Hi @Pete117, This happens way too frequently. One way to attempt to prevent it is when they send the original Request, BEFORE you accept, send a message confirming the guest count, eg: “Hi ______, Thank you for your Request. Just confirming before I accept that it is for ___ People? Thanks so much. If it turns out that you need to add more people, just let me know and we can adjust the reservation. We have a minimal fee of $XX per person over XX persons. Or We have no extra fee per person but must know how many for insurance purposes.” Or whatever version works for you. Another tactic is you DON’T want any over your stated number is to make your add on fee very high. Hopefully, if you are an offsite host, you have cameras of some sort to keep track of who is coming and going. I have a Ring Video Doorbell, of course clearly stated in my listing. I also circumvent undeclared extras by reminding the booking guest when I send Check In Instructions that my Ring will alert me when they arrive so they don’t need to message me to let me know and if they have any problems just ring it and I can assist them immediately because I can see and speak to them through it.
Since the reservation has has already begun you will need to send a request for money and it will give you the opportunity to explain why. It really is important that you get them to pay for those extra guests. If you let them get away with breaking that house rule, they will just keep trying to push the envelope. Just keep the whole thing completely business like because that’s all it is. Good luck!
