Changing a booking date after the fact.

[John143]

We have a very nice place and were concerned about partiers over the new years holiday.  We were thrilled when a newly married couple (2 People!) rented the place.  Our place has the same price for up to 5 people and costs more for additional people.  We don't want a big party there though!  It is our home after all!  

So now this couple wants to bring more people.  At least 3 and I don't want to do it.  But I also have a no refund policy and I don't want to refund.  I want to just hold them to the original booking.  

On the other hand I don't want to be unreasonable.   I try to put myself in their position however it seems after their request, in light of recent messages, that they were always intending to invite others to stay with them.  

The fee for our place is very high and most likely we will not be able to rent on such short notice if we canel them.  Also our rating will suffer.  

Any comments would be grately appreciated.   

[Jim-and-Marcia0]

I looked at your listing. It is indeed a beautiful home. I see the max number of guests you allow is 11 and you charge extra after the first 5. Seems if the number of guests in the party is 11 or less, it would be within reason to allow up to that number. But I understand your concern, if they made the reservation for 2 and now want to change it to 5, how do you know they will stop there?

I would message them on the Airbnb platform and ask for more specifics, including the exact number of people in their group. You could ask for the names of all five people and make it clear that only registered guests can be at the house.

I would ask them "What prompted the change?". Be sure to emphasize any house rules that you want to be clear about by doing so in the message thread, as you know many guests don't read all the information in the listing. Be clear about "no parties", but also realize the difference between a small gathering and a party is often hard to see.

We had a person reserve our guest house (max 5) for two people and they later wanted to change it four after they found out another couple could join them afterall. We just changed the reservation to 4 and it worked out fine. Might be nothing to worry about.

[John143]

Thank you for helping me on this.  Since there was only two of them they asked if they could bring their dog.  Since there were only 2 I said ok.  I would never have agreed to a dog with a larger group.  Now I will have the dog and the larger group!  Ugggg.  Perhaps just venting but can't seem to get past the irritation.   

So glad for your non interested perspective!

[John143]

I think what I will do is act like they never booked for 2.  Tell them there is now a charge for the dog as well as any people over the limit as specified on the add.   Now what to charge for a dog I do not know.  Maybe count the dog as one guest, HA!

[Jim-and-Marcia0]

Well, everything is negotiable! We have a no pets policy, but did allow a guest to bring their small dog. We allowed it because the breed was a Maltese, which hardly sheds at all, and the fact that the guest was booking 12 days at a slow time of year (Nov-Dec). But we clarified what we expected from a responsible dog owner. Didn't have any problems. We negotiated an extra fee to cover the extra cleaning we might need to do. The guest was fine with that. We added the extra fee by making a special offer. It was $48 dollars, which equated to $4 extra per day for the dog.

I asked many questions prior to allowing the dog, here is from our message thread:

" We understand pets, especially dogs, are a part of the family and leaving them at home can be difficult. Our greatest concern is potential damage from urine and chewing, secondary concern is shedding, a third concern is noise/barking, and a fourth concern is waste in the yard. To consider allowing your Maltese to stay with you at our place, we would need to know more information. Can you describe how well trained your dog is and it's age, usual habits, personality? Does the dog sleep in a crate, dog bed or on furniture? Does your dog have regular visits to a groomer and vet? We hope you don't mind our asking. We've had some unfortunate experiences with pets in the past. Thanks."