Guest lied about his group and number of guests

[Heather293]

This is only the second time I’ve accepted a booking through Airbnb. I have a small but very nice home in a popular area which was completely renovated a year ago, and I keep it spotless. I don’t want to accept a lot of guests and my home is priced accordingly. I have an extra charge for guests above 4 adults since there are only two bedrooms (there is an air mattress for max 2 more guest). I have instant book turned off because I want to be able to ask about the group before accepting the booking. I don’t know if this is against Airbnb’s discrimination policy, but I do not want to rent to groups of young men looking for a party location.

The current guest requested to book and said he was traveling with his wife and another couple and a fifth person. I reminded him that the fifth person would have to use the air mattress and he said this was fine. I have a security camera on my front porch and I usually glance at the clips when they check in to be sure all goes smoothly with keyless entry. This time, I was worried to see that the guest and his group were 6 young men, not 2 couples as he told me. I then looked at further clips showing them smoking on the front porch (my rules clearly state no smoking anywhere on the property, including the porch and front yard), as well as shouting “Hey motherf—s!” to one another at approximately 2am in a quiet residential neighborhood.

They are still there and due to check out Sunday. I don’t know yet whether there is any damage - I will find out after they have left.

I am wondering what recourse I have since the guest lied to me about the content and number of guests.

It is not as though his plans/guests changed - he told me the day of arrival that he was arriving at a certain time and his friend and his wife would be showing up a bit later. So it was a deliberate lie.

I am more than a little worried about this and after reading through some of the other posts, I’m worried I have zero recourse as it sounds like Airbnb doesn’t do much for hosts in the case of broken rules or additional guests. It seems as though my only option is to charge them for the 6th person and perhaps an additional cleaning fee.

[Marzena4]

Requesting extra fee for additional guests and cleaning is possibly the easiest way, @Heather293, because I haven't heard of Airbnb doing it themselves even after you report breaking the house rules. They may cancel the reservation, but the host is left with no revenues.

You must remember that it's good to have a proof in the message system, I mean as soon as you notice extra guests you should message the booker.

[Heather293]

Thanks @Marzena4 for your advice. I am afraid if I call him out on his lie, that they may cause some damage and then I would be stuck dealing with Airbnb to get some or all of the security deposit. I have heard it is very difficult to get Airbnb to side with hosts in these cases. If I request an additional payment, is there anything in place to ensure he actually pays? 

[Jo561]

I think the saddest thing about renting on Airbnb (which is so much better than VRBO), is that

people lie.  Not every guest, of course, but about 1/2 of the guests I have had over the past 2 years either OMIT or outright LIE.  Why?  Money.  They don't tell you about extra guests because you have a limit and they don't want to pay more for a larger place.  Or, in my daughters case, she charges $30/per person per night over the max number allowed.  All of this is in her rules, which people may or may not read.  Also, both my house and my daughter's is pet friendly (which for guests is hard to come by, I think) and she charges a one time $50 pet fee. 

Her latest guest said 6 adults and no pets, children.  This guest actually has an Airbnb himself.  You guessed it.  A baby under 2 years of age (not allowed) as (dirty) diapers were left behind, and at least one dog.  When I ask him about the pet fee, he says no dog was there but then where 

did that black and white dog hair come from?  Plus the doggy urine smell in the laundry room and the plastic container of water (with dog hair in it) left in the laundry room?  I take pictures after the guests leave but I think a camera system outside etc would be beneficial.  Especially if it works with nest.

I find this to be the biggest issue for us with renting out our very nice, remodeled homes. 

Airbnb has been helpful with the few really bad cases, but when it comes to things like extra guests or lying about a pet or two, well, you know.  

Also, just a bit of info:  if you have a marijuana smell in the house, i.e. bedroom etc, my advice is to get a small bucket or two and fill it with unadorned  bbq charcoal  (old fashioned kind) and set it in the room that smells.  Charcoal absorbs odors and it does work.

Even though I get a bit cynical when guests, especially those that are hosts themselves, try to skirt the truth to save $50 bucks or so, my daughter and I have had good experiences with guests and we still rent our places on Airbnb.  We've been doing it for about 9  years now.  So hang in there, Jo & Ji

[Sora0]

I am fine with 1 or 2 guests more but my place can only hold up to 5 pax and it came like 5 adults + 4 kids which is illegal at my home country. So I am quite a strict host with all all these lies too. So usually I will inform them during the check in that deposit will be forfeited if there are more guests then expected. 

[Marzena4]

The guest may decline, @Heather293, and most probably they will. Once I had an issue with guests staying longer (a few hours) than agreed. They declined, and - surprise - Airbnb was on my side and I got refunded.

[Heather293]

Do they still get to write a review? I’m certain they won’t be inclined to write a nice review if I complain about the extra guest and smoking, and request additional payment. 

[Anne405]

This worries me too but I am beyond furious that Air B and B uses reviews as their primary tool to not help hosts.  

[Richard1807]

If you don't review them then the review will not be posted - then report them.

[Fred13]

Prevention is worth more than a pound of cure. When they arrived, and you saw it was 6, it was the perfect time to address it, in a friendly manner; ie. "By the way it was suppose to be 'X' and now there is 'Y, so it will be 'Z' more. ". At that point guests tend to be most co-operative.

[Cyrus4]

I had a very similar situation happen to me--a "visitor" who turned in to an overnight guest and smoking.

I have a security camera monitoring the entrance and I'm VERY clear about it in both the "Other things to note" and Rules section so that they have to see it and I'm sure it's thwarted others from attempting to break the rules.

Back to my story: I caught them smoking late at night on camera (you got to love the infrared, a single match lights up the screen like a christmas tree) and told them I have it on camera. They apologized and agreed to stopped smoking.

Then they, oddly, tried to sneak an extra guest in knowing that there was a camera on them, which I saw. I called AirBnb and they offered to call them to help them find a place that would fit their needs. I had the option to kick them out, but I'd lose my Superhost status. Crazy I would get penalized for their antics! Instead, I knocked on the door the next morning and asked them about the extra guest and told them it will be $50 extra for the 5th person (double our normal fee). We made it cordial. They paid for the extra person. They gave me a good review. They knew we had them in the wrong on camera. I gave them a "would not recommend" and knocked off two stars for observance of house rules. I stated in the review "we had to remind them a couple of times of the house rules" along with some nicer things.

I think that was about as best as I could do, and will use that approach in the future. Best to address it as soon as you can in a nice way. Make sure it's in your house rules clearly with as few words as possible. People don't READ. (including probably this long post 🙂

[Anne405]

Cyrus

Can you tell me what camera you use?   

[Autumn39]

If you havnt already found a good system to use. I use Nest and momentum. I have the nest doorbell that when using nest aware takes mugshot like photos of every face it sees and saves it for you. The doorbell rings your phone with video and 2 way microphone remotely. It announces by name people it already knows. I have an outdoor nest cam as well. Both of them have zones you can set so you are alerted if a person comes in view, it hears a loud noise, or sees any motion. Both cams have 2 way microphone and amazing sound quality. I can hear my neighbors on their front porch across the street and 3 doors down. And thats just some of the tools these things feature. I also use a momentum camera inside my kitchen/dining area, it also has the 2 way microphone feature. Similar to Nest but about half the price, and it works with nest and google assistant. I control all these cameras from my google home hub stationed in my 2 bedroom master suite on the 2nd floor, with a mini home hub on the landing, in which I play white noise or nature sounds for privacy of both my guests and myself. Hope this helped! 

[Jo561]

Wow, thanks for this info.  I am going to send your info to my daughter.  This sounds like what we need for both of our houses.  I live in my house and leave it during its Airbnb rental.  Her house is strictly a rental.  

Thanks 🙂  Jo & Ji

[Kelly149]

@Heather293 I don’t know if you can say 6 men can’t rent but you certainly can say that there is no smoking, no outdoor late night activities & that guests must tell you who is coming. (I collect name and age, address & contact # for every adult guest via a rental contract at time of booking.) yes, the review could be bad if you ask for extra $ so decide if you’d rather have the money or the review. Either way outline his deception in your review of him and be even more detailed in the “anything you’d like to tell abb” section of the review. 

The best time to have addressed this was as soon as it happened

nonetheless, hopefully the space will be left well . Let us know how it goes please.