extra guests

[Derek240]

I had a lady arrive from Italy booked for 1 guest  2 people turned up I charge extra for each guest  when i told her  she said she would go  but i did not want to loose the booking altogether So let them stay   . And took them to the supermarket as its a 5 min drive they had no car . What would other hosts have done  im now £90 down intrested to know what to do next time 

[Emilia42]

@Derek240 

It was very generous of you to drive them to the grocery store and I would have done the same. I think that is one of the nice parts about hosting. If I can and I'm available, I like to help people out when they are in an unknown place. 

You may find it easier and less problematic to have your base rate start with 2 people and increase after 2. Is this the standard in most places? You should always confirm the number of people within the message system before arrival. Airbnb defaults to 1 guest and a lot of people skip over this step. In a perfect world, it would default to zero and the guest would have to enter the correct number so we could tell if they were being deceitful or clueless. Unfortunately, those at Airbnb aren't that smart.

[Helen3]

In your situation I would say to the guest you are sorry that she misunderstood the booking system and only booked for one.

Offer them the option to update the booking to reflect the number staying or they can have the additional person stay elsewhere.

alternatively they could cancel through Airbnb and any refund would be in line with your cancellation policy.

don’t know why you would have taken them to the supermarket. I’m sure you mention where local amenities are in relation to your listing @Derek240 

[Elena87]

@Derek240 

Derek, as you have a chunky listing with three beds, I would think it is improbable that you would usually get a solo traveller booking such a big place.

In future, I'd recommend you get quizzing and confirm how many guests are arriving from the get go, when you receive a booking or a request for a low guest count.

Especially if it is one person, I'd think it was surely an error, inadvertently or malice prepensed.

It's best to solve it in advance rather than having a tricky doorstep conversation.

Chalk this one up as experience and good luck going forward.