Right now I have guests staying for 40 nights. I was recommended recently by Airbnb to allow long stays more than our usual 28 nights. It was an instant booking, which still allows us to cancel if we are not happy. They were verified and I checked the answers they gave to the questions they must answer to get instant booking. One of which is “Who is coming with you?” The guest that booked said two, her and her partner. The property is small and although there are 4 beds we accept a maximum of two during COVID unless they are all from the same household. Four guests turned up. We only knew this because a message from the guest asked for new mattresses on all four beds because they were not comfortable and they all had trouble sleeping.
I pointed out that I was surprised to hear there were four staying because they had received a long-stay discount for two. Had they put four guests in the booking we would have considered canceling the instant booking. This is something Airbnb say one can do without effecting ones status etc.
The two extra guests were from a different household who had not been in contact with the others before the stay began. These two extras will be leaving today after 14 days stay. Then in about 10 days a different two people will arrive to stay with them, again from a different household.
I should point out that our booking system charges for extra guests over 2. So by only stating 2 guests they pay less than they should. We offer a discount for couples so the extra fees are really just removing that discount. Once this was pointed out they said they believed they could have who they wanted to stay and had always done it this way with Airbnb.
I have all the proof I need since the guest has written all this to me in email messages.
They said each extra party of two were only staying 7 days each. The first has already been there 14 days.
I am not about to suggest that they leave or anything so drastic. I have pointed out the risks they are creating during the pandemic but they seem to think it is not an issue as they know each other.
They have continually complained about the beds and keep asking about things that are written clearly in the house rules on Airbnb and in the cottage. Although we have not had complaints about the mattresses before we decided that it was probably time to change them since they were coming to the end of their life anyway. This is also not something easily done from a distance to find a service to install new mattresses and dispose of old ones during this pandemic. We managed today to do that.
So what do I do? How do I contact Airbnb to explain that these guests have avoided paying the full amount and I wish to claim the extra. We do have a deposit in place which we could claim after they leave but it would not cover our loss AND my experience in mediation is that Airbnb tend to side more with the guests that the hosts. Not always but quite often.
