Guests not Airbnb Profile

Nicole275
Level 2
Queensland, Australia

Guests not Airbnb Profile

Hi there,

 

I'm new to hosting and was wondering if I could get some help on the risks of taking a booking where the guests are family or friends of the Airbnb profile?

 

Should I be asking one of the guests to make the booking?

If the guest staying is not the airbnb profile am I at risk with airbnb policies?

 

Thanks in advance!

12 Replies 12

Glad you asked that question. I literally just had my first guess made me rethink this entire hosting! This young lady refused to pay the extra guest fee and felt as though because she sent me a message stating her husband was joining her she didn't need to pay the fee. Well it got really bad on her part, she was very unprofessional and rude. I had to cancel her reservation and she sent so many  derogatory messages. 

 

Good luck!

 

 @Precious2 , for the future you can avoid this problem by checking the guest list on a reservation, and if they only list one guest, but you know two are coming, ask them to change the reservation to two (or do it yourself, but then they still have to okay it) , then the new amount gets automatically computed by Airbnb. You never charge or accept $$ yourself, all financial dealings go through Airbnb. 

But on the long run it might just be smoother not to charge for an extra person after 1, perhaps raise your price to $45 and that will take care of it, sometimes you'll have one guest, sometimes 2. A lot of guests don't read the details, so even you stipulated the extra charge in your listing, they might easily overlook it, then get mad....

David126
Level 10
Como, CO

Third party booking are against AirBnb policy.

David
Montana3
Level 2
San Antonio, TX

Though I admit I'm not surre how to go about this, I wanted to chime in with a recent booking of a daughter who booked for her mom.  

 

As I had done this in the past for accomodation for my own mother, I didn't think too much of it, but things got weird fast. Her mom, Marie, came by early - the room was not ready but I assured her she could drop her things off anyhow - she was booked for 3 nights - she declined, I showed her the room and told her when it would be ready. she took the key and never returned.  Never let me know - I finally contacted the daughter, aho told me she had an emergency - just never felt right AND she took off with my key - which was supposed to be fed exed to me - it's been a week, no key.

 

So, I'm thinking there must be a way to have the person who IS staying put in a profile - really wish I had, as I feel I need to change the locks now!

@Montana3  This is why you should not accept third party reservations and why (amongst other things) they are not allowed by Airbnb.  Always decline these reservations or ask the daughter/son to have their parent make the reservation.

Thanks Cynthia and Chris!

I didn't actually realize that is wasn't allowed; as I said I had reserved a place for Mom under my airbnb page.
 
The rules are complex!  And even though I've been doing this for 2 years now, I have come to accept that it, like life, is a constant learning curve!
 
Cheers for the quick response!
 
montana
 
any chance someone out there has a 'Cliff notes' version of the rules and regs?  

The Help Center is a great resource.  If something looks seems odd, I always search it in the Help Center first.  Searching the Community for previous posts is usually a great resource too.

Barbra3
Level 2
Florida, United States

Hi, I've had this happen twice in the past 2 months. Once I've realized that the person who I am communicating with is not the person who will be staying with me, I've let the person know that for booking purposes, the person staying with me must book using their own AirBnB account. It has not been a problem getting guests to do this.

 

As for added guests that I don't know about at the time of booking, generally speaking NO. However last week a guest wanted to have her 17 year old daughter stay over with her. I was OK with that after she explained the situation and agreed to the additional $30 per night fee. . And then she asked if they could bring over the daughter's puppy...umm, Noooooooo you may not. I already have a dog and sheesh why do I even need to explain this to you lol. 

 

well Barbara, I LOVE the detail!  

 
Yeah, worse, someone just hacked my airbnb account, so now I'm in a bit if a nervous tizzy; though I did just speak with Tesh @ airBNB, so hopefully this will all be worked out - it's just got me a BIT paranoid about passwords, etc.
 
😛
 
THANKS!
 
Montana
Deep in the Heart of Southtown

@Barbra3 , good for you to always check a booking and find out ahead of time if there is any discrepancy between who booked and who will show up, especially as  you raise your prices after one guest. To preempt any kind of misunderstanding about it, I put into my house rules " no other guests beyond the one(s) that have registered."

Wanting to show up with a dog could easily happen to you again, as you feature your own dog in your profile pic, so people may just think, oh, she loves dogs,  I bring mine as well! If I were you, I'd simply put "no dogs" into your house rules, that  takes care of it. To get a clear sense of who is coming, I also put it into my house rules that guests must have a clear profile picture of themselves, how else is one supposed to know? That certainly  made me more comfortable when I had IB on.perhaps consider setting a good example and exchange your profile pic for a real one? as a guest I would like to have an idea of what my hosts looks like, somit could only get you more bookings.

Barbra3
Level 2
Florida, United States

Annette, 

 

You are right about the profile picture. But honestly, my dog is much better looking than me lol. But I'm going to change it in case you're right that it may help me get more bookings...And my listing does say "no dogs"  Thanks for your constructive comments.

@Barbra3, ooops, I must have overlooked your "no dogs" in your listing. where is it? still, I advise you to clearly put it into your house rules: only what is spelled out in house rules is what protects you in case there is an infraction. perhaps just use more of what Airbnb already offers in their list of house rules available, such as their "no smoking" or "not suitable for pets". One can always make exceptions for specific guests. 

Re the profile pic: just ask yourself, would you rather host someone who has a picture of themselves, though not miss america  caliber, or someone who has a non identifiable something as profile pic? I think it goes both ways. Good luck!