One of my own policies I’ve developed over time that I try to abide by includes only accepting bookings from guests who own their own profiles. What do I mean by this? Well, every once and while booking requests appear from someone wanting to reserve your accommodation for someone else. It has just been my personal preference to try to only accept those who are the actual account owners.
Why? You may ask..
I see this as a sign of responsibility – or lack thereof. One should be able to book their own rooms. As discussed in the post Step 1, it is very simple to set up an account. Your name, an email address, and a phone number are all that is needed. Personally, I require government issued identification as well as a profile picture to be uploaded. If something goes down, I want at the very least Airbnb to have something official on their end so I have something to give the police. (Sometimes you just have to think worst case scenario!) I also like to know who I am looking for when someone comes to knock on my door!
Past Examples
One of the previous times this situation occurred a boss contacted me asking if he could book a room for two of his new recruits. His recruits were under 21 and were both in college. Their lodging was part of the employment agreement so it made sense to me that the boss would be the person booking the room. I had him send their identification over so that even if the Airbnb system did not have their information, I would have the kids’ stats as well as the information of the account owner on file. It actually worked out okay. These kids’ jobs depended on their behavior so I assessed the risks and took them on as guests.
A different time an aunt contacted me trying to book a room for her nephew. She explained that he recently broke up with his girlfriend and needed a quick solution. My thought was that maybe, just maybe, his girlfriend broke up with him because he didn’t know how to handle his own affairs. I would not accept an aunt booking a room for a recent breakup. In this case, I felt this potential guest needed to be able to take care of his own account.
The Current Situation
A man contacted me from the beach town next to mine. He explained that a friend was visiting him from a foreign country and he wanted to see another area. I looked up the Airbnb account belonging to the man who contacted me. I saw that he had multiple glowing reviews for his recent stays. Being that this was an experienced Airbnber, I told him that I would only be willing to accept the booking if some sort of identification from the person he wished to have stay here was sent to me. He happily obliged.
Business as Usual
A copy of passport and visa came electronically. I accepted the reservation and awaited my new arrival. Everything seemed business as usual until the following day. I arrived home from work and opened the microwave door to warm up something to eat. I noticed that the inside of the microwave door had food bits all over it. Absolutely disgusting. I then realized that the inside of microwave had been wiped half-assed. The ceiling in the microwave was absolutely disgusting!
I quickly grabbed cleaning supplies taking care of this mess. Then I noticed the same bits of food speckled the back splash behind the sink as well the actual cleaning items themselves (the liquid soap, the scrubber). I began looking around and saw that not only had this mystery item exploded within the microwave, but it continued exploding when it was taken out. The walls and ceiling shared in the nastiness of these food chunks. Forced to retrieve a ladder, I stepped up onto the rungs to get all the food bits I found above me.
Adding insult to injury, I noticed missing water bottles. Water is not included as part of the rental. In fact, the town I live in triple filters the water making there no need to buy the bottled kind. I only buy them for work so that I may grab something cold on the go.
Tattle Tail I must
This current guest obviously viewed his stay as he would with any regular hotel/motel room and did not take into account that this was a home. Not wishing to go through the explanation of the difference between these types of stays and a botched translation, I chose the easy route – I tattled. 🙂 The man who booked the room for his friend proudly exhibited several 5 star bookings. Oftentimes, guests stay at accommodations without getting any sort of rating in the end. It is much more common for hosts to be reviewed. Typically several stays must occur for either the host or the guest to portray any type of review. An atypical good or bad stay most often prompts some type of written critique. The fact that this man possessed so many showed me that he was a regular user.
I wrote the account holder and explained the splattered food as well as the missing waters. He apologized profusely and asked why I did not force his friend to clean it up. First off, imagine that! I going to force a grown ass man to clean up his mess? Second, if someone does that crappy of a clean-up job the first time, do you really think he’s capable of cleaning it properly? And third, other guests stay in the home. They do not deserve to see his mess as I wait for him to pretend to clean.
The Aftermath..
I arrived home to a case of water and doors being slammed. Several days passed before I ran into this guest. When I did finally see him, I said, “Hello” and he just kept on walking up the stairs to get to his room. That day a bit of a heat streak passed through the area. Being that it is the winter season, the air system was set to heat. It must have only taken him a couple of steps into his room upon realizing it was hot up there. He crept back down the stairs and was forced into talking to me inquiring about the air conditioner. I had to giggle! He booked a room for a week and half. Would this tone continue the remainder of this stay? This is the risk one takes when hosting. There is no promise that a host and guests will get along. It took a few more days, but luckily, he finally did come around.
Morale of the Story
Would I accept another booking in the future made by someone other than the guest wishing to stay? Not too sure. As mentioned above, not all experiences end badly. It is important to take into consideration the reasoning of why the person is not booking their own stay. What potential issues may arise? In this case, this guest did not understand the expectations when staying in a stranger’s home – Airbnb accommodations versus hotels and motels. Luckily, the account holder possessed extensive experience. Had this not been the case, it may not have worked out in the end. Definitely something to think about!