Am I missing something? Why didn’t the author just say yes he was staying as well? In fact he was going to be there at check in, just not sleeping there. Do you really think they’ll check the bed to see if you’re in it every night?
The host is not your friend, if you’re doing anything odd with an Airbnb it’s best to just be quiet and not divulge more info than what is necessary.
This policy isn't foreign to hotels. I don't want customers signing in their kids for a room to throw a party without the parents present. They do these checks to limit fraud you describe.
The cancellation refund discretion is part of the host's TOS , too.
Putting it in a TOS is one thing, how is it enforced?
Also, it’s trivial to book a room at a hotel and have someone else check in under the reservation as long as you put them on the guest list. I’ve done it before. Not sure how this is fraud.
>Putting it in a TOS is one thing, how is it enforced?
This comes off like a bad faith question because OP wrote this article because AirBnB's TOS was enforced in explicit detail.
> Also, it’s trivial to book a room at a hotel and have someone else check in under the reservation as long as you put them on the guest list. I’ve done it before.
Did you have to present ID? Were you over 18? Did someone in your party already have a credit card on file before anyone got the first set of keys? If you do those things, there's no trivial difference between making your own reservation.
The issue isn't whether you can get legally away with spoofing a reservation account. The issue is whether you're potentially liable for breaking a contract or committing fraud.
The op wrote an article about how he shot himself in the foot and got taken advantage of by a shitty host. He should have put his name down as one of the guests. When the host saw his name wasn’t listed, he got him to incriminate himself and reported it knowing she wasn’t going to have to give him a refund.
With hotels, typically you reserve a room with a credit card, and any guests you put on the list can show up, present their ID, and check in. You never have to check in yourself. So I really don’t think what you said was accurate. The hotel doesn’t even know who is making the booking, there’s no account they can check like there is with AirBnB.
> When the host saw his name wasn’t listed, he got him to incriminate himself and reported it knowing she wasn’t going to have to give him a refund.
She asked if he was staying. He said no. She clarified that if he did stay, things would be fine and wouldn't have cancelled. He answered honestly.
In AirBnB, if the person making the booking isn't staying there, it pattern matches as a red flag with credit card fraud, people throwing parties, people spoofing AirBnB accounts because they're blacklisted, etc.
> You never have to check in yourself. So I really don’t think what you said was accurate. The hotel doesn’t even know who is making the booking, there’s no account they can check like there is with AirBnB.
I provided counterexamples to your claims. I don't know where you're getting the claim that hotels don't know who's making the booking or they can't check for blacklisted customers.
The host is not your friend, if you’re doing anything odd with an Airbnb it’s best to just be quiet and not divulge more info than what is necessary.