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I have a guest who has booked for people that are visiting him. He lives in the same city that I host & live in. He made the booking for 3 people, who are staying at my property, they are visiting him.
I realize that I should have gotten names & numbers of the guests, themselves, however this was an oversight on my part. So, I have texted via the app. to send me, at least one of the guests cell# and I need all the names of people staying at the house, UGH.
Also, this is under this person’s profile, for these guests, is this ok? Should I, in the future, not allow this? The person who booked & used his profile, has great reviews & it’s under his name, so I would think that if he is taking this on, making booking in his name, is this ok?
I’ve never dealt with this before, and only just now realized all this. Obviously, i should know at all times who is at my property, that just a no brainer, for everyone’s safety, but as I said, it slipped my mind.
So, I’m waiting for the information that I requested & hope to hear back soon. Any insight would be appreciated.
The person who books must be among the group who stays. You are not covered for anything on a third party booking and often on a third party booking, the guests have not read anything in your listing info. They may very well be unaware of your house rules and everything else.
What do you do? Pray that nothing goes wrong. Third-party bookings ARE NOT ALLOWED BY AIRBNB!
Third party bookings include: Person A booking for persons B, C, D – and person A is not coming with them. Parents booking for a child, or vice versa. A someone booking for friends – as in your case. A business booking for an employee (I don’t think is is allowed).
Ok, Ok, OK, as I said… my oversight. I made a mistake this was booked a while back & only just realized this. GEEZ!!!
I’ve gotten all the all 3 names & cell#'s and have explained to the person who made the reservation, that this going forward is NOT ALLOWED!!!
I’m doing as much recon- as I can right now. Letting the guest who booked know, that this was not clear & what we need to do going forward.
Although, the person who booked will be over at the house daily, and I have asked them to add all they guests to their profile & update that profile with all their info. in addition to sending name cell #'s directly to me.
There are business accounts, which are marked and evident as such. An Airbnb business account does allow employers to book for employees, and the account holder is held responsible for the behavior of the employees.
It sounds like everything will be fine. Yes, this is technically against Airbnb policy and offers you less protection. However, I too have allowed it, mostly for booking by people whom I know. There are no hotels/motels in my town so people need this type of accommodation. If I expect a repeat I sometimes switch them to direct book for future stays. Getting the names is important. I tell the booking party that it is their responsibility to share my listing details, including rules, with whoever is booking. Occasionally I have gotten relatives or friends of the booking person whom I just didn’t like very much, but that could happen with any guest. Sometimes I wondered if that is why they didn’t stay with the person booking, lol.
But the employees still have to have their own accounts. The difference is that the employer does the booking, paying, etc and then both the employer and the employee get messages, etc from the host.
It’s a third party booking but not a third party stay, if that makes sense. There’s not a situation where you don’t have direct communication with the guest through the guest’s own profile. And the review goes on the guest’s profile not the employer’s.
You’ll be fine. I wouldn’t stress about it at this point. The important thing is having some way of contacting someone who is staying there. Next time you’ll know and you can ask the person who is booking to have the actual guest sign up for their own profile. And because the booking guest is there everyday it’s in a gray area anyway. It’s not as if we require the person who booked to always be present with the other guests on the reservation anyway.
And there’s also no reason to be counting on coverage from Airbnb.
Hi KLV…I made this mistake once, a bridegroom booked our big house for all the best men and bridesmaids but wasn’t staying himself. He was in a panic about not being able to get accommodation for them all, coming from all over the UK. What I should have done is get him to cancel immediately, I would block the date, then one of his guests should have booked under their own profile after discussion to make sure I was unblocking the date at the correct moment. There doesn’t seem to be a less clunky way to do this, I have discussed it with Airbnb chat staff…
Anyway, WHAT a mess they made…in my top 5 awful groups. I wasn’t going to tell the groom anything, just not leave a review, as he seemed a really nice guy and I didn’t want to spoil his memory of the wedding. His main usher got my views but he hadn’t hardly been at the house, although he stayed, as he was going back and forth to the remote church and country pub to make sure the service and reception would be perfect, and he didn’t keep an eye on his friends.
Fortunately none of the damage was irreparable, and I certainly learned my lesson. If the guest cancels early enough they don’t lose out in any way - is it within 24 or 48 hours? Someone else will probably know
The chances are good that this will be fine. Please don’t worry about it too much. I’ve had plenty of third-party bookings and I’ve made third-party bookings locally for visiting relatives.
I try not to make this known on the Airbnb message platform because if ever the company had a bee in their bonnet about me or the rentals, third-party bookings would be a stick to beat me with.
I have never, ever had a problem with third-party bookings so try not to worry.
@KLV, all my third-party bookings have turned out to be fine. As you did, I get cell numbers and names. If for some reason that information was withheld by the booking guest, then I would cancel, but I’ve never had to.
I don’t encourage them. In fact, I encourage the booker to get the actual guest to get their own profile and I show them how the referral benefits them both. But sometimes it is just too unwieldy or last-minute. My last one was a dad who was booking as a gift to daughter and son-in-law but I didn’t know this until check-in. It wasn’t ideal, but it was just another that turned out to be fine.
No, you are not “covered” by Airbnb for a third-party booking, but I don’t feel covered by them really on any booking. I cover myself, so to speak.
Don’t beat yourself up about this. Do spend some time in the Airbnb Help Centre and in this forum so you aren’t broadsided by something else, though!
There really are so many factors with bookings like this and in general. I agree with you about book the “covering yourself” I do as well, no one will look out for you better than you.
I think you’ll be fine. Congratulations on getting all that data from everyone. And remember, you do have insurance and AirBnB’s host coverage isn’t always so fantastic anyway.
I’ve had this happen a few times, usually it’s adult kids booking for their tech-challenged parents. It’s usually fine.
Here’s what can happen:
I did allow it once on BDC (where it is allowed anyway) and it was very, very bad and the guest complained (yes, guests who didn’t make the booking can write reviews) in the review about stuff that was explained in the listing, that she hadn’t read. and gave me a very low rating.
I’ve got one final BDC booking to honour in September and then i’m deleting my listing there.
I think everyone has a pet peeve about the ABB interface and this is mine (my biggest one anyway). For me, it comes up when a previous guest contacts me wanting specific dates that are not open yet on my calendar. There should be a button to rebook a previous guest. It should be easy. The stats keep track of how many return guests book with you so it’s not as if they’re discouraging it. It boggles my mind but I have tried all of the workarounds I can find, including the one you mention.
However, after much experimenting, I think I’ve found the best way to facilitate a specific guest getting to book blocked dates (for whatever reason). My goal is to make it as least clunky as possible for the guest even if it’s still clunky for me.
I have them book any dates that are open. Then I open the dates they want on my calendar and add a minimum stay to them that can’t be met (if I open 4 days then I make them a 5-day minimum) so that no one else can book them. Then I send the guest a change request for their correct dates. My change request overrides my minimum on the dates they want and all the guest has to do is click “accept” when they get it.
It’s a few steps for me but the guest is shielded from it and they only have to 1. book 2. accept the change and they can do it at their convenience, no coordination required.
I also have fairly frequent occurrences of adult children living in my neighborhood booking for parents. It has always been just fine, and many of those parents now book with me directly. One gentleman sent me a check and a typewritten (on a typewriter!) note just the other day for a booking in October. That generation seems happy to write or call directly, but the AirBNB system seems to elude them.
Even if the older generation can figure out how to do online stuff, it is often a preference to just make a phone call. (I am in that category myself) Just as young folks can simply answer their phones if you call them, but usually don’t, whereas they will answer a message.
And why spend 15 minutes trying to navigate something you aren’t that proficient at, when you can have a 1 minute phone call and convey the same info or get an answer to a question.
and gave me a very low rating.