What do you do when someone is booking for someone else?

Firstly, seems Airbnb have a new ‘customer service’ when you ring, not that I’d call it that as I’ve just been on hold 8 minutes on the Australian line and now 12 minutes on the US line! You used to be connected pretty much straight away.
Anyway, I’ve just had a confirmed 8 night booking from a girl who has 2 reviews but no profile information, not even where she comes from (where are the new guest profile parameters that were introduced??). She’s booking for her parents who of course are neither known, verified or anything else. What do you do in this case? I’ve replied saying thank you and let me just check on this situation as it isn’t her staying and could she in the mantime tell me a little about her parents. Which is why I’m trying to call Air - who of course are not available to give me advice!
What would you do?

Hi @Glad,

Airbnb clearly states online that that is a violation of the terms of service.

See for example Booking for friends and family - Airbnb Help Centre. Extract:

We require Airbnb reservations booked for personal travel to be booked by the person who’s going to stay at the listing.

ADDENDUM: Actually, I cannot find anything in the Terms of Service specifically about this, though there should be. It sounds like something that should be bought up with Airbnb.

But bottom line - this is a bad idea. I think that it automatically voids most, of not all, of the (questionable) protections you receive from Airbnb, because the agreement is between the person who books (the Guest) and you. Note: I’m, of course, not a lawyer, but if you read the Terms of Service I think it is clear that this is potentially a problematic situation.

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After telling people here not to do it and that it was a violation I just did it last week. A mother reserved for her 22 year old daughter. Because she had 4 good reviews over a period of 2 years, because I had a good feeling about it, and because I have no other bookings for the summer currently, I accepted. Her daughter was a great guest. But I’d still advise against it. LOL

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Heh. Do as I say, not as I do? :slight_smile:

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I’ve also rented to return guests privately outside of the system and had no trouble, although a forum member here was completely god smacked by the return guest who was nothing like his former self on the return visit and was terrible trouble. You just never do know.

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Interesting. Do you have a link for this?

But, anyway, this isn’t a return guest (at least I don’t see where the post says that), nor is he renting outside the Airbnb system. If you are going to rent within Airbnb, one should respect their rules, otherwise there is no point.

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Faheem, it’s in our bad guest lounge. On the wall of shame! :smile: Aren’t you a member? I didn’t want to add people unless they request it.

Sorry --this story was meant to be filed under “don’t do as I do, do as I say.” You mathematicians, always need everything to add up perfectly! :smile:

Well, yes, you could say that. LOL. When someone asks here what they should do there are so many variables and the simplest and most correct answer it to decline. But when you’ve got an actual potential booking sometimes you roll the dice.

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Its also a ‘gut’ feeling thing. If the potential 3rd party gives a clear reason ‘why’, then Im totally fine with it. We just had a group from Cuba and for obvious reasons they couldn’t book themselves. We have also had bookings for gf/bf and I have said no. It just depends

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No, I’m not. I’m not sure what it means to be added, though.

Hi @azreala,

Fair point. In cases where is impossible or really difficult for someone to book, then I agree one can be willing to stretch a point. Though it’s still a good idea to remember that Airbnb won’t help you in that case, so really you should consider doing it outside Airbnb and saving oneself the fees and whatnot.

In addition to the money I got on a slow night I also got a review out of.

Ok. If you want a review, then sure. But not everyone cares about a review. Also, aren’t reviews a little tricky if the person staying is different from the person who has booked?

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Booking for someone else? JUST SAY NO! It’s against the rules for starters. And the person could be booking for complete wackos…

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I have had many guests book for other guests. Sometimes parents booking for children, children booking for parents, an employer booking for an employee, a spouse booking for a spouse, etc. We have never declined a guest because someone else was booking for him/her. We have never had a problem with a guest who was booked by someone else. I don’t write a review when the guest was not the person who booked.

What’s the point of TOS if you ignore them? No host guarantee. It’s a disaster waiting to happen. This has been covered sooo many times, the answer is obvious, NO! Don’t accept 3rd party bookings. Doesn’t matter if it worked out well it’s just plan risky @KenH

@Glad
Policy right from air

Can I book on behalf of a friend or family member?
Transparency and trust are vital to the Airbnb experience. People rely on information in Airbnb profiles, reviews, and other verifications when deciding whether to host or stay with someone.

We require Airbnb reservations booked for personal travel to be booked by the person who’s going to stay at the listing.

Instead of making a reservation for someone else, consider referring them to Airbnb. You can refer them to Airbnb directly from your dashboard by clicking the Invite Friends button. When a referred friend or family member successfully completes a qualifying reservation, you’ll earn travel credit.

For business trips, Airbnb allows designated bookers at companies enrolled in Airbnb for Business to book trips on behalf of others. If you book travel for a company, read more.

Who can book trips on behalf of someone else?
Airbnb allows designated people at companies enrolled in Airbnb for Business to book business trips on behalf of other people—these people are called bookers.

When a booker books a trip for someone else, the booker handles the reservation request, introductions, and payment for the reservation—then they transfer responsibility for the trip to your guest. Once a reservation is accepted, both the booker and your guest join the message thread with the host and receive all trip communication.

If you’re a host, you’ll see booked by and booked for in your communications with the booker and your guest.

Read more about bookers and Airbnb for Business.

Personal travel

We require Airbnb reservations booked for personal travel to be booked by the person who’s going to stay at the listing.

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If they tell me upfront, I will accept them.
They have to register with passportnumber upon arrival anyway (for touristtax).

I do not care about the host guarantee, panic over nothing. If they make damages, they have to pay or get reported to the police.

Thanks for all your feed back and support. I wrote and said I felt in a pickle explaining the Airbnb policy. She cancelled, had her parents open a profile, they booked so it’s all ended well! It was an 8 day booking so wanted to do it right.
Mind you, I recently had a koala (profile pic) coming to stay. How do I know if the person who booked was the person who came??

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