Additional Guest - Additional charge or refuse?

[Mita127]

Hi everyone! First time post, long time lurker here 🙂 Sorry for the long post! (Previous posts about additional guests were mainly on entire properties rather than a room in my case. Some background: I have a 2 bed 2 bathroom flat, and I Airbnb out the second bedroom and bathroom - here's my link just in case: https://www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/44039080?source_impression_id=p3_1660306101_B3KjtcL%2FiC4vlPkA The flat is spacious and the room is a double but since I also live here, I personally feel comfortable with just the one guest, which is on the listing i.e. the number of guests is limited to one and there's no option to add to this, and no additional guest charges. 

I have one guest staying with me for a month, he has been here for almost 12 days so he is about a third of the way through his month long stay. He is a recent graduate, and while he is polite and pleasant, he is somewhat "undomesticated" and has not paid attention to the house rules (e.g. cleaning after oneself in the kitchen, not using the shared areas after 10pm etc) which I believe is down to inexperience rather than intentional. He is new to Airbnb.

However, he has just asked me if his ex-flatmate from uni can crash with him in his room for one night and that he is coming over this afternoon! I felt a bit under pressure so I reluctantly agreed, he then said it would actually be 2 nights over the weekend (instead of one night) and that they would be out for the majority of the day so I wouldn't even know that they are there. Then he said a different friend needed a place to crash next week for 3 nights. I explained to him that extra guests is explicitly mentioned in the House Rules, and that Airbnb would not cover me for any issues arising from unregistered guests. There are also additional costs incurred from extra guests, e.g. water, a bit of electricity, possibly use of the kitchen appliances. I'm also a bit concerned that once I say yes, he will ask again to have guests for the remaining 18 days of his stay. Also all the hotels in the area appear to be booked out. So I am not sure what to do. Options are:

1) Simply say no to any additional guests including the one today

2) Say ok to the one coming today but no to any further guests

3) Say yes to the guests he has mentioned AND

4) Charge them for the nights that additional guests are staying, or not?

5) If charging, how much would you charge them per additional guest per night?

Your advice would be much appreciated! 

Thanks all! 

[Gillian166]

@Mita127  don't forget to remind him that he left the bedroom window open in that pouring rain!

[Huma0]

@Mita127 

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@Mita127 wrote:

Did your review of the guest stay on her profile?

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Yes, as far as I can remember. This was several years ago and I don't remember the guest's name now to check (plus her review is gone from my profile). I do remember that CS told me the guest would not be notified that her review had been removed, so it's highly likely that she had no idea.

It wasn't a fun experience, but it was the one that taught me that guests will lie about having read the listing/house rules. This guest insisted she had read the rules, "but that doesn't mean I need to remember them." 

When the guests checked in, one of my cats walked into the room and she said, "Oh you have a cat!" I said yes, I have three, as mentioned on the listing. "THREE!!!!" she exclaimed in astonishment. Later that night, after the guests turned off their radiators, she messaged me asking for an additional heater. I went up to the room to turn the radiators back on. This is when she said, again astonished, "Oh. We didn't realise we would be living with you. Well, I suppose that is okay..."

Later, when I challenged her on not reading the listing, she said that she knew I lived here, she just wasn't expecting me to be staying there that night (??) and that she exclaimed because she likes cats so much, not because she didn't know about them. All of this was in the message thread, so the CS rep could see that from start to finish, this girl was simply lying over and over.  The weirdest part was her claim that there was another person living in the house. I'm not talking about the other guest, which she was aware of, but every time her and her friend caused some kind of issue, they tried to blame it on some other imaginary person she said was here. Like I wouldn't know who is and isn't living in my house!

Were there any red flags with this guest? Well there was one. She had seemed quite concerned that there would be another guest staying and that he/she would 'bother' her and her friend. I should have known she would be difficult. Why pick a shared listing if you are uncomfortable with sharing?

Anyway, this experience taught me to reiterate certain points in writing (e.g. cats, stairs, traffic noise) before accepting a booking and the guest needs to message back that they are okay with those things. It's not foolproof, but it has certainly helped. I also have an 'Easter egg' question in my house rules.

[Mita127]

@Huma0  Haha wow these guests and their "logic"... WILD! That's so funny that they didn't realise you and the cats lived there. And the imaginary guest! Did you manage to keep a straight face and remain diplomatic when they were talking nonsense? If so, I am very impressed! 

I took the advice of @Susan990  and printed out my House Rules in large font, and left them in the room. Found a cheapo frame in Poundland even though it's a bit large (A3 size) but I suppose no one can claim they didn't see it lol. 

Regarding my complaint to Airbnb CS about the review, they responded as expected - some blurb about free speech, that the review doesn't violate policy, and that they recommend responding to the review, which I will do (even though I haven't responded to previous reviews so hopefully it doesn't stick out too much). And thank you for the suggested wording for that too! Also I asked CS if there's any repercussions for the guest for their behaviour, they said they "will make a note on the guest account, investigate this matter and take the appropriate actions". I doubt anything will happen but I think I've done all I can on the matter now. I don't even need the voodoo doll I made of that guest anymore (joking!)

Thanks again to this lovely community for the support and advice xx

[Huma0]

@Mita127 

Sorry you were unable to get the review removed. Another host mentioned on a recent thread that it's worth trying again after a couple of months... and then trying again after another couple of months... until you get a sympathetic rep. I don't know if that works. Perhaps.

Anyway, you will recover. Your other reviews are great, so this one stands out as an outlier and will soon be buried anyway.

As for the guests I mentioned above, it's funny now, as are most of the stories about problematic guests, but at the time, I wanted to cry rather than laugh. It's a funny thing, but I realised that for some reason, the Christmas/New Year period attracts the WORST kind of guests. I don't mean they are all bad (the other guy staying at that time was great), but the percentage of bad guests goes up dramatically. After this happened a few years in a row, I decided to block off those dates for short stays.

Now I only host long stays, so it's not an issue (most guests leave before Xmas, but if they do stay, they're fine). However, last December/January, I had to open up dates because of a fairly last minute cancellation and attracted nightmare guests again. A (actually helpful and clued up) Airbnb rep told me when I had to use up all of my penalty free IB cancellations in the space of a week, told me more guests book last minute and in a panic around the holidays, so they are less likely to have read the listing properly.

[Huma0]

@Mita127 

Also, I would suggest that, if in the future, you are in contact with an Airbnb CS rep who seems clued up, helpful, sympathetic about some other issue, when they ask "Is there anything else I can help you with?" respond, yes, and ask them about having the review removed.

I cannot promise it will work, seeing as I never tried it, but that is kind of what happened when the review mentioned above was removed. I was speaking to the rep about something else entirely.

On another occasion, Airbnb wrongly refunded two guests and the reps would not go back on the decision even though they knew they had made a mistake. I eventually got my money but only because I was corresponding with a nice, intelligent rep about something else and I asked her if she could also help me with that. She got it sorted in no time.

It doesn't help you for the time being, but it's worth a shot in the future.

[Mita127]

@Huma0  It sounds like a bit of a CS rep lottery eh! But that's great to know and I suppose it doesn't hurt to try later down the line. Worst that can happen is they say "no" and nothing changes. Fingers crossed that I end up speaking to one of these super helpful ones! 

Just received THAT email from Airbnb "Improve your ratings to keep your listing active" Grrr. 

Also good to know about the increase of "less-good" guests around Christmas / New Year period. I'll have to be extra vigilant! 🙂

[Huma0]

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@Mita127 wrote:

Also good to know about the increase of "less-good" guests around Christmas / New Year period. I'll have to be extra vigilant! 🙂

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I'm not making it up. It has happened to me several times now. The first was a girl who complained in her review that the walk to the tube station was extremely strenuous (it's 0.3 miles on a completely flat road, so about 5 minutes). She complained that the room was listed as being on the 3rd floor, even though she admitted that she already knew that what is called the 4th floor in the USA, is called the 3rd here. She complained that she had to carry her own suitcase. Normally I do offer to help, but this girl was arriving on Xmas day and had been told to keep me informed if she was running late, but didn't even though she was hours late, so as soon as I showed her around, I had to dash to my family Xmas dinner as everyone was waiting for me with the food going cold. 

One Xmas, I left cards, little gifts and treats for every guest. Almost all of them not only did not thank me, but threw it all in the bin, cards unopened and all.

I had another guest, whose booking I did not accept, who wanted details about my tree because she wanted her Xmas to be 'extra special'. I turned her away because of the awful reviews she had left for previous hosts. I'm glad I did. She became quite abusive when I said no.

Those are just a few examples. The CS rep's explanation makes sense, but a lot of these guests did not book last minute. I don't know what it is about Christmas that attracts such nightmare guests.

[Mita127]

@Huma0 Omg! That is insane. I cannot believe that guest kept you waiting on Xmas Day while you were late for your Xmas dinner! And had the audacity to complain on top of that! Also, I felt offended on your behalf that your Xmas cards and gifts were thrown in the bin. That's so sad! And the one that became abusive after you turned her away! Glad to see the Christmas spirit was alive and well then haha. Hopefully these are the odd nightmare guests and that the majority of your guests are reasonable, sane people?! 

I haven't hosted that many guests yet so I'm sure I will experience more of these "interesting" guests in the future, haha. 

[Huma0]

@Mita127 

No, luckily the majority of my guests are not like that at all otherwise, believe me, I would not still be hosting!

I have met many lovely people who come from all over the world and many of them I am still in touch with and some I would count as friends.