Do other hosts allow guests to have their friends visit on the property?

[Sandra1923]

We have two women staying six nights and the second night, they had two male visitors. I don't think they came into the guesthouse but the four of them spent hours in our gazebo outside in the garden talking very loud, laughing, etc. If our neighbors were home, their noise would have disturbed them.

I am thinking to put on my site, "Sorry, no visitors permitted to the property as there is no way of knowing if a guest's visitor(s) has been vaccinated against covid. Also, there is a liability issue if the guest's visitor hurts him/herself while on our property. I'd like to hear if other hosts permit their guests to have visitors. Thanks.

[Ruth413]

@Sandra1923   We have it written in our house rules :- No visitors without written consent by the hosts. 

We don't put a reason, but if asked I would say it's down to insurance as we are only covered by Airbnb for registered guests. 

We only added this rule after we just opened up after Lockdown and our first guests invited their parents and in-laws round to join them outside for drinks.  We didn't want extra visitors due to the rules in the UK for Covid, also 2 extra cars on the driveway took up the parking space for our other guests and being asked first is always polite.  

[Tammy208]

thanks for this idea.  I have a guest arriving registered single then today informs me that her boyfriend will be the only person she invites but it won’t be for extended times.  

I have it stated in my house rules all guests must be registered. I’m going to be using your wording in my reply I hope this make her give me a bad review.  

[Gordon0]

If you used the COVID/vaccination line in this country, @Sandra1923, you might be accused of discrimination (do you ask to see guest's vaccination passports?). Likewise, Airbnb's Host Protection Insurance is just as likely to cover a guest's guest judging by the description.

Better be straight with guests rather than make stuff up.  

[Amanda660]

Last year we had a couple and their kids book (group of  6) via booking.com.  They happened to mention that they wanted to invite some family over for the evening...turns out it was two brothers, two sisters in law, 6 kids and 2 dogs.  Erm...no!

We have a rule on strictly no guests and no visitors but people frequently think it’s more of a suggestion than a rule.  I always make sure that folks know that we live ‘right across the road’. Excess cars (other than the 2 places we have on a private drive) would cause a real inconvenience to neighbours .

[M199]

@Sandra1923 

We have an absolute no visitor or additional guest rule and explain it is due to insurance requirements.  To date, except for 1 personal friend, we have never been asked if visitors are allowed.  We are lucky to have a very savvy neighbor who will let us know if any rules are broken.

[Lisa723]

@Sandra1923 we allow it but in our location it’s rarely any kind of problem.

[Debra300]

@Sandra1923,

We have a rule that says visitors are not allowed without permission.  However, we usually allow it when guests request to have a parent or child to visit, because most of the time they've traveled thousands of miles to see relatives, but they just don't want to stay with them.

[Patti-And-Marty0]

It can be a tricky conversation when your listing is not suitable for children and your guests want to have the grandkids over. Of course they do,  and usually we just grin and bear it (and clean up after) 😩

There was one guest we wouldn’t have back after really letting the kids run amuck and causing minor damage and double cleaning time. 

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Sandra1923 

I make it clear in my house rules and double check with each inquiry if guests are okay with our "no visitors/guests of the Airbnb guest allowed" rule . Our listing is a private room in our main residence, so we make it clear we don't allow anyone other than the guest named on the booking to enter our home at any time.

For a few of our long-term exchange student guests we have made exceptions when they had a sibling or friend visit Korea for a week or two but we always ask our guests not to mention this in the review. 

Rather than covid, I think insurance and liability is a better excuse and in addition to no visiting guests on the property you could simply add to your house that quiet time must be respected while in the yard/gazebo because sound travels and echos more at night 😀

[Mike-And-Jane0]

In non-covid times we allow visitors. Never had any problems but we do live on site.

[Elaine701]

We are in a popular tourist destination, but with respect to this topic there's also many former tourists who now live here. 

We receive a lot of bookings from people who are coming for a week or more, to meet up with friends, go golfing, boating, etc. They don't want to stay with friends. They book us. And yes, very often, they'll have their friends over for dinner and drinks. It's perfectly acceptable. 

If you're a little perceptive, you can usually tell the difference between this type of guest and one who's attempting to have a party. The casual tourist with local friends openly say so, and are generally warm and transparent. The ones that are trying to arrange a party aren't up front about it, they tend to divert around pointed questions by not answering directly, and tend to word their sentences in ways that just imply they're not the first type of guest.

And age tells lot too. The older ones tend to have life well under control, and have nothing to hide. The younger ones exhibit bits and pieces of confusion, and aren't really confident about what they say. That's a telling sign. Young people generally aren't coming to golf and visit friends. 

[Justine275]

We have a rule that no unregistered guests are allowed on the property- for several reasons including liability, not disturbing neighbors and most importantly: there’s no question of whether guests are having a party or can claim it’s just a “get together.”

That being said.... when we’ve hosted families on extended stays who have been communicative, we’ve been flexible with allowing grandparents or a friend in town to visit. We do ask for folks names and make it clear that it’s ok to stop by or for a short visit. 

[Celia60]

I'm glad I researched this on this page because we have just come across this matter. We have two guests staying, perfectly nice people. Fortunately, we can see who approaches our cabin from our house, and we are here all the time, and we noticed another car arrive and two people arrive. We have no idea who they are and I feel ticked about it. I think our guests should have at least asked us if we minded, it only takes a moment to text. We are now closing for the season, but in future I shall add your rule that no unregistered guests are allowed and that should solve this problem in the future.