Guest lied about his group and number of guests

[Heather293]

This is only the second time I’ve accepted a booking through Airbnb. I have a small but very nice home in a popular area which was completely renovated a year ago, and I keep it spotless. I don’t want to accept a lot of guests and my home is priced accordingly. I have an extra charge for guests above 4 adults since there are only two bedrooms (there is an air mattress for max 2 more guest). I have instant book turned off because I want to be able to ask about the group before accepting the booking. I don’t know if this is against Airbnb’s discrimination policy, but I do not want to rent to groups of young men looking for a party location.

The current guest requested to book and said he was traveling with his wife and another couple and a fifth person. I reminded him that the fifth person would have to use the air mattress and he said this was fine. I have a security camera on my front porch and I usually glance at the clips when they check in to be sure all goes smoothly with keyless entry. This time, I was worried to see that the guest and his group were 6 young men, not 2 couples as he told me. I then looked at further clips showing them smoking on the front porch (my rules clearly state no smoking anywhere on the property, including the porch and front yard), as well as shouting “Hey motherf—s!” to one another at approximately 2am in a quiet residential neighborhood.

They are still there and due to check out Sunday. I don’t know yet whether there is any damage - I will find out after they have left.

I am wondering what recourse I have since the guest lied to me about the content and number of guests.

It is not as though his plans/guests changed - he told me the day of arrival that he was arriving at a certain time and his friend and his wife would be showing up a bit later. So it was a deliberate lie.

I am more than a little worried about this and after reading through some of the other posts, I’m worried I have zero recourse as it sounds like Airbnb doesn’t do much for hosts in the case of broken rules or additional guests. It seems as though my only option is to charge them for the 6th person and perhaps an additional cleaning fee.

[Zoya-and-Julija0]

HI! Do you have a link where the number of guests policy is stated on AirBnB, and the protection they do ot=r do not provide for extra guests? Thanks:)

[CJ40]

Yes just went through a very similar situation with a NYC Filming company Sharp Entertainment (sneaky snakes). Involved AirBNB midway through the reservation as the guest did not respond for 48 hours to my concerns and their blatant violation of the rental agreement. They DUMPed on my place with 51 guests over 4 days (18 day 1, 12 day 2, 12 day 3, 12 day 4 all front and backyard camera footage from the Ring) and booked for ONE! Cigarette butts, shouts of the F-bomb on the front porch for the 1st and 3rd grade neighbors next door to hear, 9 garbage bags of trash, wall scratched by moving furniture, all five beds used, and all towels but 2 used.  AirBNB's help was nothing absolutely nothing. No extra guest fee, no reimbursement for 2 cleaners at 6 hours, just $39 for the receipts of the carpet cleaner rental and shampoo. Feel absolutely duped, robbed, and NO HELP from AirBNB case manager. Even after asking the case manager for advisement on what to charge, NO HELP. AWFUL experience...

Ridiculous how you can provide a property at whatever value ($110k-$200K) and these people including AirBNB think that your time is simply free to clean up after them and there is NO recourse. Personally considering selling the house and dumping the listing, never felt so alone and disregarded by AirBNB. Curious to know what reimbursement you received for that extra guest/cleaning...?

[Kelly149]

@CJ40 Not to kick you while you’re down but why in the world did you think 1 guest needed to rent a place with 5 beds??

thats a red flag brigade

[CJ40]

In fact I did not. The Producer on their team told me that they were only doing 2 12 hour interview shoots in the home. Most importantly she REASSURED me that no one was staying overnight in the home. Totally DUPED! It was a great deal for a 4 day booking and no laundry and minimal cleanup... She made it sound great.

[CJ40]

Also, we run into that VERY often. I would say that 7 out of every 10 inquiries or bookings for our 3 bed 2 bath home, are for ONE guest. Guests just keep doing that.... Its exhausting...

[Kelly149]

@CJ40   Unfortunately the only recourse ABB gives us with liars like this is to kick them out. Immediately. 

And if a guest told me they weren’t staying overnight, I wouldn’t make beds, wouldn’t leave towels, etc. They said they wanted X but you gave them X and Y. 

And this is is why I charge for all guests (not just overnight guests). Bc people in the day also use resources. Every body in the door is a guest, needs to be registered and does have to pay. 

And a film crew?!?  Their budgets are enormous for a reason. The words film crew should cause any host to immediately decline or quadruple their rate. IMO

[Frank1145]

I got 3 reservations in 7 days all are incorrect guests number, which makes me a little bit pissed!

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