Someone wants to book your Airbnb for a relative. Should you accept?

The request reads: "I'm booking this for my mum, she's visiting for a week." Or: "My son and his friends need somewhere for the weekend." The person paying won't be the person staying. Some of these bookings are completely fine. Others are the classic way a party ends up in your living room.

What Airbnb's rules say

Airbnb generally expects the person who books to be on the trip. It has allowed bookings for others in some situations, like family members, as long as the booker takes responsibility for the stay. Rules change, so check the current terms before accepting. Either way, the person who booked is the one Airbnb treats as responsible if something goes wrong.

That's the core problem. The guest who stays isn't the one with a review history, and may not feel accountable for a booking someone else made.

Ask who's actually staying

You can't make a good decision without knowing who'll be there. Ask, politely:

Thanks for your message. Could you tell me a bit about who'll be staying and what brings them to the area? I like to know who I'm welcoming.

The answer usually tells you a lot. "My parents, visiting their new grandchild" is very different to "a few friends of my son's, they're 19". Our post on spotting a party booking covers the other signs to watch for.

Where the risk is

Third-party bookings range from very low risk to very high:

• Lower risk. Parents booking for themselves or for elderly relatives, someone booking for a partner or close family with a clear reason for the trip, a company booking for an employee.
• Higher risk. Young adults whose parent is paying, groups of friends where the booker won't be present, local bookings for "a friend's birthday".

Higher risk doesn't mean decline automatically. It means ask more questions and be confident in the answers.

If you accept, talk to the real guest

Once you're comfortable, get the actual guest's name and phone number and message them directly before check-in. That way:

• The person staying gets the check-in details first-hand, not passed on.
• They know who you are and how to reach you.
• They hear your house rules from you, not second-hand.

Send them your house rules and confirm the number of guests. Keep the main conversation in Airbnb's messages where you can, so there's a record if anything goes wrong.

Elderly or first-time guests

When someone books for an older relative or someone who doesn't use Airbnb, think about what they'll need that a regular guest wouldn't. They might not have the app, might not be used to lockboxes or keypads, and may need clearer instructions. A printed welcome book and a phone call before arrival can make the stay far smoother.

Students and young guests

The most common higher-risk version is a parent booking for a teenager or student. Often it's completely innocent: visiting a university, a job interview, a concert with a couple of friends. Sometimes it's a party the parent doesn't know about. If you accept, be clear on the guest count, ask for the actual guest's phone number, and mention your quiet hours and visitor rules directly to them. If your building is sensitive to noise, it's reasonable to set a minimum age in your house rules and apply it to every booking.

If you decline

You're allowed to decline if you're not comfortable, as long as the reason isn't based on someone's protected characteristics. Keep it short:

Thanks for your request. I only accept bookings where the person booking will be staying, so I'm going to decline this one. I hope you find somewhere great.

Our post on saying no to a guest's request has more examples. A clear, consistent rule makes these decisions much easier, and stops you second-guessing each request as it comes in.