extra guest not paying

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Lucy-And-Manu0
Level 2
London, United Kingdom

extra guest not paying

Hi there,

One of my instant booking for tomorrow will come with their daughter (two people total) but just made a booking for one person,

try to contact them to resolve this but not answer, even made a request to amend and nothing, what is supose to do in this cases?

Thanks

1 Best Answer
Dave-and-Deb0
Level 10
Edmonton, Canada

Hi @Lucy-And-Manu0,

 

You could contact Airbnb and explain your situation to them.  They will either try to reach out to the guest and may cancel the reservation for you.  Since this was an Instant Book, you can cancel up to three per year but only if you feel uncomfortable with the guest which you might at this point.  You need to have the proper number of guests on the reservation to protect you and the guest.

 

IB Cancel.png

 

Dave

 

David

Superhost Ambassador ~ Host Club Community Leader ~ Community Expert ~ Experienced Co-Host

View Best Answer in original post

22 Replies 22
Clare0
Level 10
Templeton, CA

@Lucy-And-Manu0 If the guest doesn't answer your messages, contact Airbnb and they will contact your guest for you.. Here's how to contact Airbnb: 

 

https://community.airbnb.com/t5/Tips-Tricks/Contact-Airbnb-A-Community-Help-Guide/m-p/16165/highligh...

Dave-and-Deb0
Level 10
Edmonton, Canada

Hi @Lucy-And-Manu0,

 

You could contact Airbnb and explain your situation to them.  They will either try to reach out to the guest and may cancel the reservation for you.  Since this was an Instant Book, you can cancel up to three per year but only if you feel uncomfortable with the guest which you might at this point.  You need to have the proper number of guests on the reservation to protect you and the guest.

 

IB Cancel.png

 

Dave

 

David

Superhost Ambassador ~ Host Club Community Leader ~ Community Expert ~ Experienced Co-Host

I have a similar problem. I have a guest coming in a few days. She booked as an individual, but then wrote told me she was bringing her boyfriend. I altered the booking to make it for two people. She sent me a letter asking why Airbnb is requesting more money. I replied and explained that she needed to pay for the additional guest. Now she is not paying, What should I do? Can I cancel the booking?

I have to disagree with Dave's answer - it's spot on consistent with Airbnb's response to this issue, but I don't feel it's consistent with what Airbnb claims to be offering.  

 

The problem of guests booking for the wrong number of people and then not responding to requests for altering the booking seems to be growing, and it's our understanding that part of what Airbnb is providing in exchange for their fees should include only requiring hosts to honor accurate bookings - functionally, we wonder what the difference would be between this situation and a situation where a guest said, "Well, I booked the room for Thursday, but I'll actually be staying Friday".  It seems hard to imagine Airbnb would ask a host to choose between honoring that booking for Friday at Thursday's price and losing Friday's income, or taking a hit to their metrics.  

 

If hosts have to use one of the three "get out of jail free" cards that you get per year with Instant Book ("I'm uncomfortable with this guest") every time a guest refuses to alter an inaccurate booking, it puts the burden on hosts to decide whether to open themselves up to potential liability for someone who isn't on the booking, or take a hit to their metrics.  

 

For hosts who are concerned that Airbnb is demonstrating more of the kinds of corporate practices that some folks worry about - lack of transparency, binding arbitration, heinously dense terms of service - it's really troubling to see Airbnb taking the attitude that it's the host's problem to choose between liability and being penalized in search results.  

 

Full disclosure, we just had this issue happen, and even though Airbnb agreed to cancel the booking, whatever cancellation method they used still allowed the guest to rebook a few hours later, so if you have this issue (where the guest doesn't respond to Alteration requests), unfortunately your best bet is to call Host Support and have them reach out to the guest, and then you can save your "get out of jail free" card for that guy who promises to follow all the rules but just looks like an axe murderer.  🙂  Miraculously, even though this guest somehow didn't receive any of our messages or texts, she was able to see almost immediately that the reservation was canceled.  To say that we're angry Airbnb structured their system to allow her to rebook with us would be an understatement.  

In the short over two months of hosting, I had not one but four bad experiences; 1st. Over staying with her cat, 2nd. Brought extra 3-guest and a 4-month dog (which made an extensive damages in my newly restoredrental), 4th guest made a reservation for 2 brought 2 more, then couple of hours later few more showed up all smoking cannabis inside my non smoking allowed rental! 5th guest arrived with her companion refusing to pay for him and she started to look for 'issues' , even making false statements. She ended up canceling and even though Airbnb promise she wasn't be able to write a review because she canceled, she still did it. I am and still are very upset about it. My breeding techniques did not work

I don't agree with this at all.  I hope I don't have a situation like this.  

 

I don't think I will be hosting through Airbnb for too much longer.  There are some things that I don't like.  It seems like the guests are being protected more than the hosts.  

I have abooking for 6 adults and airbnb have only charged for 1 guest.how do i go about it?trying to contact airbnb but no one is responding.

 

I just had an inquiry that nicely asks if she can bring her husband but she may not have known how to use the airbnb system and also not noticed the extra charge for a guest (i put it in yesterday to discourage couples who are frequently inquire ignoring the no couples in my description).

 

I sent her a special offer that was for more than the one guest price and will let her decline accordingly.   As for instant bookings, I've never known what to do about that.  WIth monthly roommates, overnight guests are legally within their rights.  

Hello @Jennifer--And-My-Brother0

 

If you accept two people then you don't need to send a special offer, just go into the booking and amend to two people.

 

If you don't you can ask Airbnb to cancel the booking.

I tried and it did not let me do do the add a person.

 

 

I have an apartment for 4 persons which is very clear in my listing.  On two occasions 5 people have turned up, one said they would sleep on the sofa (I do have extra bedding but not for this reason) and another family said their little one (aged 4) would sleep with them in the double bed.  They were all very pleasant people, but I honestly think this is taking advantage of me as the host.  I finally asked the group with 5 adults for an additional payment for the extra person as shown in my listing and was met with not a very happy response.  They paid and did leave a favourable review, but I did insist as extra person means extra laundry etc.  

Perhaps I should not make extra bedding available but that seems a bit mean?  How do others deal with this when guests arrive?

It had happened to me much more than once, I had to install cameras to provide with evidence since I had severed headaches with this type of situations. I feel you, and I'm so sorry.

Mary167
Level 10
Los Angeles, CA

A few times I have had hosts who brought in an unreported extra guest, and I never know whether to confront them or ignore it.  I have a lovely couple staying for two weeks.  Yesterday their daughter joined them and I'm guessing she plans to stay until they leave, which will be three nights total.  They are excellent guests, and I'm sure they will leave a good review, so I'm not sure it's worthwhile to confront them.  (I charge $30 per night for additional guests)   We have strict water rationing here, so an extra guest is extra water, plus she used another bedroom and bed linens.  My inclination is to ignore it, but there's part of me that wants them to know I know, if only so they might be more careful if they try it again on somebody else.  What would you do?

 @Mary167 I definitely would bring it to the guest's attention in a diplomatic way.  If it were one night, I might let it pass, but three nights with the extra towels, linens, cleaning effort, you should charge extra.  It is clearly described in your listing that you have an extra guest fee which you can bring to their attention.  Most people would understand.