extra guests and a future review

[Nash-Cottages-LLC0]

It was bound to happen. 

Background

We have IB on and set that only folks who meet our criteria (e.g., a previous review). All others have to request to book with us. If someone new to the platform, or who has no review requests to stay with us, we send them a message thanking them for their interest in our space and note that before we accept, given they are new to Airbnb with no reviews, we would first ask they thoroughly review the house rules and respond that they accept them and follow them during their stay (e.g., type of neighborhood, strict no smoking/vaping policy, check-in/check-out times). We tell them to go to our listing for more details. We apologize for asking and note that on the rare occasions when issues have arisen, it has been with folks who do not have reviews or are new to Airbnb. So, to eliminate any confusion or misunderstanding, we ask that they acknowledge and accept the rules. Then, we thank them for their understanding and ask that they respond in the app chat that they read the rules and accept them. We finally note that if they don't think they can follow the rule, we understand that we might not be the right people.  Oh, and we remind them that we are not and never have been a 'party' house. 

So far, this process has worked for us. Some book and thank us; others we don't hear from, so no problem.

However, happening now.

Our current guest showed up at nearly 3 AM (no problem as we have a keyless entry and a separate unit) not with 2 people per the reservation but 3 people. As an aside, we charge $25 per person per night for each guest (up to 4) for more than 2 guests.  This guest is staying 2 nights (last night and tonight). 

We contacted them through the app (hey, you're new to the platform and might not know, but we must have an accurate count for insurance and other purposes) and sent an alteration request from 2 to three people. We also noted that they charge $25 per person per night but will see a request for more as Airbnb has to collect taxes and fees. Note that this is clear on our booking page. 

They responded by asking if the 60+ dollars for 2 nights, with the added person? Yep, sure is, and we reiterated the charges ($25 per person per night * 2 nights = 50 plus taxes and fees). 

So, they responded, "So I have two more friends that may be coming to hang out. They do not plan on staying the night." If they do plan to stay, we will most definitely pay for it."

Uh oh - so now maybe 5? That violates our maximum of 4 people. We told them we can't have 5 people staying if that's what they meant. I also told them that if a 4th person stayed tonight, it would be an additional $25. We regret saying that now and will now go back and say we are uncomfortable with any more than 3 people staying. But let's set that aside. 

They responded "Oh yes, absolutely. Thank you for this! I am texting the people now to let them know the circumstances! I want to make sure we are appropriate & safe!'

Customer Service

We did call Customer service, who, to their credit, did answer the phone, took us seriously, and did contact the guest. They were awesome actually so for those of you who have had bad CS service, perhaps this is a good sign. The SC person contacted us 4 times - once to let us know they reached out to the guest, a second time to let us know they had spoken to them, a third time with the resolution, and a 4th time with a confirmation and asking if they can close out the ticket. Again, the agent with whom we worked was fantastic. I wish I could review him!! Yep, he was that good. 

We did though, given we're realists, ask about a retaliatory review. And were told that if they do write one, see below, we can request it be taken down. 

TBH, they seem very sincere (no big red flags otherwise) and seem, well, simply a little inexperienced. 

Where to go from here?

So, let's assume everything goes well. They have 4 people stay, and there's no damage. What can we say? We're also optimists : ) Communication with them as been great and we're giving them the benefit of the doubt that they are just new to the platform. 

2 requests for Advice

*Do you have specific advice for writing the review for the guest so that future hosts will be forwarned that this happened, that it was resolved to our satisfaction, otherwise the guest was great (if they prove to be) and do it in such a way that it can't be taken down. 

*Do you have specific advice IF they write a retaliatory review taken down that does not technically violate Airbnb's terms of service or content policies, or is not a form of libel, slander, or defamation? 

[Anonymous]

@Nash-Cottages-LLC0  It sounds like this guest took some liberties with your head count, but was willing to comply with your requirements when you presented them. And to be totally fair to the guest, your listing's House Rules don't state a policy on unregistered visitors, which I think is a thing well worth taking a few minutes to refine to avoid issues like this in the future. But for the meantime, my feeling is that if the guests cooperates with your payment request for the extra guests and doesn't break any further rules or damage your property, there's no reason to review them as if they were nightmare guests. Maybe it's worth a mention that they weren't upfront about how they planned to use the house during their stay; you'll have a clearer picture of this when they check out.

I see that you're a very experienced host, so you already know that the guests can't see your review when they're writing theirs. But you've probably also seen the Review Policy and noticed that there's no rule against someone who's aggrieved about getting busted breaking a rule retaliating in their review. So I wouldn't recommend proceeding with the assumption that this guest's review will be censored. If it turns out to be a bad one, of course you can crush it with a gracious and professional response, and any reasonable prospective guests will take note of that and your very many excellent reviews. In other words, it's a waste of your time to worry about this one review out of almost 200. Just do what is right for your household - Airbnb is your listing service, not your boss.

[Nash-Cottages-LLC0]

@Anonymous Thanks for taking the time to write such a thoughtful and insightful reply. And, thanks for the advice and suggested review language. We don't mind people visiting those who are staying, so we haven't made a note about unregistered guests but plan to do so. Something along the lines of 'we don't mind if you have visitors, but please let us know, and they may not stay over unless they are paid, guests." We're a bit concerned that may open the door to conversations such as ...well, they didn't stay over. Given what other hosts have experienced, we're trying to avoid (to the best of our ability) future sticky situations. 

As we noted above, tbh, we think what we dealt with was a bit of an inexperienced traveler versus a PITA. We certainly would rather have the former than the latter. : )

Thanks again! 

[Laura2592]

@Nash-Cottages-LLC0  this has happened to me. Early guests were a family. Like you we have 4 people max. They were visiting people in the area and had them stop by. They ended up staying. We had 7 total people at our 4 person cottage. To top that off, they sent me pictures of all of them on the porch saying what a wonderful time they were having. 

We had gone back and forth about headcount. They were new to the platform and did not understand that they were not renting a house to have anyone over they wanted...that they were renting a house that had certain rules. We settled up but I was annoyed by the clean up. Lots of little ones (which guests don't also see as "people who need to be paid for")  and lots of sticky handprints. I just left a review saying that we appreciated their cooperation but that as new guests they had some misunderstanding about our rules. 

I now am very strict with my policies on number of beings in the space.  We count pets toward headcount though there is no charge. That seems to have really cut down on requests for larger groups. 

[Nash-Cottages-LLC0]

@Laura2592 Thanks for replying. As we had hoped, they seemed on the extreme naive side of a sliding scale for naive/malicious. Certainly, these guests, who we met and with whom we interacted (from a safe distance), were not at all like the ones we've read about here on the host community board. Whew! Bullet dodged! <insert happy dance>

Thanks for the suggested language. That's kind of what we were after. Given other hosts have stated a desire for honest reviews - and boy, we sure do appreciate it when we see them - we were looking for a bit of insight into how to write one from this group. We don't want to rate them horribly because, frankly, they were clean, courteous, and very communicative. And, we'd host them again—just a bit of a hiccup in understanding, so future hosts may want to clarify and specific rules. Maybe that's the review!?