Guests increasing number staying

[Laura2592]

I may be a little paranoid about this as we under no circumstances want more than 4 people in our space. Every so often I have a single or a couple book and then alter the request to increase the number on the reservation to 4. It just seems strange to me. If I am planning a romantic weekend trip I don't suddenly invite another couple.

We always politely inquire whether or not the extra guests are adults or children, and if there are any additional considerations we need to be aware of when we set up the space (pull out the pack and play, leave extra sheets, etc.) We ask if they are registered Airbnb users and can be added to the booking if they are adults. When we have refused these requests in the past, invariably the guests snuck in the extra people anyway and were caught on our Ring doorbell. Sometimes the extra guests don't have great reviews but the booking guests do. 

Does anyone have a tried and true method for handling this sort of situation?

[Anonymous]

@Laura2592  How did you handle the guests who snuck in the unapproved/unpaid extras?

Your listing only mentions charges for overnight guests, and the rules leave a gaping loophole for people with the mentality that it's easier to ask forgiveness than approval. The consequences don't appear to be that you'll terminate the booking and remove all guests from the property, but rather that you'll charge them for the people they wanted to add to the booking anyway. So what do they have to lose by sneaking people in after you declined?

Also...a group of 3 or 4 can be every bit as romantic as 2, but that's a whole other topic...

[Laura2592]

@Anonymous  we really don't police visiting guests as we are not on site. We don't want parties and say that several places, but we do get a lot of retirees visiting grandkids who might have them over for a few hours. We do ask guests if that is the plan. They are typically pretty up front. We once had a young couple who wanted their mobility impaired gran to come by and we talked through the set up of our first floor to see if it was even possible for her to navigate comfortably.  Its just the kind of location we are in.  But if you stay over, you need to be added to the reservation. No ifs, ands or buts.

We do say in our check-in information that extra guests will either result in additional fees or the termination of the booking and that we reserve the right to make the decision to reject or terminate. When we have had guests who brought additional individuals after being told they could not,  we did not terminate but charged additional fees. It was a nice group, we were early in hosting. We might not do that now but we did then. 

We have enough experience with cleaning up unpleasant biomatter leave behinds that I don't need to add a mental picture of the romantic foursome to my repertoire. I am sure that it can be quite cozy for those so inclined 🙂

[Vanessa1275]

@Laura2592 As you mentioned, the best thing to do is to terminate the guests stay immediately if they are refusing to pay the additional fee for overnight guests. I learned this lesson the hard way, putting my trust in the guest and Airbnb to resolve the issue in the resolution center with no FAIR resolution. 

I have recently had a guest book for 1 for the length of 1 week. He asked if he can have an additional guest for a few days, which I agreed to making him aware of the extra cost/night. I sent the request through the resolution center, and the guest played dumb saying they didn't see any request.

After waiting for the 72 hrs required I escalated the issue to Airbnb. I waited 18 days for a case manager to be assigned to my case. I missed the email by mistake, and when I finally saw it the case manager Jose was threatening to  to close by case in 48 hrs if I did not respond. I sent them the Ring Video Recordings I have, showing the extra guest coming in on 2 nights. He then emails to say that " extra guest fee was not stipulated in your listing". I asked him to send me a record of where he is seeing this, because  have it listed on my listing and if a guest books for 2 people they can see the increase in price per night. I asked him to call me immediately to get this resolved. He refused to provide me any evidence, hung up the phone on me and closed the case with no FAIR Resolution. 

What kind of support is this for hosts? If the guest booked for 1 guest, and you are sharing video recordings of 2 people coming into your home, why would you not agree to have the guest pay?

[Russell49]

Personally, If they ask for extra guests on the day of the booking-I do not trust them. Once you ask for more money and they refuse, then you know they are likely to sneak guests in. I would just cancel their booking all together. I had a couple try to sneak 2 extra people in our guest room. I told them they have 1 hour to leave or everyone must go. Needless to say, they all voluntarily left and I kept their money lol

[Fred13]

@Laura2592 We go through this all the time; 2 book but they add 2 (or 4) more before arrival. We actually encourage this and yes can accommodate them. Never a problem.  

[Sandra126]

Me too, @Fred13 . I think this happens: they talk about their planned trip to friend or family, and another couple decided to tag along. Why not, I'm happy for the extra fee. Welcome.

[Fred13]

You may find this interesting @Sandra126 & @Laura2592 .

    The reason why I never encourage an initial booking of a whole group, but best add later is because I have noticed that  people instinctively get excited and then want to share what they consider a great idea with friends, in this case is coming to Belize and staying in an island because that is what naturally appealed to them. Others, who they share another interests with in their lives may not be equally suited for the same adventure.  What enlightened me about all this is how relieved many guests arrived because their 'dear friends' did not ultimately come. Which begs the question - then why did they invited them in the first place? 

   This doesn't happen when they add people later, nor with families.