7 Additional Guests

[Bingin-Beach0]

Hello all,

After 4 years of hosting mainly exceptional people, last week we had our first nightmare guest book our villa. 

In short, they had every intention of using my property for a party. Our entire lounge rooms furniture was rearranged and stacked  to one side of the room to make space for a dance floor. The loaded in PA speakers, guitar amps, DJ decks, drums - you get the idea.  The also removed all the TV, did, set box from the media room. 

On the second day, the police were at the property as we tried to cancel their last nigts stay and have them removed. The guest was aggressive, rude and refused to leave. In the end the police preferred that I allow them to stay as he was worried about the safety of our villa. The police had the customer agreed to not allow any outsiders non guests to enter the property, no parties our amplified music after 11pm and finally that all furniture would be put back.

Well the customer partied that night until 5am and over the 3 nights had 7 extra guests stay overnight Luckily we have a camera outside the front door which proved the situation. 

Our max guests  is set to 6 pax in the airbnb app and witb the fee for additional guests. 

I was told by the safety team the guest would be charged for the extra guests because we were able to prove the amount of people who were inside. 

After a week of waiting for the payment to arrive, tonight I received an update from Airbnb who said the despite setting the max  number of guests and the cost per extra guests in the Airbnb application, I hsd failed to specify our max guests in the house rules therefore its not clear only having the information in the listing date and the customer will not be required to pay.

My view is that Airbnb set the requirements for the data they need to allow a host to list a property and if we are required to list max numbers in the house rules, why are we not told why aren't they automatically populated to house rules from the property listing screen If its so important. 

Has anyone heard of the requirement to list extra guest charges in the house rules or any extra guests payments will not be paid?

Thanks Rohan 

[Sarah977]

@Bingin-Beach0  I have never heard of it being a requirement, but many hosts state in their house rules "No unregistered visitors will be allowed on the property. Failure to respect this may result in immediate eviction." It's a good idea to state this.

As you say you have cameras, so would have seen sound equipment being brought in, as well as extra guests, the way you should have handled this was to contact Airbnb the first day and tell them you need to have them cancel the booking immediately, with no penalties to you, as the guests are obviously geared up to throw a party.

I doubt you will be able to collect anything for the extra guest charge, unfortunately. That's why it's important to quash these scenes before they happen, if possible.

[Bingin-Beach0]

Sarah,

Thanks for your message. We reported the situation to Airbnb the morning og the second day and the matter was escalated to the safety team who responded 34 hour later. 

Speaking with other local hosts, I have drawn the conclusion that when a customer searches for a property they required to select the amount of guests intending on staying, which time the price for any additional guests is displayed and either accepted or they search for another property. 

If they have checked in already and wish to bring more guests,  the guest is required in accordance with Airbnb terms to submit an alternation request for the additional guests and submitted to the host for approval. 

The guest in our instance claims they weren't aware of the charges in advance and therefore shouldn't have to pay.

Airbnb needs to be seen to publicly uphold its rules on guests, they are the intermediary between guests and hosts and they are responsible for managing all payments, including additional guest charges. 

If the rules aren't enforced, it sets a dangerous precedence to the guest community that ignoring the house rules is totally acceptable and without consequence because Airbnb won't act or charge guests. 

Airbnb will glady allow a guest to write a negative review about a property after bringing 10 exta guests on top of the max capacity to a party that was not permitted to take place but they won't step up and charge them, its wrong.

The capture CCTV footage shows the guest didn't sleep the entire time, partying with music still going at 5am, drug paraphernalia in the house which resulted in having to close the villa for cleaning and repairs for 8 days!! 

I have escalated the matter and will update with the resolution ASAP.

[Colleen253]

@Bingin-Beach0 You should have been able to collect the extra guest charges. Honestly, Airbnb has such a tendency to respond the way they did in your situation, that prevention is really the best operating method on this platform. Although it's not actually a requirement to address extra guests in your house rules to be able to collect extra guest fees, it's a good idea to address them in there anyway, because you can cancel a booking penalty free if a guest is breaking any of them. This is especially important if you are dealing with a party/any unruly guest situation. Or, as in your case, to circumvent a CS rep who is in the mood to make things difficult for you. 

https://www.airbnb.ca/help/article/259/what-should-i-do-if-im-uncomfortable-hosting-someone#:~:text=....

Feel free to have a look at my house rules for an example of how I address unauthorized guests. I also make absolutely sure that guests have seen the house rules, because the majority don't actually read them. My house rules are worded as they are to help deter sketchy guests. They also give me leverage should I need to take action. Security cameras are important to catch a party developing. A party needs to be squashed the minute it starts. Trying to deal with it when it's well underway is extremely difficult.