Guest shows up with additional people not on reservation and threatened a bad review

[Dawn171]

My home is a four bedroom and on my listing it says accommodates 8. 

So two guests check in and then I find out two days later that 10 guests are there. So I contact Airbnb and they tell me I can request extra monies from the guest . Or I can ask them to vacate the premise, well I chose the nicer route and sent a request for the monies and the

guest said they were only going to pay half the amount, and was it worth it to me for a bad review. The guest threatened to give me a bad review. This guest clearly broke the rules but yet threatened me with a bad review. How is it that we as Host must be Super at what we do and keep an exemplary place which I do, with all the extras but yet guests can just be manipulative, controlling and just plain rude.

[Emiel1]

Hello @Dawn171 ,

Your listing does not charge for extra guests, if there are 1 or 8 guests booked, it is the same price per night. So you charged extra money for 2 "overbooked" guests (as there are 10 people now) ? But there is no info in your listing about price for extra guest, and the 2 people should not be there anyway (max=8)

If guests start to threaten with "bad review", contact Airbnb again for advise. 

Best regards, Emiel

[Dawn171]

Thank you , yes the price is the same for

1-8 with a maximum of eight that is why I do not have extra fee because more than 8 is not acceptable. I did not know they had 10 people until 2 days after checkin 

[Fred13]

  If they showed up in YOUR place with 10, when you have a limit of 8, why let them in? Suppose it was 20, what then? The minute they threatened you with a bad review, the whole gig should have been up. The responsibility over your place falls on you first, not Airbnb, which was your first vein of thought on the post you also  left in another thread.

[Dawn171]

Thank you for your reply.  I did not let them in all of them did not show up at the same time at check in , I did not find out about the 

10 guests until two days later . I called on Airbnb because there are rules in place that need to be followed by Hosts and Guests and I needed to know what my rights as a Host was in this circumstance because I have never had this happen before. 

[Paul154]

 Welcome to landlording 🙂

Guests CAN be "manipulative, controlling and just plain rude."

They can also be wonderful, uplifting and incredible.

Usually they are OK to good.

It's part of the business.

You will get all. The only thing a host can do is protect themselves the most possible.

Be at the door to greet. If too many, charge then and there.

Be prepared to not let them in.

Have an extra guest charge over a certain number so it is clear.

If you choose not to kick them out,  politely ask for a reasonable extra guest charge.

Even if you do everything correctly, be prepared to 

show them the "stop sign" when they blackmail you. Call Airbnb for advise and be prepared to kick them out. 

Out them in your review. "Guests did not pay for their extra guests"

[Paul154]

BTW, no one has ever threatened me with a bad review - Even the guests with whom I have had money disputes.  

[Dawn171]

Thank you for your reply . I am glad that you have never experienced what I did over the last two days with the guests in my home.

[Dawn171]

Yes i absolutely agree with you I have had fantastic wonderful guests before this. 

This is the first time I have encountered this and was in disbelief that a guest would have more people than what was reserved and more than  my home accommodated then threaten a bad review 

[Fred13]

@Dawn0 As you can now surmise is best to be prepared on what to do, by you on the spot, and knowledge is gained by reading, here being a good example.  Think of Airbnb is the last resort, not the first, it will serve you best to take that approach.

[Dawn171]

Thank you for your kind reply 

[Alexandra316]

@Dawn171I would contact Airbnb and tell them that the guest is breaking your rules and threatening you with a bad review. Extorting people for a review is most certainly against Airbnb rules, and that's what this seems to amount to. Hopefully your conversation with the guest was via the messaging system so customer service can see what's happening. 

It sounds like a really difficult and stressful situation, but in future I would consider not bending the rules for people. You probably have a maximum number of guests for a reason, and the rule benders are also most likely be the rule breakers - as was the case here. 

[Dawn171]

Thank you, I appreciate your suggestions and help.  It was kind of you to take the time to reply.

[Peggy-And-Mike0]

Dawn, your places are beautiful! I hope this resolves well. One thought Ive picked up reading other threads is that the “extra guests no charge” wording is the default and it can be confusing to guests ...they read it as extra guests, no problem. For someone with a whole house rental it might be worth repeating in your house rules that the maximum number of guests is (x).

Many guests don’t read, however, so it may not help.  And im not saying they didnt know it already. But it is one more place you can emphasize the limit.  

I would also suggest that you put in your house rules that only registered guests may be on the property.  That also seems to help reinforce the limit.  

[Dawn171]

Thank you for taking your time to reply . I appreciate your thoughtfulness.

i do not have an extra guest charge because 

my home only accommodates 8 people only

No more than 8 so what reason would I have to put in an extra guest charge that would tell Someone that they could bring more than 8 and I do not want nor does my home accommodate more than 8.