Four guests booked, arrive in 5 (it was caught off guard!)

[Dario267]

Hello,

I would like to know how to manage a similar case:

The guest never had mentioned an extra person, in addition she felt irritable when I pointed at this issue during the check-in (extra guest = 15€ per day x 7 days).
In addition, when I accepted the situation (it was caught off guard!) not charging her for the fifth guest, I tried to be polite, closing one eye…

I worry that they are more than five because I just went to the house to bring a brand-new toaster and even I found opened the sofa-bed (my property has 3 bedrooms).

I started recently with Airbnb, and I'm trying to have a 5-star accommodation…
Now I am seriously concerned that she'll put up a bad review as well!

Please, any help is welcome!

[Donna240]

@Dario267  Many hosts that have multiple bedrooms experience guests who try and get more than they paid for. Once you allow them to take advantage of you, whether it is because you are caught off guard, or hope that they will give you a better review, they see you as being an easy target for more abuse. This may be a good lesson for you to learn early in your dealings with short term renters. If they are willing to mislead you and overcrowd your property without paying for their extra guests, don't expect them to gain a conscience when it comes to keeping the place clean or respecting your property. 

Use this experience to arm yourself with systems that will protect your property. List house rules, including the costs per day for extra guests to be paid prior to arrival through Airbnb, or upon arrival if they failed to prepay or added a guest at the last minute. Personally, I would also add a charge for linens for any guest not on the booking. Mention that their booking is an agreement to abide by these rules and ask guests to read them over and contact you before you actually accept the booking. If you use Instant Booking, your option is limited, but you can tell them you need the names of all guests prior to arrival. You may also require them to show I.D. upon arrival. Anyone who wants to take advantage of you will not want to have to show you their identification.

Good Luck with this,

Do not leave linens on the sofa bed unless guests need to use it. Don't leave more blankets than needed for the number of guests on the booking. Don't leave extra towels or pillows either. Have them stored in a locked closet for use when needed. You may also tell guests which rooms are available for their sleeping arrangements and not even allow access to the extra room. 

[Anonymous]

@Dario267  There's no action you can take that will buy you a 5-star review. Even if you let these guests get away with murder they might still come at the end demanding refunds over some fictional problem, and even if you throw money at them they can still give you a bad review. This "5 stars" thing is absolute garbage, and you'll make the worst decisions of your hosting life if you cave in to it.

Much bigger concern is the fact that you don't know how many people are in your property, and that the one thing you can be certain of is that they are liars with no respect for you, your home, or your livelihood. In hindsight, of course you should not have given them the keys until the guest count was adjusted and the extra fees fully paid. You'll be ready for that the next time it happens.

For now, you have a Trojan Horse booking, and I'm sure you know how that worked out for Troy in the end. You're the boss of your property, and this is one of those occasions where you're going to have to step up and act like one. Start the paper trail with Airbnb by communicating through the site that you need to amend their booking to account for the total number of people in the property. (This is true - if there are unregistered guests present your Host Guarantee is effectively null and void). If they are uncooperative with your efforts to secure an honest accounting of what's going on in your house, you need to be prepared to remove them from it. 

You've already lost a lot of leverage by backing down on the extra person fee, so pushing that issue is probably a lost cause. But your home is being occupied by people who think you're too afraid of a bad review to defend your own property, and you're not likely to get much from Airbnb if they trash it, so it's really up to you to make sure they realize you're not "closing one eye" anymore.

[G-C-R-M0]

We have been in this situation recently, and similarly, our property is also new to airbnb.

Airbnb case manager was not that helpful other than suggesting I put exterior camera to prove this. Apparently once you have prove, airbnb can charge the guests for the extra number of guests per your pricing policy. At least that's what I was told. I didn't have camera so I couldn't follow through to completion on this one.

I am putting doorbell camera and garage light camera so I can gain prove of the people coming in the house.