Third Party Booking for Private Room - Expected Entire Home

1

A continuation from this thread

Our guests booked through a cousin, who is not staying at our home. Initially there were two of them, but they decided to add a third person upon arrival.

After checking in they looked around the place, decided that they were happy with it and paid in cash for the extra guest. They were surprised when I didn’t leave the property and asked me when I would be leaving. I told that I would be going out later but would be coming back to sleep as I live here.

They were a bit confused about this as they expected the place to themselves, but they seemed fine with us being here during their stay.

We happened to all leave at the same time and, while we were waiting for the elevator, one of the group told me that he had spoken to his cousin and she was shocked that I was staying at the property and she was adamant that the listing was for an entire home. I told him that the booking was most definitely for a private room. We had a small argument about it, but things ended with him being convinced that his cousin had made a mistake and they were happy to stay.

A few hours later I received a text from him making several complaints:

  1. The apartment smells of mildew and they aren’t comfortable with the smell.

A complete fabrication as there is no smell.

  1. They aren’t comfortable with our towels being in the bathroom.

Nobody has ever complained about this before, but I agreed to store our towels in our bedroom while they are here.

  1. They aren’t comfortable with my laundry being in a hamper in the bathroom.

Nobody has ever complained about this before, but I agreed to store this in our bedroom while they are here.

  1. There is an aircon in the bedroom but not the living room.

We have a fan in the living room and they stated that they were completely fine with things being this way before they found out that we lived here.

  1. There is a small hole in the bedroom wall.

This was caused by a previous guest and it has not been possible to have this fixed over the Christmas/New Year holiday as we have been away and they checked in the day we came back. The hole does not go all the way through to the other room and it shouldn’t cause any problems for any guests staying in there.

  1. We hadn’t provided them with any towels and our listing says that towels are included.

I sent them a text asking if they needed towels, but they did not reply to it. I asked if they needed towels when they checked in and they said they had their own so didn’t need them. I have since provided them with towels anyway.

  1. The listing was for an entire home and not a private room.

They definitely booked a private room

  1. They think that $7.70 per person per night is too expensive for a private room and they should get an entire place for that price.

They are having a laugh.

I replied to this text addressing all of the issues and it was over an hour before I received a response back. Everything was suddenly fine, but apparently we had to remove the towels and laundry basket from the bathroom for them to be happy with their stay. I expect that they may come up with more problems later though.

I now have a few concerns about this booking.

  1. What will happen if they want to cancel and Airbnb find out that the guest booked for a third party? Will they be refunded the entire stay, including the night/s they have already stayed?

  2. What if they cause so many problems that they become unbearable to live with and I have to ask them to leave? Will they be refunded the entire stay, including the night/s they have already stayed.

  3. Am I correct in thinking that neither of us will be able to review each other?

  4. If the cousin, who didn’t stay, leaves us a bad review and I contact Airbnb to have it removed due to the reviewer not staying, will they be refunded for making a third party booking? I am pretty sure they won’t be, but I am not 100% sure.

Edit:

For what it’s worth, I have a strict cancellation policy.

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This booking has had red flags blazing since the beginning

CALL AIRBNB
CALL AIRBNB
CALL AIRBNB

Did I mention you should call Airbnb. I’ll just start with don’t accept third party bookings (usually).

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3

Accepting third party bookings is against AirBnB’s terms and conditions, so you may find yourself in some trouble here.

My guess is that Air will refund the guest, based on the fact that you accepted a booking that violated their terms. If you didn’t know it was a third party booking until they showed up, you should have notified Air the minute you found out.

This is one of the primary reasons I don’t accept third-party bookings, although I know many hosts do. Third party guests have not read your house rules, may not of even looked at your listing description, and have not agreed to any terms and conditions.

The other reason you may find yourself in trouble is that you accepted a cash payment for an additional guest, and basically conducted business outside of the AirBnB platform. This is another violation of their rules.

I feel you have two options:

  1. Continue with the stay and hope that nothing happens, and keep AirBnB in the dark. Be warned - Because you have third party guests, I’m fairly sure you’re not covered by the AirBnB host’s guarantee. They also may find out anyway if the guest calls them. Needless to say, this option is not the one I would recommend.

  2. Contact AirBnB and tell them you made a mistake and ask them what you should do. It may end up that the guest gets refunded, but it may work out to be less stress in the long run.

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With this being a third party booking, what are Airbnb likely to do if we call them though? I don’t want the guests being refunded for the night/s they have already stayed.

And for now I don’t want them being refunded for their remaining nights. As long as they don’t cause any more problems after their ‘Waaaaah we don’t have the place to ourselves’ outburst, I am happy for them to stay.

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I’m going to bow out of this thread now as I am unable to help you. Best of luck. :roll_eyes:

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So from the sounds of things, it’s possible that these guests could wait until checkout to contact Airbnb and be refunded for the entire stay due to it being a third party booking?

There’s nothing in the message thread about this being a third party booking (the person booking made sure this was kept to texts), so I could easily claim that I assumed that the person booking was staying with her cousin.

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Now I’m totally confused. The majority of your first post talked about what lousy guests they are. Now you’re happy to have them stay?

You made a mistake in accepting the booking. It happens. The responsible thing to do now is call AirBnB and explain what happened. If you don’t correct your mistake, and something happens during this guest’s stay, there is NO WAY AirBnB will help you with anything.

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8

You could claim that you didn’t know it was a third party booking, right up until they arrived. At which point you should have contacted Air immediately.

Also, stop texting your guests. All your business communication should be done through the AirBnB platform.

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Less 'happy to have them stay, more ‘willing to tolerate them staying’. The only problem so far has been with them expecting an entire home.

I suspect the other issues they raised were efforts to try and get a refund and that, after Airbnb told the person who made the booking that our listing was for a private room and not an entire home, they have accepted that they made a mistake when booking the room.

I’m not expecting Airbnb to help with any potential damage the guests cause. I knew the risks when accepting this booking.

I have not interacted with them since the outburst and for all I know things will be perfectly fine tomorrow.

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They are probably plotting… :smiling_imp:

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I fully understand why K9 has pulled out of this. You are not LISTENING to one of the most experienced hosts on the Planet! Call Air immediately, admit that you made a mistake accepting 3rd Party Booking (although my understanding is/was (??) that it is the guest/3rd party booker who is at fault, not the host), they are now complaining about not having the entire house because they didn’t make the booking, and GET THEM OUT PRONTO:Please! All I can see is red flags hanging out of your windows. Never mind any loss incurred, and your rates are so low. What did they want/think they’d get? A dog kennel costs more.

Sorry about the shouting but I’m worried for you.

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If there are problems tomorrow, I will be calling them then. It is 01:15 here and it’s not an appropriate time for the call. I know from experience that Airbnb have no consideration for different time zones. They have woken me up with a phone call at 03:00 on more than one occasion.

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You are totally contradicting yourself. Get off the forum now, stop typing to us and call Airbnb immediately. I’m not going to comment otherwise, as I agree you created this hot mess and are not listening to anyone.

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14

They have 24/7 service all over the world. Stop making excuses and call them.

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15

I have not contradicted myself. Maybe read before posting?

16

Maybe you should do the same.

You gave us a laundry list of issues, then you said the only thing wrong was them expecting an entire home.

No more comments from me.

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17

Those are nonsense issues the guest has raised because they are frustrated that they don’t have the place to themselves.

If they had the place to themselves as they wanted, they wouldn’t be complaining about a smell that doesn’t exist, the price or any of the other supposed issues.

Is anybody able to actually answer the questions I asked?

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  1. I don’t think that AirBNB will care that it is a third party booking. This is no longer against the TOS.

  2. No way to know. AirBNB doesn’t always use the same logic even when there are similar situations.

  3. No. You are not correct. Both parties will be allowed to review.

  4. Again, AirBNB doesn’t always use the same logic even when there are similar situations. A third-party booking wouldn’t be cause to refund. Complaints about the space, that are hard for you to disprove, might be.

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Thank you for answering my questions.

I am a bit confused about your response to the first one though. Why is it no longer against the ToS?

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If you are not prepared to take the advice you are being given, you have only yourself to blame. Kona is absolutely right; she is another planetary expert and you seem to know sweet FA of how Air works. You can call 24/7, with call centres operating in your time zone.

For me, I’d be grateful if you left us alone.

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