Guest vs. visitors - big party reform please help air bnb

[LaCooVs0]

We have a very serious problem with air bnb. Same problem that most people seem to have quite frequently and honestly the reason why cities across the world are banning air bnbs and every neighbor I’ve ever had at my 10 air bnb properties hates me. Air bnb needs to deal with this issue especially now that it is a publicly traded company and especially if they want to remain profitable and forego being band everywhere. 

Guest regularly list a  number of guests who will be sleeping at the houses and then proceed to have 30, 40, 50 or even 100+ guests to our house some times. We very aggressively try to prevent this with a $50 per extra guest over 6 fee. We write no parties on every description, house rule and information page of our listing possible. We clearly say that there will be a $50 charge for each person over 6 who enters the house. We are very good at catching parties with our cameras, around the outside of our smart house we document the people coming in and we even have full remote control of wifi, lighting, TVs etc. and we shut them all down during parties. Unfortunately that doesn’t always stop them. Our neighbors constantly are calling us and complaining, this is the reason why we have converted 9 of our 10 properties to regular rentals because it’s to much hassle even though we love air bnb when we have respectful and honest guests.

Here is the biggest problem, when we catch these parties and we submit our charges to air bnb for $50 per extra guest air bnb regularly states that since the extra guests didn’t stay we cannot charge them - This is completely absurd! If guests want to turn our house into a nightclub we should be able to collect our door fees and air bnb should enforce these for us when we have proof. Listen, if you say you’re  having 6 people and 10 show up and they don’t trash the house we don’t make a big deal or try to collect this but if your disrespectful throw a huge party and trash our million dollar house you should be held accountable. Especially during covid times when they are potentially putting our lives at risk when we have to clean up their filthy nasty messes. I guarantee that if air bnb starts enforcing these fees the first time a guest throws a 50 person party and gets a $2500 bill they are not going to do that again. But you guys do not back us up on this at all!!!

This is me calling out to air bnb executives -   @Brian chesky @Nathan Bleckarczyk @joe gebbia  @Beth Axelrod, and especially @Catherine Powell as head of hosting. Please for the sake of dedicated hosts / shareholders such as my wife and I, please I am begging you to update this policy. People are running rampant on your platform throwing huge house parties and smearing the name of air bnb in communities across the globe. This problem needs to be dealt with and this is a solution that is proven to work for me in my 8 years of experience in the platform. Usually just threatening the fees is enough to get the parties shut down but when it isn’t we need you guys to step up and collect the charges! I need you guys to back me and other hosts up on extra guest fees and these are not only for guests spending the night but also guests entering the house. We are not hosting nightclubs and party dens. Trust me every host on the platform will thank you tremendously for allowing us to charge and collect these fees with documented proof - This needs to change! 

Please feel free to reach out to me directly if you need any clarification or if there is anything I can do to help you guys implement these changes. It would make the community so much more respected and trusted.

[Susan1188]

Wow what a cool house you have.

I might be naïve but I think getting IDs and meeting all guests with the keys  might be a huge deterrent to parties?  It sounds like you have a lot of systems in place, cameras etc. but what is your experience with those policies?

And yes I agree that hosts should have much more visibility on the guest history:
- how many times that guest was kicked out of a place
- how many times that guest cancelled, claiming EC or otherwise
- how many times that guest got a refund or discount *after arrival* 
- checking (based on ID, credit card?) if a guest is setting up a new profile to get around a bad review or bad history

Not counting on hosts to call guests out in their reviews, which they won't but hard facts and statistics we can see.

[LaCooVs0]

@Susan1188 We do require ID’s, I have hosted literally thousands of air bnb Stays so I have a lot of experience. Guests who do this usually do not have any reviews. A lot of times they are locally, it’s rare to get an out of town guest who does it but I literally have a guest who says they are from Texas with a party of 40 or so people in this house right now as we speak thus the writing of this post.

more info on the guest is not even what we are asking for. If they are going to be so dishonest and throw a party, by the time it happens it is what it is. The neighbors are mad, the house is trashed, things are destroyed and air bnb gets a bad reputation already. 

We disclose a $50 per extra guest fee. We desperately need to be able to enforce this. Meaning air bnb needs to enforce this since they are the ones with the billing information! 

The people who do this think they can get away with it. They know they aren’t going to be charged. We had one guy who does this for a living. We caught him red handed with flyers going around our city promoting a huge party. He did not care because he knew air bnb would not enforce out $50 per guest charge. Even after we leave the guest a 1 star review they just delete their accounts, get a new email and start another account. 

The only thing that stops this is accountability. If a guest has 100 people come party at a house even though we clearly state a charge of $50 per extra guest then they need to pay that $5,000 bill. If someone reserves a nightclub for the evening they easily spend 5k. But people know they can get away with this easily on air bnb.

When air bnb enforces that charge for us people are going to stop doing this, bottom line. And that’s what air bnb needs to do! 

[Pat271]

@Susan1188  I really like your ideas about publishing guest statistics! Maybe @Katie , @Lizzie , @Quincy  et al can submit this to the Airbnb development team for potential inclusion on the New Feature list. It really would go a long way towards being able to vet potential guests (and hosts for that matter) based on their past behaviors.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@LaCooVs0 I have some sympathy but to have a 10 guest house with a 2 night minimum stay is perhaps asking for trouble. 

[LaCooVs0]

@Mike-And-Jane0  we are not asking for sympathy. We are asking that air bnb enforce the fair charges that we state for extra guests. This is not a party house, if people want to have a party they need to pay up. 

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@LaCooVs0 I think your desire for additional money may be an issue. It effectively legitimises parties as long as people pay. Stopping the parties is more important as your neighbours would surely agree. If hosts do not do everything in their power to stop parties they are partially culpable.

[LaCooVs0]

@Mike-And-Jane0 Yes if there is a party we deserve more money. If people get charged more money for having parties they will stop having parties or they will pay. 

[Melodie-And-John0]

Really @LaCooVs0 , we need higher quality guests period and Airbnb isnt doing anything that is effectively screening out the bad ones before they screw someone's house up with a party.    Unfortunately paying for a house full of party guests wont fix that problem, denying them a place to go will.  If they want to rent a bar or club, they can pay them for that right, we dont need them no matter how much they will pay.   I have less to worry about than you, when the host lives within, you can expect him to come visit you immediately if things get out of order.   Its a rarity here but  Ive had to show a few guests my ugly bath-robed inn keeper look and on the spot correction of my former Infantry Sgt self.   What I am sure of is that if I ddnt live here, at least a few of those bookings would have been out of control with damage and that needs to be eliminated.   Stay well, JR

[Pat271]

@Melodie-And-John0 

”Ive had to show a few guests my ugly bath-robed inn keeper look and on the spot correction of my former Infantry Sgt self”

Haha, brilliant - what an image!

[Fred13]

@LaCooVs0  "... and every neighbor I’ve ever had at my 10 air bnb properties hates me".

And this wreckage is because its ~Airbnb's~ fault (and total responsibility) to allow some sneaky lowlife, to book 5 people and turns around and invites 50 more to have a party in your place; but you are worried primarily about getting paid by even the trespassers.

/Speechless. Maybe my morning coffee is not strong enough today, could be.

[Melodie-And-John0]

I gotta say @Fred13 , I read that twice myself before I realized @LaCooVs0 is self outing as the owner of one of those Airbnb's that makes the rest of us cringe.   In most places, having ones neighbors hate you is a sign your doing something very wrong.    FYI LaCoo, the problem is the parties not the door charge your not collecting running a speakeasy in a residential neighborhood.  I hope that wasnt too harsh...  Stay well, JR 

[Clara116]

@LaCooVs0 

@Fred13  me too, must be the vaccine I had yesterday still making me not 100% but @@

 @LaCooVs0 ur logic and blame being totally put on Airbnb if you don't get backup on charging these party abusers is out of my grasp...and the repeated disturbances to neighbors doesn't seem to be high on your concern list....I'm slightly confused.....duh

[Fred13]

I think I am going to spike my cafe #3 today, because the world is not making enough sense thus far this morning @Clara116 . 

[Ann72]

@LaCooVs0  The real problem is that you don’t charge enough for your gorgeous place.  I have a cottage in rural Maine, far from Kennebunkport and Bar Harbor, that sleeps a maximum of 2 that I charge far more for.  Where can a family of 5 stay in such splendor as your house for under $200 a night?  Charge $700 a night and you’ll still get bookings but they won’t be parties.  By undervaluing your own property you’re inviting others to treat it and you disrespectfully.