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Post by High Priestess on May 14, 2016 2:09:36 GMT
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Post by trafalgar on May 14, 2016 21:14:40 GMT
It's interesting that they say "Instead of making a reservation for someone else, consider referring them to Airbnb." They don't say it's wrong or prohibited. I confess I do occasionally take third party bookings, but only when it's a business booking, as in their PA or colleague does the booking, which is normal if they were booking a hotel instead. No problems thus far.
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Post by High Priestess on May 15, 2016 17:12:20 GMT
I also will "Sometimes" take a third party booking, particularly if it is something like a son or daughter of the guests who contact me. At times I have taken a third party booking from a personal assistant of a business executive. HOwever my preference is always to have the person who will actually be staying, do the booking -- both because I like to be in direct communication with someone who wants to stay at my house, and because it is not ideal to be doing a review for a person who never stayed at my home, or getting a review for my home from someone who never stayed here.
Just today I received a reservation request from someone, who is wanting to book for his brother. I asked him to have his brother set up his own account and provided the link above, but I also expressed to the guest that if his brother couldnt' manage to do that in time (the reservation request is for 2 days starting tomorrow) then I would allow him to book for his brother. I explained to him the awkwardness of leaving reviews for someone who didn't actually stay, etc, and hoped that explaining this could help him see the point of having his brother create his own account.
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Post by helgaparis on May 16, 2016 21:07:23 GMT
Deborah, did you read / copy my story of the guest with the stolen wallet? It was interesting in this sense too, as he had to book 2 airbnbs with a cancelled credit card. One, a host cancelled booking, was credited, he could use that money, but it was not enough for the second room.
We discussed it with airbnb, him and me on speaker and a very helpful guy plus advice from his collegues on the phone. There is no way to add to a credit (he had half the room price left). For whatever reason I would credit, that money would go straight to his account, no way to intercept it and hold it on airbnb. The solution they proposed was He pays me cash and I book for him. Really? That's a third party booking! I asked if they were sure that it was ok (I did not mind, but I wanted to hear it). No insurance problems? - No. It's ok as long as I tell the other host in advance, no IB. He walked me through my first booking as a guest - it's hard not to IB if the listing is set for it. The other host and I were open about it in the reviews and I copied my guest's review from the mail in the review form, so it was really the review of the persn who stayed there. (I asked twice but quickly, I did not want to give the impression to my guest beside me, that I want to make it difficult. He was elder and unfamiliar with Internet bookings, so he did not get the details, but the airbnb person did know what I was asking. As said above: it's a rule to discourage it, it's not really forbidden.
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Post by High Priestess on May 17, 2016 0:11:08 GMT
Very intriguing Helga that Airbnb actually told you to have the guest pay you cash and then have you book for the guest! I am very pleased that they would be open to being "flexible" on some of the Airbnb rules and policies, in order to get to the desired end point -- the guest being able to stay at your place and the payment somehow going thru Airbnb, even if in a convoluted way. An odd consequence of you booking for your own guest -- you could get to write a review for yourself staying at your own house!!
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Post by helgaparis on May 18, 2016 8:39:17 GMT
Sorry, no, I did not book my own space. He had booked several places, including mine. He arrived with is wallet stolen, he blocked his credit card. His last host cancelled and he could tevook in that town with the host cancelled money - the only case, where a guest gets the option to keep the money on airbnb. Then he found out that his flight out of Paris was from a provincial airport before service hours of any public transport. I booked the room close to that airport for him. - by that time, he had received a western union transfer - it was that or he pays a hotel in cash. Wise decision: make an exception to the rules ;-) But as Trafgar said, it's formulated with a loophole.
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Post by trafalgar on May 18, 2016 22:07:43 GMT
HOwever my preference is always to have the person who will actually be staying, do the booking -- both because I like to be in direct communication with someone who wants to stay at my house... I ask the guest-booker to give me the email address and mobile phone number of the person who will actually be staying, and contact the latter direct to say "Hi, I'm your Airbnb host etc", but I also keep the original guest-booker in the loop as to whatever I've communicated.
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Post by helgaparis on May 21, 2016 12:21:06 GMT
Trafalgar, in my rare cases of 3rd party bookings, I do that do, communicate with the guest, with copy to booker. The few cases of guests so hostile to technology, that they refuse even mobile phones, were annoying experiences, as they showed up without notice and did not get any information before that.
The new service terms clarify the 3 party booking situation. They are allowed with prior agreement by airbnb. In case of company bookings, the business account seems to include the permission by definition. In my case, a booking for my guest, on suggestion of airbnb, it was allowed and covered by insurance as the permission was given. I would interpret the terms that way: if you discover a 3party booking , you have to advise airbnb. Then you can agree to continue with their permission or have them break it. If they refuse permission, I suppose that means they cancel it anyway. It was always handled that way, but now it's stipulated. I suppose they want to have a means to keep as many bookings as possible without hosts going hysterical over insurance questions, but on the other side have a quick look, if there is a known problem guest or evicted member, who tries to work around an exclusion. It only says permission or agreement, whilst for other questions, you need a written permission. Serms you can go ahead after a short check by phone. For my last calls on different questions, I got a mail confirmation later, not repeating the call, but a trace nevertheless.
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