registering additional guest

[Bruce584]

I am a guest.  I usually rent for a month or more at a time.  And usually a two or three bedroom property.  If I know everybody who will be staying there at the time of booking I will list those people as additional guests.  If I don't know who else may come, or when,  I do not add them.  All of my bookings so far have not mentioned a maximum number of people allowed.  I am currently staying at a three bedroom property for two months with five beds, and advertised as great for a family or large group.  We had some friends stop by for a week and while here the host's husband stopped by to fix something.  Later the host texted me and asked why I had other people staying there when only myself and my wife were registered?  I told her it was temporary and they would be leaving in a couple days.  She did not reply to me further on the issue.  Please note this is not a complaint.  What are the Airbnb rules, if any, for registering guests that may show up at a later date?  Especially if you don't know at the time of booking.  Also are there guidelines for hosts on the same subject.  All I'm trying to do is play by the rules and not unknowingly upset the host.  Thanks.

Bruce

[M199]

@Bruce584 

I understand you may not know all your guests who may be coming, but you are treading on thin water with hosts. The general consensus of hosts that unregistered guests or visitors are not allowed.  At minimum you need to clear this situation with the host for each and every booking.

It is extremely discourteous to expect a host to cater to your changing guest registry.

[Lorna170]

@Bruce584  It is important to communicate with your host before having an everchanging roster of house guests.  I have hosted guests who wished to have other persons visit, and as a whole house rental, I would have to carefully consider whether this was prudent or not.  For many hosts, it is a matter of insurance;  if a guest who is not on the reservation has an accident or causes damage to the property, AirBnB may not cover the expense.  

[Amanda1775]

@Bruce584 

As a host and a traveler, I completely understand your thinking especially since you are booking long-term stays. Since most of the time I'm not sure if my husband and I will be joined by one of adult children for some portion of our stay, I almost always book the maximum number allowed unless it adds to the cost of the booking.

Recently, I booked a place for 2 guests (could have had up to 4 guests with no charge and up to 6 guests with an additional charge) and asked the host if 2 of my college-age children could visit occasionally. The host was gracious. Her main concern that she didn't want to have more wear and tear on her appliances (washing machine and dryer) as well as have to set up extra bedding. Since it was a 2 bedroom place, I said we'd only be using the twin beds in the second bedroom and not the additional trundle bed. She seemed fine with that. I even asked if they could do their laundry when they come. Again, because I was upfront and it was still only 4 guests total, she said yes. 

Recently I hosted a snowbird, six-week guest (a booking only for 2 and I don't charge extra per person). During the high season, I host up to 6 mainly for family, short-term rentals (2 guests have to be 14 or under per city code). I probably wouldn't rent to a large family for six weeks though!

When I discovered that my six-week guest had another couple for a week, I felt a little disappointed that the guest hadn't communicated that with me. Of course, I didn't specifically say they couldn't have visitors, so I just left it alone, but altered my listing for the future. I did notice that the electric bill increased for the week (I can see a daily kW usage, if desired.)

So I get both sides. Best option is to have good communication and everyone agree to have more guests in the rental than listed on the reservation.

[Huma0]

@Bruce584 

This is something you should discuss with the host beforehand. Even if you do not know the number of visitors you will have during your stay, it is important to give the host a heads up that there might be some.

Firstly, do not expect the rate to be the same for e.g. two people as four. Many hosts charge different nightly rates depending on the number of people because this does make a difference to how many utilities are used and how much cleaning/laundry is required, plus there is more potential for wear and tear.

Even more importantly, unregistered guests staying overnight immediately void Airbnb's insurance policy. Should anything go wrong, neither the host nor the guests are covered.

At the end of the day, it's also just good manners. You are staying in someone else's property and they should have an idea of who is staying and how many people are staying. There are neighbours to consider, there could be red flags that suggest the guest is planning to throw parties - something that hosts need to keep on top of. Think about how you would feel if it was your own place.

Even if you book a hotel room, it doesn't mean you can have unlimited people coming back and forth and staying overnight.

[Sarah977]

@Bruce584  All listings have a maximum number of guests allowed to book on the listing ad, so I'm not sure what you mean when you say "All of my bookings so far have not mentioned a maximum number of people allowed".

As others have pointed out, and given reasons why, you are only allowed to have the guests you have booked for stay at a listing.

While some homes have a set price for the whole house, regardless of how many guests there are up to the max, it is far more common to have a base number of guests for a set price, and then an extra guest fee above that amount. The extra guest fee covers extra utilities cost, extra amenities, extra laundry, etc.

If the host has based their price on the number of people on your booking, it's very presumptuous to think you can just invite more people to stay, who are using hot water, electricity, towels, linens, toilet paper, soap, and whatever else a host provides, without any extra charge.

Even if you book for a month, a vacation rental isn't like renting a house for a year on a lease, where of course you can have family and friends visit and stay without permission from the landlord. 

You need to ask permission from the host to have people over, even if they are just day visitors, and if you want  them to be able to actually stay and sleep there, that certainly needs to be cleared with the host and may incur extra charges.

[Deborah175]

@Sarah977 @Huma0 @Bruce584 I've been surprised more than once when a person I'm not expecting walks into my home. I have a tiny back cabin with a fee for a second guest. Last night, for example, a guest booked for one. In his texts, he never said he was a "we." In the morning, a woman walked in to the kitchen.

Additionally, I have requested in my listing that every guest who books needs to confirm that they've read the listing. In the past month 90% have not, and of those, a certain percent then ask to cancel once they belatedly discover that my 8x10 "Tiny Cowboy Cabin" (as described) is only 8x10. 

Booking is a time-consuming nightmare for me, because none of my booking pre-requisites (like that the guest has read the listing and agrees to terms) is observed. I've stopped accepting any guest who doesn't respond promptly to confirm having read the listing. I used to wait for up to 10 hours to hear back. Guests who aren't hosts themselves are thinking HOTEL, not HOME, because it doesn't seem to be in Airbnb's interest to educate guests on the difference.

[Bruce584]

Hi all,

Thank you all so much for your comments and explanations.  And yes, I probably did not have a full appreciation for informing the host after a booking about the guests that may show up after the booking.   As Sarah as pointed out,  I  probably looked at this more of renting a house than a vacation rental.  My bad.  If the future I will be much more cognizant of informing the host of possible guest changes both before and after the booking.  When I was googling this subject I found a lot of hosts and guests complaining about this subject.  I would suggest that possibly some notes or explanations could be referenced near the guest section of the rental posting.  It seems to be a widespread issue.  I'm not trying to the transmit blame.  Just a suggestion.  Again, thanks to all.

Bruce

[Colleen253]

@Bruce584 This is feedback you should share directly with Airbnb, not here. Although many hosts do in fact address unauthorized guests in their extended house rules, Airbnb does a poor job of putting those rules (and other important info) front and center for guests. It’s a huge source of frustration. 

[Sarah977]

@Bruce584  In spite of you having others over, you sound like a great guest- open to learning. Its one of the most important things about the success of Airbnb stays- that hosts  are open to learnning from guests and vice versa.

Yes, it's a sad fact that Airbnb tells guests almost nothing about guest etiquette. They have gone so far overboard in wanting to make it so easy for guests to book, so their service fees roll in as fast and furiously as possible, that they put virtually nothing in the way of guests booking, even requiring them to read half a page of proper guest etiquette, explaining how cancellations and refunds work, what sort of initial message should be sent to a host when asking to book, nothing. It leads to all sorts of problems for both hosts and guests.

In some instances, they actually mislead guests, as in the case of the review system. The guest review form leads guests to think that a 4* rating is "Good". And in the real world, there is nothing at all wrong with "good". 

But hosts get upset when they don't get 5* ratings. Not because they think their places are perfect, or that they are perfect hosts who never make a mistake, but because Airbnb turns around and strips hosts of their Superhost status if their rating falls below 4.8, and send hosts threatening messages if their rating falls below 4.7, about how they might get delisted if they don't pull up their socks.

So here's all these guests giving 4*ratings to places they actually liked and where they would happily book again, thinking they are giving a rating the host will be fine with, and hosts declining repeat guests who were fine guests, but only because they left a 4* rating the last time they stayed. 

It's pretty insane. And all caused not by guests or hosts, but by the way Airbnb runs their platform.

Because they make the bulk of their money off guest fees, they listen to feedback from guests, but not from hosts. So as Colleen suggested, send them feedback as a guest about improvements you think they should make. 

[Bruce584]

I sent comments and suggestions to Airbnb.  Thanks to all.