Cancellation by Host due to Guest mistake on number of guests arriving

[James30]

I believe Airbnb should improve the inicial reservation/cancellation process, by at least giving a few hours on which cancellations can occur without penalties. Also, the number of allowed guests should be made much more clear, since I've had a few guests that seem to believe they can have additional guests over the number mentioned in the listing. Both cancellations that have happened to me were due to guests booking but later realising that were travelling with more people than what the listing can accomodate.

[Raymond-and-Elaine0]

Your listing seems clear to me. You can host 4 guests and the drop down menu in the "request to book box" goes no higher than 4. If a guest doesn't read the listing and is then forced to cancel, then it's their fault. As soon as the reservation has been accepted, it's a contract and like all contracts it's binding by the two parties. To make it clearer, you could add to your house rules :  * For liability reasons, guests may not bring any visitors or any others to our home at any time, for any length of time. Only those individuals who are registered guests may enter the premises. Maximum number of guests 4, this includes children over the age of x"   Then you ask for the names of all guests who will be staying and the ages of the children.  House rules are very important to the security of your home, your family, neighbours and guests.  If more than four arrive and you wish to accept them , you alter the reservation by adding a charge which has to be accepted by the guest. or you refuse entry to the property for the extra guests.Hope this helps. The title of this thread worries me." Cancellation by Host due to Guest mistake on number of guests arriving" I hope you never have to cancel. It has serious consequences for a host to cancel , a $100 fine, calendar blocked, exclusion from Super Host status, automatic notice on profile. Not Good.  See here

[Dave-and-Deb0]

Hi @James30,

Although it would be great to have a chance to cancel on a guest within a certain amount of time after booking, I think this would cause a lot of other problems.  Airbnb would also need to have very specific rules as the the situations.  There is time during the inquiry process to ask the guest questions and find out if the reservation is a good fit between host and guest.  I would make sure that during that time you should confirm the number of guests and let them know that once booked, you will be asking for a guest list.

In terms of the number of guests showing up, I encourage you to share your experience on this by visiting this post on the topic:  https://community.airbnb.com/t5/General-Hosting/Number-of-Guests-Booking-Suggestion-for-Airbnb/m-p/2...

Cheers

Dave

[Lizzie]

Hello @James30,

Lovely to meet you, thanks for posting this. Thanks also @Dave-and-Deb0 for your reply here. As Dave has mentioned, this is quite a hot topic within the Community Center at the moment and I would recommend you taking a look at the thread he has included. 

Lastly, I hope it is fine with you, but I have moved your post from the Traveling board to the General Hosting board as it will make it easier for hosts to find in future. 

Happy posting 🙂