17 year old turning 18

[Alasdair-Scott0]

Hello, my son is turning 18 this summer and is planning to do some travelling by himself, he really would like to stay in airbnbs so he can meet new people and experience the cultures of the places he is visting (instead of alone in a hotel room),  he is very responsible and has travelled alone before. He is still currently 17 years old and from looking online, I understand that he is not able to create an account or book anything at all until he is officially 18. I completely understand this however he is looking to book as soon as possible so he can plan his trip and he will be 18 at the time of the booking. Is there anyway that I can message hosts on behalf of him to give them my permission and book for him? I obviously don't want to put a host in a tough position so want to know what to do.

Thanks

[Sarah977 · Accepted solution]

@Alasdair-Scott0  No, you can't book for him, third party bookings are against Airbnb's Terms of Service. The person who books has to be one of the arriving guests.

It's great that he wants the experience of staying with locals. What you could do is message hosts of places he is interested in, explain the situation, get your son to introduce himself to the host in that message in a way that will show he's a good, responsible person, and then he could get back in touch with those hosts when he is 18 and sets up his own account. Hopefully some of those places will still be available.

He could also check out Couch Surfing and Woofers.

And I hope you've trained him well as far as cleaning up after himself and respecting others' property. Many hosts are leery of hosting young guests because they tend to be slobs who cluelessly wreck stuff and ignore house rules.