
And as it should be from a guest perspective. I would never jump through the hoops (barriers to booking) that many hosts have as a guest. I am like you, I filter for super ho and IB and go from there. If I encountered a host who tried to fine me for parking in wrong place or smoking in my car I would be livid. Not only would they get slammed on Air I would review them on Trip Advisor and Google as well.
That being said I would never book a shared space either. I get some hosts need to have more control in such a situation, as a control freak myself I would not be a good fit for such a host.
No, I think I meant hosts who have requirements above what a hotel has. A hotel requires a credit card and ID at check in. There are high fines for smoking in a non-smoking room ($200?). They have check in and check out times but some flexibility depending on a variety of factors including more benefits for members with elite status in their membership tiers (4 pm checkout is one I’ve seen.) Most have no pets or pets with fee payment. There are some other rules with hotels that have other benefits like pools, fitness centers and breakfasts.
Add to all that (above and beyond) are the hosts with their rules about no visitors, no shoes inside, no smoking on property, mandatory recycling, no eating in rooms, rules about parking, and so on.
Both of the Airbnb’s I’m booked with this summer have these kinds of rules in place. I’m fine with it and the trade off is saving a lot of money. The suite in Maine is half price of the average hotel. The house in the Boston area will hold 8 people (it’s really a small mansion) and have full kitchen and space to socialize for the same price we could get 3 hotel rooms at the cheapest hotel we were willing to book.
But I increasingly think Airbnb doesn’t want to fool with it. They are done with fielding calls about the guest who put their wet towel on the wooden chair back and the guest who wore their shoes inside.
And I don’t blame them. I’ve sometimes thought how awful it must be to be an Airbnb customer service rep! Also, I can’t imagine what it must be like to be treated like a child in accommodation with so many rules.
Three years ago I rented a lake house for 12 people through VRBO. It was my first VRBO experience and it was a last-minute booking because the reservation I had booked 3 months earlier through another STR-OTA was canceled by the host 2 days before check-in (said the property had been sold, which turned out to be a lie). The VRBO host sent me a bunch of paperwork to fill out which required the names and ages of every guest, purchase of STR insurance, and other agreements. It was a tedious, but it really wouldn’t have been so bad if it were all on a website instead of forms that I had to print, fill-out/sign, and scan and e-mail.
About requiring the guests be invited so their name/account is attached to the rental as someone there who did not do the booking—if the guest has an Airbnb account it is possible for them to be included in the reservation.
A few guests have done that. I like it. The downside is if I required it, each guest would need to invest the time to build an Airbnb account/profile.
I don’t think guests (not the booker) would happily go to that trouble. As long as my total count is correct, I’m good!
I wouldn’t/don’t require it but I have suggested it to groups of people traveling together. I point out that it is an excellent opportunity for all of them to accrue some 5 star reviews for future travel. Further explaining that some hosts won’t even let them book if they have no reviews. It only works occasionally. I do ask for the full names of all adults in the group and have never had a problem getting them.
And then, of course, there are the destinations (Spain, and several other countries in Europe) where we are legally obliged to collect the full names and national ID numbers of all adult guests (over 16) AND fill in a form, AND scan their ID docs AND send them to the local police station! I do let guests know about this beforehand but don’t actually do it till they arrive.
Luckily, it is at least a level playing field since if you want to visit Spain at all and stay in any type of accomodation the same rules apply!
