Guests thought they booked my entire flat and want to pay me to leave...

[Daisy34]

https://www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/19811978

Hi there guys,

I've been hosting for years but since moving to my new flat in June, I have two listings: one for shared, one for the entire place.

Now a French family arrived this afternoon falsely believing they booked the entire place for the next 4 nights. Even in our initial emails I mentioned that I would be here and they tell me that they host at home so they should be pretty well acquainted with the process.

So what I’d like to ask you lot is what I should do...

The lady just asked if she could pay the difference and I, well, bugger off, pretty much. She even wanted me to find out there and then so she could get on with her day, but I said it will take me a little bit of time to find out if I can stay elsewhere and to pack up my clothes etc.

Luckily, as it happens, I can stay around the corner but I feel as though I should be remunerated more than just the difference in price each night. I’ve had to spend the afternoon preparing a room which I hadn’t anticipated and it has just put me out a bit.

What do you think? The difference in price from 4 people sharing with me to the whole place is £40 more a night. What do you think I should do? Or should I just stay here?

Thanks for reading!

Daisy

[Linda108]

There is a huge difference between your shared space and entire space nightly rate, @Daisy34.  Also there is a different risk for you in terms of damage whether you are there or not.  Obviously you know the difference and I think your gut is telling you so.  Since you are willing to accommodate the guest, I suggest you contact Air BNB for assistance with cancelling the current reservation and booking the entire house under that listing.  

Frankly I think you are being played.  Sorry to say.  Here the guest is trying to get an entire place without paying higher cleaning fee, more Air BNB fee and higher security deposit.  Propose to go through Air BNB to accommodate the request or tell them to cancel and seek another place. Just saying...

[Clara116]

@Daisy34@Linda108 I agree with Linda....They are perhaps trying to do something unfair and maybe ugly

 Sorry...I think u want to call Airbnb... Call and also. Do not leave ur property. If u are going to rent them the whole place...They must cancel and u book them correctly...Just sounds questionable...and i can imagine  complaints ànd  a refund ànd so u might want to avoid it all.....Did I get it they are host? If so, shame shame on them. Don't be pushed into anything... It is ur place and NO is an option. Good luck. Sorry u are having this. But u will learn and u too. Clara B

[Clara116]

@Daisy34 if u let them stay...Make sure it all goes thru Airbnb.. monies especially and I think u are being put out.... I would have Airbnb find them somewhere else. Just what I would do. If u have a bad feeling go with ur gut! U get to pick! Not the guest!

[Daisy34]

Thank you Clara. You’re right. I’m terrible at saying no however. I feel rushed to leave my house and it’s  not fair really. I don’t feel uncomfortable with the guests however. They seem like a pleasant family and I think they did make the mistake. But from what Linda says, it does make me wonder that this is a sneaky trick because I wouldn’t have thought about the other fees and would’ve been out of pocket. And I certainly feel ok taking the higher cleaning fee as I’ve spent the day prepairing the extra room. 

I will go through Airbnb. It’s not worth it and if they’re hosts, I agree, they should know better.

thanks for the support it really helps. 

[Clara116]

@Daisy34 so glad to support you. Yep take a deep breath and take ur time. Happy hosting, Clara B

[Daisy34]

Hi Linda,

Thank you so so much for responding. I hadn’t thought about the difference in cleaning fee or deposit actually so I really appreciate you taking the time to look and for the input. Re-doing the booking with Airbnb is a sensible idea however she seems very keen to just pay the difference

and be done with it. Now I see why! They haven’t said thank you and I feel like I’m the one doing all the apologising despite losing my Sunday because of it.

My pricing is done to encourage groups of 3 or more. There isn’t such a difference when you compare the listings for 4 people. Do you think it’s loads more for them to pay a tenner each more a night to have the place to themselves? Or were you comparing the price for 2 sharing with the entire place price? If so hopefully that explains it.

I will call Airbnb. I think part of the problem is that the filters on the search function aren’t absolute. ie. my guess is that they were searching for entire homes, but Airbnb returned my place in their results as I could accommodate them within their price range. I guess that’s why they chose it as it seemed best value for money as they thought it was the whole place! I think the filters can be misleading in this case.

Anyway thank you again. It’s really helped me out 🙂

Daisy

[Susie5]

@Daisy34, the link you provided in your post takes me to a listing which clearly states "ENTIRE FLAT".  I think if that is the link to the booking they used, you have to honor that and move out for the duration.  Luckily it's only 4 days... could be worse!

[Daisy34]

https://www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/19068071

hi Susie,

thanks for looking. They definitely booked the shared listing which is here. I thought you’d be able to see both listings from that link. Here’s the shared one anyway...

[Tess31]

Hi guys! I’m new here and I’m having a hardtime on how to properly list my property. Initially, I’ve listed it as entire villa for rent. Did’t get a reply for months. Now I’ve change it to per rooms. I have 3 rooms available but I think in airbnb, it only appears as 1 room.

[Linda108]

 You should have a separate listing for each room if different parties can book them separately, @Tess31.  Otherwise Air BNB presents all three rooms as available together.  Snooze this listing until you get this sorted out or you will loose money.

[Clara116]

 @Linda108@Tess31 Linda has it correct - you want to snooze your listing and sort it all out. If you are wanting to list private rooms - each must have their own listing - with seperate photos and you would want to perhaps give each listing a special name  so you and others can see clearly the difference. Think up a cool name for each - I'll check out your listing again and if any names come to me I will get back to you and post those suggestions. Happy Hosting. Clara B.