Different guest rental rates

[Chris15362]

Hi all,

We have a standard base rental rate for one guest renter. Each additional guest is charged $15 extra. Fairly often, we receive a registration for one guest (at the base rate), and then two people show up and we have to charge them $15 more. Sometimes, we catch this early and clarify by email.  It seems to be an innocent mistake by mostly first time users of Airbnb. We noticed in our area, almost all of the nightly Airbnb places' rates are the same for both one or two guests, with an additional fee for 3 or more. Any suggestions on how to handle this in a fair and transparent way?

Thanks,

Chris

[Sarah977]

@Chris15362  Maybe  rather than "catching it early" if a guest gives a clue like saying "we" instead of "I", just make it part of your standard booking message. "Please ensure you have entered the correct number of guests on the booking, who will be staying. Our pricing is for one guest with a nominal charge of xx to cover added  utilities, laundry, etc. for a second and third guest. Only registered guests will be accepted on the property."

[Linda108]

I think there is only a nominal increase in costs related to hosting two versus one guest, so I do not charge more for my private guest room.  If your listing is two rooms and the party of two uses both rooms, it makes more sense to have an additional charge.  I don't think there is a right versus wrong answer, but it is my experience if you can reduce the number of extra fees tacked onto the listing the better for marketing, but it depends on the type of listing.