So I had a guest stay last night. They had 10 reviews, with an average of 4 1/2 stars. All of the written reviews looked fine. They booked for 2 people. Communication was good, and they asked for early check in, which I had no issue accomodating: we don't charge extra for it.
They arrived at 1:30 pm, while we were cutting the grass. They had trouble with the door lock, so my husband went over to help them. When he went over, he noticed that there were actually 4 people. We charge $10 for each additional guest after 2. They told him that they weren't intending to stay, just stopping by for a visit, and we gave them the benefit of the doubt. The extra people had their own car with a local licence plate, so it seemed feasible.
Fast forward to this morning. We spent the night at our cottage, so our cleaners were scheduled to clean for us today. When she and her assistant arrived at 11 am, they found that the guests were still on site. I contacted the guest immediately, but they didn't end up leaving until 12 noon, a full hour after our check out time. Of course, all 4 people had also stayed the night. They didn't apologise, just sent me a note saying they had left.
I was mad, based on the lying and the late check out.They said that their friends only decided to stay after the wedding, but that obviously wasn't the case, as they were on site with them when they checked in. I've never sent a request for money before, but I sent them a request for the extra people, as well as a portion of the extra charges from the cleaners for the waiting time, for a total of $40. They did pay it immediately and sent an apology: "Sorry for the inconvenience."
So how do I review these people now? They did pay the extra without argument, but they were also dishonest and would not have paid for the extra people had I not called them on it. I'm at a total loss of what to say here.
And yeah... I know that I've possibly opened myself up to a bad review. I'm okay with that. I was friendly and professional throughout, but I am not letting guests get away with stuff like this.
