Accepting a 3rd guest for an additional fee

[Jo-Ellen0]

We had our first request for a party of 3.  We don't advertise our space as for 3, because the 2nd bed is not as comfortable as our guest bedroom bed, and then they would have a share a bathroom (although the 2nd bedroom does have a 1/2 bath).  Yet we do have the extra person charge in our pricing info on Airbnb. 

However, when the reservation came through, it was only for 2 - and therefore did not include the additional fee for the extra person.  When I notified the requestor of that, he said he wasn't able to add the 3rd person. 

How do we make it where requestors can add a 3rd person, yet not advertise the space as for 3?  That 2nd bed is more suitable for a youth.

[Susan151]

@Jo-Ellen0 Send them a "special offer" that includes the base rate * no of nights + supplement * no of nights. Make sure that you include any cleaning fee since that doesn't get calculated automatically with special offers. They can't add a third person on their own because your listing doesn't allow it.

And to answer your question specifically, you can not make it so a guest can book for three people and not advertise your space that way. You can, of course, mention in your description that a 3rd person can be accomodated in special circumstances.

[Jo-Ellen0]

Thanks, Susan.  This was a great help!

[Dominic13]

In the fees section there is a section for per night cost for additional guest

[Andrea9]

@Jo-Ellen0

Here's how you can play with your basic settings to charge extra in exceptional cases like upping the usual guest count, changing minimum/maximum stays, additional agreed upon fee charges" etc.:

_______

The Airbnb system is quite good for what it is but has limitations. However, fine-tuning them to one's own needs requires knowledge of the site settings and some creativity.

Go to your maximum no. of guests setting, then switch it to 3. After that go to the reservation and make a change (making changes is possible until the guests leave or the end of that day): 

The algorithms now let you type in 3 guests. The system will automatically upload the extra guest fee. 

If the 3rd person only stays for part of the original booking, then you'll have to calculate all fees in total and overwrite the automatic calculation. 

(And add this calculation in a message to the guest, so that it's clear what has been arranged.)

You send off this change offer, and your guest will have to confirm it.

After sending the change quickly go back and reverse the maximum no. of guests back to 2.  

Do not forget, since you'll otherwise end up having the same problem with bookings for too many guests as @Lucinda Beaumont did!

Playing with the settings like this lets you individually adapt bookings for individual needs like extra days:

For ex. my set maximum no. of days/nights for a booking is 6. A guest said that she would need one day longer before flying back, and if I was open to that. I had already gotten a vey good feeling from her inquiry, the day she needed was still available, so no problem.

I switched my max nights from 6 to 7;

made a change in the reservation from the booked 6 to 7 and sent it.

Then switched the max back from 7 to 6.

Or if you are okay with a guest coming for one stay with an absent day or so inbetween that you don't want to charge.

You can have the booking for ex. Aug 2 till Aug 15 , but allow the guest to leave everything for 2 days and come back (without extra cleaning) for the rest of his stay.

In the original booking the system of course calculates 13 nights, while in the calculation you can overwrite the automatic price to reflect all fees for only 11 nights. In your separate message to guest you explain exactly what this entails, so that it can't back-fire on you if they decide to stay the 2 days after all. (Then you simply change the reservation again).

Easy and simple!

[Jo-Ellen0]

Perfect!  Thanks for the tips!  I now have some great info for all kinds of scenarios in the future.

Many thanks!

[Christine1]

@Andrea9, Hi Andrea, 

I want to applaud you for the time you took to provide these examples and demonstrate the potential for flexibility in billing, using the existing Host tools. 

I too find that the online Host tools are very adequate for a wide variety of situations; if we understand and use the way they work to finesse things to the situation.

Your response is an excellent example of the possibilities.

We have the basics like paint colours, it's up to us to recognise the possibilities and become more skillful in our application of the paint/tools.

Happy Hosting!!!

[Andrea9]

Hi @Christine1 and thank you. Thankfully I bookmarked the link after writing somebody, so it's not as much work each time.

You are spot on with the painting example. It's probably being an artist that always makes me search for using available tools to stretch possibilities as much as possible - I somehow can't help looking to find ways of thinking outside the box. Not always clever enough myself to figure out the listing possibilities because I don't really need to use them for myself, but as soon as I hear or read something my brain seems to automatically connect that with the other functions I know and there you are - tweak-a-rama!  ;D

My own booking situation is super smooth and not that dramatic, except when I did need to use some quick tweak skills a few times. So I guess that's why the Community cases keep my brain working. Yeah sure Andrea, get a life...

You too, happy hosting!