Guests asked to extend their stay but don't confirm the alternation request

[Oleg98]

Hello Airbnb Community,

My first posts here but I have been hosting for several years already.

I have a rather peculiar situation with guests that I have never encountered before. My guests are staying for more than 3 months in my house and several times they would ask to extend their stay by the alternation request from my side, so that I could give a lower price. Sometimes they would ask to extend for 1 month, sometimes for 2 weeks. The last time they asked to extend for only 1 week which was 4 days ago. The next day they were supposed to leave. So I sent them the alternation request as usual and expected that they would confirm it on the same day.

But it didn't happen and the next day I received an automatic message from Airbnb to review the guests since their stay is completed. Yesterday I met one of the guests on the street (we are renting out the townhouse on the same street where we live) and reminded him to confirm the alteration request. He told me that he is going to do it in the evening. This morning I checked my mailbox and I only saw the email that they actually reviewed their stay. 

I already sent them several messages explaining that their stay is already finished by the Airbnb system but they still are staying and I don't get any payment for their extended stay. Plus the dates are still opened for other guests to book, so they need to confirm the alteration request. But they never reply. They are inside the house till today. Already 2 nights passed and it's a third day of their unconfirmed extended stay.

What should I do now?

[Colleen253]

@Oleg98  Since they are now TRESPASSING, and have been since their stay expired, send them a message telling them to pack their bags and you will be round shortly to hold the door while they leave.  

[Helen350]

.... Mind you, this COULD be a genuine oversight, if they have properly extended the booking on previous days of expiry, so @Helen3 's idea  of asking for cash for the unpaid days then creating a NEW booking would be civil, if they wish to stay.  (If they don't pay, then show them the door!) 

[Colleen253]

The guests had plenty of practice in accepting a change request up to that last one. It only requires the click of a button. No time to do that, yet the guest apparently had time to review @Oleg98 . At the writing of the review, the stay was indeed over, and the change request could not be accepted. Still the guest stayed on. 

Have you gotten the guests out yet @Oleg98? You need to be firm and don't give them the idea they can push you around. You may already have a hard time getting the money they owe you for the days they've been staying without a valid booking.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Oleg98 It might be worth checking the law in your country in case they have acquired tenants rights by staying so long. If they have then the eviction will take longer.

It may be that they can't accept a change request now the booking has expired. 

[Helen3]

It would have been wise to talk to the guest about this before their booking expired. @Oleg98 

Now you need to take control. Let the guest know their booking has now expired meaning they have no right to stay at the property and other guests can book.

Say their option is to make a new booking immediately today and then pay you in cash for the three days they have stayed.

If they don’t want to extend their stay further they need to leave immediately and pay for the extra nights they have stayed.

You need to go around there and stay until they pay or leave.

[Linda108]

@Oleg98   If you haven't already looked into tenant-landlord rights in Cambodia, here is a link to an article I found.

 https://www.globalpropertyguide.com/Asia/Cambodia/Landlord-and-Tenant

If you have little experience with long term guests on Air BNB, you will find that while there are differences between short term rental policies and procedures and long term, but your situation is now a civil matter and Air BNB does not have much to offer you.

You could have a squatter in your property, which in the US is very expensive and long term to remedy.  Good luck!!

[Oleg98]

Ok, the whole thing was resolved. It's going to sound crazy but it was a case of negligence from the guest side. They didn't check my messages and thought that they could confirm the alteration request at any time. This morning they finally tried to confirm it but of course it didn't work. I've sent them a harsh message saying that now they have to pay for the missing days (September 15th-18th) via the resolution center or by cash. And if they wish to continue their stay, they have to make a new reservation by paying a full price. Otherwise they should leave the house today.

And they did both things - transferring money via the resolution center and extending their stay until September 30th. They apologized for their carelessness and I also apologized for my harshness. 

The lesson that I've learned is that a host shouldn't make the alternation request if possible and make sure that the request is made by a guest. Also that guests can become relaxed and negligible after staying for a long time in one place and as a host, you should stay vigilant.

Thank you everyone for recommendations and assistance in this rather unpleasant and stressful case. But everything is settled down, so we can move on.