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

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You need to check their passport. Be careful that some guests are drug traders!

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Pay no attention to the op Kiki

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I have. The second party booking was traveling with someone who was obviously a jerk and had bad reviews. I saw their true colors when they lit something smoky like a mosquito coil in my room and denied it… then blamed it on the room being musty and filthy. (it is neither)

Bad bad guests… But there was literally no way to tell until I met them that the guy was traveling on her account.

People who have bad reviews use a friend’s or family member’s account to book. It’s a red flag and a violation of the TOS.

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24

(Glad, as far as your koala guest, as long as you don’t have bamboo furniture…)

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(Sandy you nit…koala’s eat eucalyptus.)

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I have a booking early next year from the Taj Mahal if the profile pic is to be believed :slight_smile:

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27

Pandas, not good guests, I have bamboo floors!

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28

I’ve found a quicker way to contact air is on facebook. They respond super quick!

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29

I have red painted tow nails in August coming! I had Jesus last month!!! lol

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30

Maybe because it would take a “miracle” to get accepted under his real profile.

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31

(Maybe it’s faheem?!)

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32

I would seriously love that :slight_smile:

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33

Nope. :slight_smile: I’m definitely not the Taj Mahal.

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34

I’ve had a couple completely different experiences with this, so I thought I’d share. Hopefully that will add more to this conversation than just people quoting (and re-quoting) the Airbnb policy. (Yes, we KNOW it’s not allowed. Sheesh.)

  • Our first experience with letting someone book for another person was a mother who was booking a trip for herself and her daughter. The day before the stay, the mother explained that she wouldn’t be able to make it right away, but would be there in a couple days to help her daughter move into her new place. Her daughter was only 18, so I made sure to take out the complimentary bottle of wine we usually leave out for guests. Even though they booked a week, the daughter only stayed two nights before the mother sent me a message explaining that her daughter was moving back home. I tried to give them a partial refund for the nights not used (I know it’s not necessary, but we didn’t mind.), but they said they didn’t need the refund. I found out later that the daughter was a victim of domestic violence and was trying to get out of her current situation. The place was left in the condition you’d expect from an 18-year old: unwashed dishes, no stripped sheets (which was requested as our only check-out request), but otherwise fine. I was happy to know that we helped her find a safe place while she transitioned out of a scary situation.

  • Our more recent experience was not as great. I noticed a discrepancy in the name of the account holder and the name of the person signing the inquiry messages early on and asked about it. It turned out that the account holder was booking for her daughter and her partner. I found out it was a young (early 20’s) couple moving into town, and the mother was helping them find a place and wanted to use her own account so she could pay for it. After confirming they weren’t minors, I was happy to host them because I understand what it’s like to be young and broke. But now I regret it. During their entire 2-week stay we were treated like a concierge service at a hotel. (package deliveries almost every day, requests for groceries, pre-7am texts asking for toilet paper.) What was most disappointing is that the apartment was left in pretty gross condition – they were slobs. Food & crumbs everywhere; they not only soiled the sheets, but they also soiled the mattress (thank goodness it has a zip-off cover!); the bath mat was super muddy (from the dog, I assume), and I think I’ll have to buy a new set of towels because they had clearly washed their dog with them. It’s hard to blame it on their youth because I’m only 5 years older than them, and I would have NEVER left a place in that condition. The issue, I believe, is with having no accountability because this is not their reservation, and the review will not be left in their name. They just left yesterday, and as you can see, I’m still upset. I have requested a phone conversation with their mother to discuss how it was left.

I will no longer be renting to anyone other than the account holder.

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35

Good post explaining WHY there’s a policy against it, your explanation about accountability really nails it!

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36

I have only been a host for three months and have been very careful not to let non-account holders book with me. Apart from it being against Airbnb T&C’s I am being careful as a woman who is sometimes alone in her home when hosting.Usually people mention when they are booking for someone else and I refer them to the T&C’s so that they can register themselves but a three weeks ago I accepted a booking from a woman and a man turned up. When I told him that I was unhappy he said that he was going out to meet the friend who had made the booking so I asked to speak to her. I never saw him again and never found out his name. Then I found out that the woman had been to my house the previous weekend when I was away and that my daughters boyfriend thought that I knew her and allowed her to look at the room which is also my daughter’s bedroom when she is home as she was that weekend.I reported all of this to Airbnb and was assured that they would look into it and even had an e-mail to say that the matter had been resolved. Then on Thursday a review appeared on my account from the woman, the review is quite malicious and even states that she booked the room for friend who went home when I was unfriendly, she is critical of the state of the room and the exterior of the property which is actually part of the neighbouring property. Despite my phoning Airbnb twice nothing has been done to remove her although it is obvious that she only joined to make this booking and I have been a member for nearly three years. I have also received an e-mail tp say that I could receive sanctions because of the bad review. How can I get this resolved? Since then I have been host three times and have received good reviews.

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Hi @Bonnellio,

Have you tried to get the review removed? Have you tried Facebook and Twitter? If I understand you correctly, you’re saying the woman did not actually stay in your rental, but still left you a review. Is that correct? If so, I would have thought getting rid of the review should be entirely possible, unless Airbnb is completely nuts.

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Hi Finally today after another phone call the review was removed and I have been informed that the woman who made the booking has been informed that she was in the wrong. I am happy but it shouldn’t have taken so long and I shouldn’t have had to phone 4 times.

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39

No kidding. Dealing with Airbnb CS is like an Idiot Endurance Test.

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It must be that some regional AirBnb Customer Service centers are either “not very good” or “downright crappy”. I’ve never been on hold more than 1-2 minutes, and always had my problem resolved with little or no hassle.