Does anyone charge for extra daytime guests at pool?

[Gretchen156]

I rent out a guest suite in my personal home.  My backyard has a large in ground pool and entertaining space which I offer to share with guests as an amenity, but it is also used by myself and my family.

In four years I've hardly had a single issue with this but suddenly this summer I've had several guests come to stay for 4-6 nights and use my backyard to host their local friends and family all day ( 8+ hours) every day of their stay.

Since it's not been an issue before ( it's mainly only been used by the guests themselves or it's grandparents who have invited a couple of grandchildren for a few hours and asked permission) I've never considered charging extra or writing clear language prohibiting this. 

I make it clear I don't host parties, but on several occasions now, guests have asked after arrival  to have a few friends visit, I've agreed, then they have overstepped reasonable limits and crossed the line-- not into a raging party of any sort, but still far too many people ( like 15 including the 4 guests) and for too long to just look the other way.  On one occasion the 4 paying guests ( a family of 2 adults and 2 kids) asked to have a small gathering of family, which turned out to be 6 additional adults and 6 additional children who arrived at 10 in the morning and didn't leave until 9 pm- they ran the pool pumps all day, used the grill and the bathroom, and then all the children spent the night!   They did ask, but they said 2 girls would stay over not 6 kids, and I had no idea they planned this as an all day event .  Then to make matters worse, they repeated this for the next 3 days in a row with slight variations of the people who joined them.

I was at my wits end by the time they left , but didn't want to make a stink out of it and get a negative review.  Instead I let it go. Fortunately there was no damage.

That said, after this experience and a couple other ones in a similar vein, I want to rewrite my house rules to prevent having to face this problem again. I'm also thinking that I could head this off at the pass by charging an extra fee for bringing guests to the pool and setting clear time limits and limits on the number of guests.

Has anyone done this? I was thinking like $200 for a daily fee to host friends and family for 8 hours max?  Limit of 12 people total.  No overnight guests. 

I don't want to turn off the nice grandparents who were always reasonable and just invited their kids and grandkids to swim and have lunch for a few hours, but I do not want to host family reunions - at least without being well compensated because they really utilize a lot of extra resources that are not recoverable in my current nightly prices.  

Im not located in a destination city, just a simple suburb and most of my guests come to visit because they are from the area or have family here.  The pool is a large draw.

Just wondering what others have done and how it's worked out.

[Paula]

Hi @Gretchen156, This is indeed a very particular situation. I am tagging a few hosts here who have shared comments related to pools in our Community to see if they have any suggestions to offer: @Yair30 @Debbie210 @Miriam829 

Good luck,

[Yair30 · Accepted solution]

Hi @Paula @Gretchen156 

First you need to determine what you are willing or not willing to accept. Whatever you decide, you include it on the home rules.

So let's say you allow  a max of two day guests,  for a max of two hours, only with advanced notice and with an extra fee of  $35/day per guest, you would include all that under your home rules. You can also write that day guests will be approved on a case by case bases and/or for an extra fee so please contact the host in advanced.  (You can also include the type of gathering that you'll for sure not accept). 

This way, when your guest contacts you with the  request of extra day guests,  you can refer them to the listing (per our listing...) and set the rules and fees straight before you agree. 

Best,

Yair

[Nur785]

@Gretchen156 

I have a multi family house with a large in ground pool. My home insurance does not allow my long term tenants let alone airbnb guests to bring in guests to the pool. 

In the lease, I clearly state that while the tenants are welcome to use the pool, they can only have days guests by prior approval, 2 additional people max as dictated by the insurance. 

I Airbnb'ed the pool house, which is studio in that house for a little while and in the rules, I specifically wrote, while guests are welcome to use the pool, they may under no circumstances can invite unauthorized guests to use the pool. 

It was  HUGE thing with my insurance company. I still have to give them copies of the leases with the pool riders for my long term tenants. 

So I guess what I'm saying is, it doesn't matter if they paid $200 a day to have day guests in the pool, I still wouldn't do it because of the liability. 

[Helen3]

Just make it clear with guests that they are not allowed to bring their visitors to your pool as it won't be covered by your insurance when you message them back when they book.

or if you want to charge guests Sat their visitors are only allowed from x to x time for a maximum of x guests at a cost of x that needs to be paid in advance of their stay @Gretchen156