Extra charges for water and electricity

[Mireille9]

Hi

As a host, how does one go about charging extra for water and electricity when it is applicable?

Thanks

Mireille 

[Jeannie-and-Luis0]

Thank you! Good idea 

[Andres307]

Hi guys,

This is my personal opinion which I put here because it differs from what I have seen posted and you might want to consider (as it is coming from a customer). I understand that folks will use more or less power and amenities when they stay some place. As far as AirBnB being a feasible alternative to a hotel, I think that most folk will stay away from booking a place that is not straight up about the total cost of booking. When I look at places, I am looking at the bottom line (i.e. how much will this place cost vs some other place). I would not stay in any place that is listed as X dollars plus some unknown amount for amenities. Simply put, why would I book a place I have no idea how much costs? Would you buy a car without having a clue of how much it costs to own or run it?

A second point is that this also would leave the door open for abuse from the part of the owner. You could be running all kinds of power hungry devices while I stayed at your home, watering plants or heating your pool on automatic, (or even powering your next door residence on my dime). No thanks. I would rather stay some place where the owner is honest and says "this is how much it will cost you to stay here" up front. At the end of the day, you have to decide, are most of my customers going to abuse my home (hint: look at their scores)? If that's the case, go ahead and try to charge folks for every item they consume (and be ready to lose many customers). Alternatively, if you decide that your customers by and large do not abuse your home, then increase the price slightly to make up for the occasional lemon. This trend reads as if folks want to have it both ways. They want to list their property competitively (to get customers over the competition), but then they also want to recoup more money from the customers at the end of the stay.

I am a respectful renter. I would not want to deal with some landlord coming after I stay someplace telling me I have to pay X extra dollars for Y or Z. I rather pay AirBnB more to stay somewhere else. 

Now, if keeping a home at a steady temperature (68-72) is costing 100's per day, there may be a problem with the property. If you have AC maybe consider locking the windows and advising the customers. If it costs $100 to keep the home at 68-72 degrees with windows and doors closed, you should be adding that to the cost of the home in the listing. 

An additional point. Half the times I stay at AirBnB is for work. They will not reimburse electricity or other weird costs. They will just reimburse the airbNb bill. The other half the time I am booking is for a holiday with my family. When I do this (months in advance), I will make a budget with tickets, car rental, hotels, and other expenses. I would not leave a question mark next to hotel cost anymore than I would with the flight tickets. Especially since I do not live there (obviously) and I have no idea how much power, water, internet, or cable costs. I think this makes sense, no? 

[Manuela402]

I just booked a place and payed for the month I stay and now they wrote me oh btw you will be responsible for 200-300$ electric bill ... and as you said it slammed me as the place is already pretty expensive I want to leave the 2. day of the following month and they talk about charging me for the entire month ... I’d love to back out but if I do I will lose 1500$ 

[Mg5]

I have stated it VERY clearly in my terms and guests just disregard it. It's really an issue and Im thinking that a KWH rate on top of the rental is the only way to charge it fairly and not penalise yourself and other guests by having to raise rental rates. 

[Jeannie-and-Luis0]

This makes a lot of sense. Thank you

[Jeannie-and-Luis0]

This makes a lot of sense! Thank you 

[Kris156]

Exactly!

[Elven3]

So many know how to solve ?

[Tiffany955]

Hi Sandra, I have been having this problem as well. The last 2 guests I have had have run the electric bill for my 2/1b unit up to $940. My neighbors and regular monthly tenants stated that they left all of the lights on day and night every day. Did you ever find a solution for this problem? I can only rent my house out as a monthly rental and I fear this may happen again and the last 2 tenants I actually lost money on.

Thanks

Tiffany

[Paula]

Hi @Tiffany955 , I am tagging @Sandra26  here so they receive a notification of your message. This way, we increase the chances of them getting back to us. Since you are replying to a comment made in 2016, I suggest starting a new conversation here with your question to gain more visibility and receive suggestions from our experienced Hosts.

Quick tip: To tag someone, tap "@" and select the host's username from the dropdown menu 😊

[Jennifer336]

I've had two guests for a 7 day booking. To help with the A/C management I've copied the manufacturers settings guide and added a note to say "Don't change the settings" .  I'm hoping this helps reduce the excessive usage that has been happening during their stay.

Can anyone help me manage the constant showering and water taps going off and on during the night up until 4am. I think my guests believe this is a Spa. When approached and asked if they could refrain from doing this during the hours of 11pm and 5am the reason given was "We're hot". After having a shower I've seen 1 guest immediately have another!

We are very conscious of our environment and I'm not in Airbnb as a charity.

Any ideas please?

[Jens30]

When we include electicity in the rental price we price ourselfs out of the market with 6 aircons.

We charge therefore the electricity seperate and charge a deposit of 200 euro's on arrival.

Guest are responsible themselfs to put aircons off  when they go out, save the envirement !
And its very fair not to overcharge the guest with a higher rental fee as nessecery.

[Jamie-and-Gustavo0]

Assume no one is frugally considerate of the environment when vacationing in a different place -or that they don’t know the variation of utilities in your town vs theirs. Charge a rate that includes assumed use of a shower a day, laundry every few days, and full use of air conditioning. You’re renting out space with features people use, not penny pinching at a boarding school. No one likes surprise bills. Also, if you have never rented a place yourself through Airbnb, please do it. As a guest elsewhere  your expectations of fairness will likely align with other guests. 

[Julie536]

Hi Jennifer,

I hope things are improving for you.  I have had the most dreadful time over the last year.  A woman managed to access my home via an advert and a very poor property manager. 

This was not via Airbnb.

In short the woman presented a fake payment via a bank in Spain.  After 5 days I sent a message to the bank.  Several days later the bank returned a message advising fraud. 

I am now in a court case trying to retrieve my home.  I had planned to live out there for the winter.

So far I have lost around £10,000 plus lawyers fees, notary and utilities (around  3000  euros due to complete abuse of the system).

The tenant then went on to throw the bed and mattress out, then the security camera and smashed my lovely coffee table then threw that out too.  More recently, she has sublet my property and is making a huge profit from my home.  I am advised it may take another two years to retrieve my home. 

Please be so careful.  

Good luck with the problem as there is no way of stopping the utilities in this situation.

[Silvia331]

I put all the info and communicate to my host before he even booked about extra charges for electricity and cleaning for long stay, he stayed 32 days, pretty much inside the room. We agreed in everything in our messages he even offered to pay them in cash. When he arrived I asked for the payment and he said I would like to pay them through airbnb and is said fair enough I am only asking because you offered. Now he is gone I have claimed the money and he is not responding at all. Obviously now I don't trust him, so I don't want to engage with him in a conversation specially because I think he is not happy due to a request that he made the very next day of his arrival he said that he want a letter from me saying that my house was his official residence in London. I said no this is not your house this is a temporary accommodation. What hound I do we owe £80 😞