Guest Misrepresented Herself

[Ricky94]

[Guest name], of San Diego, made a reservation to stay at my home for 2 nights.  She said there would be 3 people in her party.

When "****'s" party arrived, **** was not present.  Instead, there were 4 teenage boys, one of whom was ****'s son.

Not only were there 4 and not 3 people, as Joyce indicated, Joyce wasn't even one of these people. She had made a reservation in her own name, for 4 teenage boys.

This is NOT cool, as far as I am concerned.  Not only is the room overcrowded, it's overcrowded with  4 unsupervised teenage boys.

I allowed them to come in and stay, but I do not feel good about by mislead and lied to about the reservation.  

So far, the boys have been well behaved, but this is not the way AirBnb is supposed to work. As I host, I have been taken advantage of.  And, I don't like it.

*[Personal information hidden for privacy reasons – in line with the Community Center Guidelines]

[Alon1]

@Sarah977 

I agree, nothing excuses what happened.

However, the question I'm raising is whether a person might learn the lesson and not repeat.

We can't know it in this case until the outcome of Reviews & Response. I for one won't judge it till then. 

[Sarah977]

@Alon1   Learn what lesson? That she shouldn't lie, or lie by omission, and misrepresent? That would seem obvious to decent people. If her son was old enough to have an Airbnb account and book himself, he would have. She knew that. Being contrite just because you get called on something you hoped you'd get away with doesn't cut it, in my book.

I definitely agree, however, that people should sometimes be given the benefit of the doubt and a second chance. My second booking was from a young woman who was a 1st time Airbnb user. She arrived alone (I  only host solo guests), went into town, I went to bed at some point and never heard her come in. In the morning, she emerged from her room with a guy, immediately introduced me to "my friend Emilio". I could tell from her open and friendly demeanor that she had no idea that she'd done anything wrong. She just assumed that if she was willing to share the little single bed in the room she'd booked that it was fine.

I explained to her that having an extra guest, not mentioned in the booking, was definitely not okay, even more so because I clearly state that my listing is for 1 guest. But I was gentle with her, because she, in fact, was very sweet, was not actually trying to pull a fast one, and her friend was also quite sweet. I did allow him to stay, charging a bit more for an extra guest, and told her I wouldn't give her a bad review for it, as she was new to Airbnb and didn't know, but that other hosts might very well mark her down or cancel her booking if she did something like that again.

[Alon1]

@Sarah977 

I entirely agree that Joyce was aware that she was lying, but it doesn't mean she won't learn her lesson. 

Still, I wouldn't draw the conclusion that Joyce knew Airbnb T&Cs, i.e. 'if her son was old enough to have an Airbnb account and book himself, he would have.'

I know this from experience. I've had to point it out to a few parents who were not immediately aware of the possibilities or didn't think it was an issue because they had not familiarized themsleves with T&Cs. In those cases. I asked about their child's age, and if they were of age, then the advice has been to open a separate account. 

The responses have been mixed, but I won't go into particular cases here.

.

 .

[Helen3]

Why have you let them stay @Ricky94 

Airbnb does not accept third party bookings and they have turned up with more guests than have booked. Why not speak to Airbnb and ask them to cancel.

[Ricky94 · Accepted solution]

I have contacted Airbnb and to inform them of the situation.  Last night when the boys arrived, I was too tired to  get upset.   Fortunately, they were quiet and wel behaved last night. They've been out all day, since very early.  Hopefully, tonight, they will be as well behaved as they were last night.  They check out tomorrow. 

I was taken by surprise, this time.  But, I won't be so amenable in the future.  It's not cool to make a reseravtion in your own name, for someone else.

[Costa2]

I think , everything is not acceptable. You shold never let them in and call the police to handle this. And there is nothing to do with airbnb.

[Alon1]

@John1080 & @Sarah977 & @Karl6 

Though not in this case, but taking up Karl's generalization, a significant part of the probelm with 3rd Party Bookings is that many Hosts accept 3rd Party Booking whether they know the Rules or not.

Of course Hosts should familiarize themselves with T&Cs, but whether they do or not, the fact remains that  you can see loads of Reviews littered with 3rd Party Bookings. Airbnb can't be responsible for Hosts choosing to accept.

Otherwise, Airbnb do offer the facility of BUSINESS ACCOUNT, which are in effect 3rd Party Bookings.

But there are specific rules in place for this option. 

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

If ABB policy does not allow 3rd party bookings, then they need to provide better protection to hosts AND make sure guests aren't able to get away with 3rd party bookings. Guests need to be held accountable and penalized for their actions/decisions that violate rules and policies. 

Like @Sarah977 and @John1080 I also feel the account owner Joyce knew exactly what she was doing......

Maybe she knew 3rd party bookings are not allowed....or maybe she really didn't....but regardless, I think the guest Joyce deserves a bad rating at least for communication......I'd give a 1 star without a blink~ and an overall rating of 3 stars or less because intentional or not, she is responsible and the ONLY thing we can do is leave an honest review along the lines of "I was extremely surprised to find Joyce missing among the guests who arrived. Although it was a 3rd party booking, I did not feel comfortable turning away Joyce's son and his friends late at night. They were all underage and 1 person more than on the reservation, which also exceeded my max occupancy. I allowed them to stay and thankfully the boys were well behaved but I would not want to be put in this type of situation ever again. I would not recommend a guest that booked under false pretenses to other fellow hosts." 

[John1080]

@Jessica-and-Henry0, exactly! Let's assume for the sake of argument that she didn't know that 3rd party bookings violated policy, fine, but that doesn't excuse the fact that she stated she was the one coming and that there would be only three.  The entire episode smells of dishonesty. 

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

Exactly @John1080 

Based on my experience, the normal thing most 3rd party bookers who DON'T know 3rd party booking is wrong do, is actually mention that they are booking for a family member or friend. The fact Joyce never disclosed she wouldn't be there AND it was for a bunch of underaged boys leads me to strongly believe.......SHE KNEW that if the host or ABB knew in advance, the booking would be cancelled by ABB immediately and so she chose to hide the facts. Sure it's all circumstantial, but it would be more than enough for me to NOT RECOMMEND this guest and want to warn other hosts. 

There are plenty of hosts that have recieved terrible reviews for much less. And it's not like guests experience any real consequenes due to bad reviews from hosts anyway~~~~

[Alon1]

@Jessica-and-Henry0 

I share your experience, re 'the normal thing most 3rd party bookers who DON'T know...'

But as 'most' serves to intimate, there are always exceptions or enough ambiguity to leave a question mark. 

My example:

Last year I had a booking from a lady from Kazakhstan  stating she and one other woman would be staying for 4 days prior to travelling to Liverpool for a conference. Both were doctors, and she even named her colleague as the 2nd person.

The booking was 3 months before arrival, and the woman turned up with 2 other ladies, the one named in the original booking, and the other of course not. -- The lady who had booked then informed me the two ladies will be staying with me; while  she herself would be staying with her daughter who lives round the corner, a few hundred meters away.

I immediately raised the 3rd Party rule, especially since neither of the two ladies now due to stay spoke a word of English. Moreover, they seemed unhappy with the room and a few other things....

   I suggested they leave.

They decided they would rather stay, and the booker swore on her daughter's life that she wasn't aware of the 3rd Party booking rule.

The two ladies managed fine for the 4 days.

After departure, the booker gave me a one sentence bad review and low star ratings. 

I duly complained to Airbnb and the Review & Ratings were deleted.

I was only left wondering if the lady who booked really intended to stay originally, and didn't know the 3rd Party Rule?

  By a quirk of fate or coincidence, I  belatedly discovered that she always intended to stay with her daughter because the daughter has a 2 bedroom flat!  -- I discovered it because one day I told the story to a Russian lady who had stayed with me for quite a while. She immediately identified the daughter as one of her closest friends living round the corner, and confirmed the mother is a doctor who regularly visits her daughter in the 2 bedroom flat.

The mother had clearly intended to deceive.... Only, I could never be sure about her knowledge of the Airbnb 3rd Party Booking policy. 

[Ange2]

@Ricky94    I wouldn't give low stars except for rules,  unless applicable.  Review the boys honestly, hopefully they are great guests,  but write in your review that Joyce made a third party booking for her teenage son and 3 friends and she did not tell you she would not be with them.  Are they minors?

p.s. In my rules I write that only people named on the reservation are allowed access.  It may help - if they read it.

[Ricky94]

thanks for the feedback.  yes they were minors.  But, all is well that ends well.........the boys were well behaved and respectful.  
I will do as you advise.

Case closed.

[Martino25]

I have 4 bookings recently the same last one they done big damage to the property, broken window, smoke weed inside the flat the flat in a bad state, the person who booked only replied, I’m currently traveling for 6 months. Airbnb stilll dealing with.

[Marg11]

To avoid problems and third party booking I specifically ask for the full names of all guests who will be arriving, their ETA and what type of bread and milk they prefer. This way it is in writing.