Charging for Unregistered after Checkout

[Kathy842]

I am a new host. So far I have had 3 reservations and each one brought extra guest. My policy states no guest/no visitors. Plus $25 per unregistered person/per day. The last guest booked  for 3. The day before he arrived I confirmed with him the number of guest. His reply,

"No visitors. It’s just me and my girlfriend and my a friend Matthew. No partying or anything like that. Me and Matthew have a video game tournament in Downtown Dallas and didn’t want to stay in a hotel. We are very professional and will take very good care of your property"

Nov 7, 2019

   He flat out lied knowing that it would be a total of 5, which I confirmed via security cameras after checkout. Plus they trashed the place and smoked marijuana in the house, which violates 2 rules;  no smoking and no drugs.  I opened a resolution request to charge him $150 extra for for the 2 unregistered guest for 3 days.  He refuses to pay. I submitted many time stamped pictures of all 5 guest checking in with their luggage and checking out with their luggage. This guest had no prior reviews . Will Airbnb collect this $150, after they checked out with all the proof I submitted? 

   The outcome of this will determine if I continue to use Airbnb

[Linda108]

I reviewed your listing that has 3 reviews which are all very positive.  If you charge a fee for additional guest over X number of guests, it is good to make that clear in your descriptions.  Your rules state a $25 fee for extra "visitors".  You might consider "no unregistered guests" .  Hopefully you will be able to use experience to tweak your listing description and rules.  Most of us have had to do that.

[Kathy842]

Will ABNB collect for extra guest after checkout on our behalf? I really need to know this. It will determine if I opt out of ABNB. 

[Kathy842]

I am a new host. So far I have had 3 reservations and each one brought extra guest. My policy states no guest/no visitors. Plus $25 per unregistered person/per day. The last guest booked  for 3. The day before he arrived I confirmed with him the number of guest. His reply,

"No visitors. It’s just me and my girlfriend and my a friend Matthew. No partying or anything like that. Me and Matthew have a video game tournament in Downtown Dallas and didn’t want to stay in a hotel. We are very professional and will take very good care of your property"

Nov 7, 2019

   He flat out lied knowing that it would be a total of 5, which I confirmed via security cameras after checkout. Plus they trashed the place and smoked marijuana in the house, which violates 2 rules;  no smoking and no drugs.  I opened a resolution request to charge him $150 extra for for the 2 unregistered guest for 3 days.  He refuses to pay. I submitted many time stamped pictures of all 5 guest checking in with their luggage and checking out with their luggage. This guest had no prior reviews . Will Airbnb collect this $150, after they checked out with all the proof I submitted? 

   The outcome of this will determine if I continue to use Airbnb.  

[Sandra856]

@Kathy842 I don't think anyone in here got an exact answer to that.

It really is a grey area - asking for extra $ from guests could very easily end out in a 1 star revenge review and airbnb expects every host to have 4,7 or more to stay on the platform. Getting low ratings will trick the algoritms and put you on page 200 in the search field. It's incredible unfair. Guests can act like idi**s like your guests and you will get punished :-\. Sorry you experience problems so early in your hosting career. Please keep us updated 🙂 

[Sandra856]

@Kathy842 Also if you film your guests you must notify your guests about it on the listing so they are aware before booking - airbnb are quite strict about that. 

[Kathy842]

Sandra...Thanks for the heads up. The outside cameras are visible and it does say it in 2 places the listing.  No cameras inside.

[Sarah977]

@Kathy842  If the guest refuses to pay, no, Airbnb won't pay you out of their coffers. What you need to do is what Linda said, make it clear in your listing description, and reiterate when guests book. If they show up with more people, either make them agree to the extra charge and accept it on the Airbnb app right then and there, or tell the extras that they can't stay. It's up to you to make sure guests aren't bringing in more people than they booked and paid for.

[Mike1034]

@Kathy842  According to my experience, you will get paid as long as you have submitted the proof (pictures). There are hosts who also got paid. Just make sure that your submission to resolution was before the next guest checked in. 

After the guest refused to pay, you can go back to resolution center and click Involve Airbnb button. Then Airbnb will contact you to get details.

As @Sandra856 mentioned that you may get a retaliatory review from the guest since you requested for extra charge. But you will get one because you had already submitted the request. You can write a response to the guest review if they leave one. Make sure that you write a truthful review to the guests as well.

[Elena87]

@Kathy842 

This is undoubtedly a daily feature on the community pages.

Pretty much there is no definitive answer, airbnb are opaque on how they deal with this. What we know then so far;

If you go via the resolution centre and the guest knocks back a request, airbnb treat it as a 'dispute' between guest and host and attempt to mediate.

They cannot access the security deposit as it is exclusively for physical property and contents damages.

If the guest doesn't pay up after this mediation, airbnb can pay out of their own pocket or close down the case without satisfaction for the host.

It seems easier to deal with when the guests arrive from a hosts perspective, of course this means monitoring arrivals with confrontation and is a topic in it's own right. At this point the guest has two options, pay for extras or pay to cancel if they exceed the number of guests cap, as in your listings.

1. From the t&c's

8.3.3. You may not bring any additional individuals to an Experience, Event or other Host Service unless such an individual was added by you as an additional guest during the booking process on the Airbnb Platform

2. Help article 1515 'What should I do if my guest brings extra people -

If you can accommodate the larger group, and you'd like to charge extra for these guests, you can send your guest a change request that includes the additional cost per night for the extra guests.

If you’re unable to accommodate the larger number of guests, let your guest know that your place isn’t the right fit for their group size, and ask them to cancel their reservation. They’ll be refunded according to your cancellation policy.

Often on the forum, some hosts complain that if the guest leaves or cuts short a stay, airbnb advisers don't follow article 1515, they refund the guest for unused nights, but this is plainly off track. Knowing the rules strengthens your hand of course.

Some hosts seem to argue having a poor review is almost the end of days.

You decide your own culture, if you want to be justly remunerated or if you prefer internet star points and suppressed inner rage at the injustice served from a dishonest guest.

Airbnb know fine well of this issue with unpaid additional guests and revenge reviews, outlier scores in reviews.

There seems no will to remedy this.

[Sandra856]

Hi @Elena87

II don't think a poor review is the end of the day I just wanted to make @Kathy842 aware of the grey and unfair areas of hosting. If I can avoid a bad review I will do so in order to protect my little business. I don't want the guest to get away without paying (like in this case for extra guests) AND leave me a bad review. What I do is I make sure to write an honest last minute review.

Other hosts should do whatever they feel is right for them but I definitely don't feel I'm suppressing myself. 

[Juan63]

This is the biggest problem that I face as a host. No matter how clear I am on my listings it always comes up. I verify on my cameras when the guest arrives and during their stay.  But that's not the end of it. if they do trey to sneak someone in and you call them out, now they can leave a bad review. Guests who break rules should not be allowed to leave reviews.