Bait and Switch # of Guests

[Maria14814]

I got a request from a kid in Kissimmee Florida for a 3-night stay for just himself (1 person). He had 2 positive reviews so I decided to approve his request.

After I approved the stay for one person,  the kid then sends me an alteration request wanting to add 3 more young boys to his booking. The way this transaction was handled  first for 1 person then for 3 more boys  is very "fishy" to me and was sneaky.  Based on his new head count of 4 boys, I then declined his request and airb&b is fining me 50.00?? How is this fair and how can I prevent this from happening in the future

[M199]

@Maria14814 

We had a similar concern last summer.  My best suggestion is open and clear communications with your guest.

In our hosting with the single guy who may or may not have had friends join,  he has already visited a 2nd time and has a 7 day booking for prime time 2022.

Geez, I almost declined initially. BTW, visit 1, 2 guests, visit 2, only himself.

Point is...  talk with your potential guests, they may surprise you.

[Maria14814]

Excellent advice, thank you. Next time I will do exactly this and your right they may surprise me. I am new to this and I really appreciate your guidance…very sound advice!

[Helen3]

Sounds like you cancelled the booking rather than calling Airbnb to say you were uncomfortable with the guest because they added three extra guests and that's why you had the $50 cancellation @Maria14814 

I always ask guests to confirm how many are travelling, purpose of their stay etc . Something you could consider before accepting bookings. 

[M199]

@Maria14814 

Glad to help!  I could not have gotten as far as I hace without the help from the help, advice and knowledge of the CC.

[Colleen253]

@Maria14814 You say you approved the stay, which means you had a confirmed booking, but then ‘declined the request’ and were fined. This suggests you not only declined the alteration request, but cancelled the booking. A host cancel carries penalties:

https://www.airbnb.ca/help/article/990/host-penalties-for-cancelling-reservations

Before accepting a Trip Request, question a guest thoroughly to get a clear picture of who exactly they are, why they are traveling, and who will be joining them. It sounds to me like this guest realized after booking, that they only input for 1 guest, when they meant to input 4. So they let you know by sending an alteration request. That doesn’t seem ‘sneaky’ to me. Sneaky would be booking for 1 and sneaking in 3 more. You were of course free to decline the alteration request and tell the guest that you are still happy to host them, alone, as originally agreed.  If that doesn't work for them, they are free to cancel. But you shouldn't have cancelled the booking.

[Anonymous]

This is also what I was thinking. There's no fine for declining an alteration request - that penalty only applies to cancelling a booking.

If you learn that a guest intends to exceed your occupancy limit or break your House Rules, a call to customer service will usually be enough to nullify the marriage with a "neutral cancellation,"  no penalty to either party. This situation is a bit different, though. It seems like your apprehension about the guests is based on their ages, but that would only be considered non-discriminatory grounds to cancel if they're all under 18 (Airbnb's minimum age for booking) or an age minimum that's disclosed in your listing.

Pro tip: solo travelers don't book 3-bedroom homes for just themselves. When you get a request like that, you can be pretty sure they either made a mistake or were trying to evade the extra-person fee.