Reservations for a whole flat for one person

[Sotiria6]

I reduced the price for my flat which was to accept last minute bookings and so I got 1 person who booked my whole flat(accommodating 6 people normally).

Do you normally prepare all the beds and duvets etc or just one room and of course keep the rest clean and tidy just not able to accommodate more people?

Many thanks!

[Shelley159]

Hi @Sotiria6 

You should prepare everything as usual before the booking, but hopefully afterwards it will be far less work than usual! 

The guest should be able to choose which bedroom and bed they want to use, as they have booked the apartment as a whole.

From time to time it happens that a booking is incorrectly made for just one guest (one guest is the default if you don't enter the number of guests when searching on Airbnb). Check the message thread to see whether the guest specifically mentioned that they will be just one, otherwise it may be good to ask, just to confirm.

[Sotiria6]

thanks so much for your answer!I have asked if they wanted to just book the one room and they said they prefer not to share- should I ask theμ which room would they want to have available and explain this is to ensure house rules are followed or how do you think i should word it best ?

thanks sooo much 🙂

p.s i loved stellenbosch so much and South Africa in general-brought tears of joy to my eyes when I saw you are from there !

[Shelley159]

Great to hear @Sotiria6 , you should visit again! 😀

OK so it's not a mistake, they really will be just 1 guest and they don't want to share, but they booked at a single-person rate on the entire-apartment listing (instead of booking one of the rooms listings).

I think if both rooms aren't prepared the guest may have grounds to complain, but it's likely @Helen3 may have dealt with this situation before and may have a good way for you to communicate the unavailability of one room.

For the future, it would probably be best to price the "entire home" listing for 4 guests, and only add the extra guest fee from the 5th guest onwards? That way a whole apartment booking is genuinely paying for the whole apartment, and you don't lose money on the second bedroom.

[Sotiria6]

thank you so much !!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Helen3]

I would never accept a booking for a flat that sleeps 6 for one person . As they are likely to bring more than have booked .

the only way I would reduce the rental iso to make a clear on the listing that when one person books only one bedroom is available @Sotiria6 

[Sotiria6]

thanks so much for your answer!I have asked if they wanted to just book the one room and they said they prefer not to share- should I ask then which room would they want to have available ?

[Sotiria6]

I guess my question is how to word it best and ask to the guest that i need to make sure the house rules are followed ?

Thank you very much in advance!

[Helen3]

As you didn't indicate when you reduced the price that only one bedroom would be available you can't change the rules now. @Sotiria6 

But you can confirm with the guest that only the person who booked can be at the property. In this way if they attempt to bring in more people not on the booking you have grounds for asking anyone not on the booking to leave.

[Sotiria6]

thank you so much :)))

[Emilie]

Hi @Sotiria6, 

When is that booking for? 

I see that Helen and Shelley shared some suggestions on how to approach it with you, but I'd be really interested to know if you've talked to the guest more and have found out anything else. 🙂

Thanks, 

Emilie

[Sotiria6]

Thanks so much ! The guest will be on their own and have asked if hey only wanted the listing with one room to which they replied that don’t want to share ! 
What do you mean exactly by speaking to the guest more and what questions would you ask if you were me ? 😊

[Emilie]

@Sotiria6 You were asking for advice on wording so I wasn't sure if you had talked to the guest more or not; it sounds like you've got it under control now thanks to the excellent advice of Helen and Shelley, I don't have any additional suggestions  ✨

I hope it all goes well, and let us know if you have any more questions other hosts can help with 🙂

Emilie

[Juan63]

You should make an additional listing to offer your space as a 1 bedroom. Lock up the other rooms.