Inability to Change Guest Count After Check In Time

[Danny37]

Hosts ,,, Can we all agree that we would like the old tool back whereby we use to be able to change the guest count after the check in time along with additional fees associated with that change?

I personally experience at least one incident ever day or so, whereby a last minute booking is made but the guest didn't list the correct guest count. I then have to ask the guest (who might be driving) to update the guest count. 

Well you know what I know, it all goes downhill from there ... They can't change it without calling Airbnb. I use to call for them but then the time i spent on the phone to make the change was usually 10 minutes, only to be told that the the guest would have to be called by the agent anyway.

Personally, I don't want to be the one to frustrate the guest because they have to make a call that takes 10 minutes of their time while driving and trying to maneuver on their GPS to my place. These events have caused great inconvenience on the guest and on the host. Why change a tool for the worse?

[Tim-and-Holly0]

@Danny37:
...Or they show up on the property without the correct number. While it may not affect the price it is important for our record keeping to be able to make this change.

[Danny37]

Yes Tim & Holly. Many times that has happened whereby the guest shows up with another 1 or even 2 people when the guest count is set to 1 guest.

My concern at that point is insurance liability coverage. Meaning ... it would be a possible legal complication should something unfortunate take place during their stay if 2 additional people were staying on the property when only 1 guest is covered by the liability policy. Yes, most likely in the final analysis it would be worked out, but there is always a chance that it could fall back onto the hosts homeowners insurance. It certainly would be a gray area of liability. 

[Kira32]

Hola @Danny37 

This happened to me a few times.

It's very annoying to not having this option where you can change the amount of people coming over.

It's not an ideal situation when people need to pay cash for the second guest(sloppy and not professional). 

Kira♡

[Sarah875]

I too find this very annoying and am still waiting for a extra guest payment. Whether the guest genuinely makes a mistake while booking or are trying it on, it happens Airbnb so listen to your hosts.

Sarah

[Kelly149]

Worse than this is that if you do manage to make the alteration prior to checkin then the failed alteration can also void your original payout. So you will have done everything right by updating the reservation and still not get paid

[Alice595]

@Danny37  One way to get around it is to use Request Money button. On the message specifically mention that it is for the second guest. If something happen, there is still a record showing an additional guest is included. And it is Airbnb that removed the feature of altering request with correct number of guests.

Airbnb intentionally removes anything causing guests unhappy and would rather make hosts to suffer. 

[Danny37]

Alice. I do that hmmm maybe about 10 times a week for various situations. What we are all talking about is stated in the opening message. Please read again and let me know your thoughts. 

[Susan17]

The deeply detrimental (and dangerous) effects of this self-serving, reckless move by Airbnb, are hitting hosts badly, and have become increasingly apparent in recent months. 

Prior to this year, guests did occasionally try to sneak in one or two extra bodies, but that only happened once in a blue moon. Now however, word has obviously spread that if they book for 3 or 4, they can bring an extra dozen guests along for free (or book for 12, and pitch up with 25-30)  - and even if they do get rumbled, there's an excellent chance they'll be able to get away without paying anyway, courtesy of Airbnb's ridiculously guest-centric policies.

At this point, I'd estimate that around 80% of guests are attempting to pull this stunt - even the "nice" ones! And why wouldn't they, when there are zero consequences for them, and they know that if caught, Airbnb will still back them up all the way? This has become an endless nightmare for all hosts, but particularly those who host bigger groups. 

In 9 years on Airbnb, I've never seen anything like the explosion of scammers (unpaid guests, false refund claims, undocumented extenuating circumstances claims etc), that has proliferated on the platform over the past 6-12 months. And there's one reason and one reason only for that - Airbnb's widespread reputation for making their hosts easy prey, for any grifter or chancer that fancies a host-subsidised holiday. 

[Cormac0]

@Danny37 

So now one can't change the number of guests actually staying as apposed to the number booked, It amazes  me how many Hosts on here think there running their own business under these circumstances.

[JoAnn67]

The few times I have noticed that 1 or 2 extra guests slip in, I let it slide as long as they follow check out instructions and leave the house in good shape. It doesn’t happen often enough to warrant going after the guest for $30. Now if they have more guests than what my permit allows, they have to leave and pay. It’s not worth loosing my permit over.