[onphonenow]

Uhh - I came ready to blame Airbnb as I no longer use them. However - you obviously can’t do third party bookings and if a host has had third party booking issues (Airbnb will not cover these at all) I think hosts will have a very negative reaction to a third party booking.

Maybe blame Airbnb for not being clearer, but the profile photo / ID verification stuff is designed for the guest.

Do people do third party dating or car reservations etc?

[dan-robertson]

Well people do blind dates or get set up by friends or both, so maybe that counts? And the OP managed to make a third-party hotel reservation fine.

I think the actual issue was not the Airbnb rule but that it makes little sense that the OP was unable to cancel at no charge for a reasonable reason an hour after making the booking (and plenty of time before the stay).