More guests stay than paid for

[Petra37]

I just had guests (2 young men) leave the place and when we came to clean the place, our neighbour said more than 2 of them stayed there for 3 nights... we also found long hairs all over the place and the 2 of them had short hair... our pricing indicates extra guest fee after 2 guests (max capacity is 4 people). They also left the place in a horrible place.... is there a way to charge that additional guest fee?

[Sarah174]

I just had that happen.  Thinking back, I should have taken the security deposit.

[Amaris0]

Hi, 

The difficulty you have is that they have now left so you can't emend the booking as you would need to e-mail it to them to accept the changes/ additional charges and I very much doubt they will.

Also even if you just wanted to flag to Airbnb that they abused your rules by not declaring the true number of guest, you don’t actually have concrete evidence to present to Airbnb that more than two people stated in the property, hear say is not concrete and neither are long hairs. Your listing rules and description do not prohibit them from having guest of their own during their stay so they could claim some guests visited them but didn’t stay overnight. More than likely this additional guest stayed over but you just don't have solid proof.

It's very hard to even mention this in their review without evidence as they could challenge it. 

I would suggest you let this one go but add to your house rules that non-authorised guest are strictly prohibited from staying overnight in the property and that you reserve the right to carry out random checks.

All the best,

Ama

[Gerry-And-Rashid0]

Good ideas from Ama - but in many jusrisdictions you are not allowed to make unannounced random checks on property that you have rented out. You have to give notice, and that notice period depends on what country you are in.

Just as a landlord is not allowed to turn up and let themselves into property you have rented, the same is true for AirBnB hosts renting out an entire property.

However, having the statement there may be useful - or may be off putting for many guests who expect that you will turn up at odd hours.

[Sharon64]

I have not had this problem and hope I never do. When I am showing the people around the room I mentioned that, of course,. no outside guests, no smoking, and no heavy drinking, and definitely no drugs. Although this is written in my description and detailed description I go over it again because so often they don't even read anything.  I also live on the property.

[Petra37]

Good point, I believe in Croatia we are allowed to make "unannounced checks", I will look into it so I know in the future. I never had this kind of situation happen and none of my guests gave me a reason to doubt them so I never thought about it...
I would avoid putting any statements or notifications because I always want my guests to feel comfortable during their stay. What I could do is, while taking their data to register them with the torist office, mention that the tourist inspection has random checks so they might think twice before allowing someone who is not booked with me to stay overnight...

[Petra37]

Hello Amaris, you are right, I have no proof at all... I will let this one go and add to my house rules that my guests are not allowed having guest of their own during their stay. Thank you for the comments and your advice 🙂

[Christine1]

So Petra, you may want to consider; Is the problem for you that more guests stayed than declared and you want the extra fees in future? or that you are concerned about not having full discloser/honesty from your guests?

If friends are allowed in a limited capacity and people are on holidays, impromptu opportunities will sometimes pop up and not everyone will want to declare to their host, "by the way, I got a bit lucky the other night".

If your accommodation might allow extra people, then maybe set a tariff you are happy with even if there were an extra guest o/n from time to time.

Think about how you can encourage openness from your guests, eg. awareness that by notifying you of extra guest details, these people become covered by insurance during their stay..... or

'I will put out extra towels if needed" for higher numbers.

Having the tariff for extra persons be very moderate, also encourages honesty from guests.

And remember it's normal at many alternative holiday houses to invite friends to socialise together, so as hosts we have a challenge to establish a happy balance with a variety of guest situations, finding something that suits each of us.

Hope these thoughts are helpful to you.

regards, christine.

[Petra37]

Hi Christine,
Thank you for your comments, I believe I would apply some of them since they seem really useful 🙂
Maybe they both "got lucky" all three nights of their stay...
The problem I have with this is both about them not being honest and about them not paying the fee for extra guests but the biggest problem for me could have been the tourist inspection - I only had 2 registered guest a had they came to inspect the place and found 2 more people, I would have gotten a $1.000 fine.... and the tarrif for additional 2 guests for 3 nights would have been less than $90...

[Christine1]

@Petra37, Wow! this is a huge penalty and being reported as having too many guests, exceeding fire safety etc is clearly a big deal. There is every chance your guests are unaware of the level of penalty and risk you face and if they knew, most who were thinking of "inviting" another guest, might book extra numbers or choose the correct accommodation. 

I think it would be very worthwhile educating them about this at some point, eg, in the rules, email when pre-booking, etc etc. Your concise explanation was certainly enough to get my attention and respect!

Sincere Regards,

Christine.

[Chisa0]

I've had 10 guests book and saw 18 get in their cars to leave, 14 book and when they arrived they wanted to pay for 10 more( after finding out we live next door) , a family of 6 ( 2 adults and 4 children) book and all the beds ( 6 in all) were used and all the towels used for a 2 day stay ( maximum is 14 for our property) and they told us they were having guests after they arrived and saw 3 cars parked outside mat night time ( they came in 2 cars) , etc.  Can we ask for additional information at the time of booking such as; vehicles that will be parking on our property and letting us know who will be staying when they make the reservation ( # of adults and # of childrens) ? I would appreciate any suggestions you may have.  Thanks!

I find it very uncomfortable having to confront people.

[Christine1]

@Chisa0    Charge for extra parking maybe.... ? .... Hosting does require assertiveness from time to time, it gets easier with time and practice. 

Once extra guests are there, and appear set to stay even if they are hiding under the tables......lol perhaps the path to follow is.... "lovely to see that you are enjoying the place and it's hard to say no to family sometimes, ok, I will send you an alteration request and we will just ensure that we get everyone one the books since they are already here..."

That way you get to keep smiling and your guests are the ones who will come to the realisation that you have the stomach to deal with these situations. 

They will accept it with good grace, because they know that you are meant to be paid/consulted about guest numbers. 

Unfortunately it seems to be a recurring issue for hosts who have large properties when there is a per person charge.

At some parks the rangers go round and count everyone in their tents........... : )

Regards, Christine.