Legal head count vs airbnb headcount

Inna22
Level 10
Chicago, IL

Legal head count vs airbnb headcount

This is a serious issue. I am only able to host a certain number of people by fire code and rental ordinance however airbnb does not think infants are people. I know we have discussed here if infants take space and resources or not but this is different. I do not want to go to jail or something happens and I am liable because I allowed extra people. I think in reality one extra person will not cause overcrowding but I would always be at fault no matter what actually happens. I currently have a family battening this one with me. They are bringing the allowed number of adults but insist of adding on the infants. I don’t charge per person and my headcount is stated in the listing and house rules. Airbnb has to try to control every aspect of what hosts do thinking they are meeting guests needs and often it leads to everyone including guests being unhappy including the very guests they are worried about. 

8 Replies 8

@Inna22 Hi there, I’m unsure of what you’re saying. Why is Airbnb responsible for the amount of people you are allowed to have? I missed that part in your message. I would agree that Airbnb is not perfect by far, but I don’t see how they control the amount of persons in your home. If you are not allowed to have a certain amount of persons in your home bc it’s a violation, the only person that controls that is you. You have 2 options. You can inform your guests that you cannot accommodate them if they do bring extra persons/infants after you inform them that you cannot accommodate extra persons and the reason why. Then they will make a decision to cancel and find somewhere else that will accommodate them. If they  still decide to book, then you can cancel the reservation. If they show up with extra persons, how will you know? You are covered if you inform them that you cannot accommodate them and what will happen if they break that rule. I just don’t understand how Airbnb is responsible. 

@Marcia590 when you select the number of people you are willing or able to host, Airbnb ads on your page that it’s the number of the adults and the guest can bring any number of infants. So no, you do not control that. Look at your listing page above the date and price section on the guest view 

@Inna22  Put in your listing that the guest count includes adults and infants and cannot go over XX.  Then, refer guests to the part of the listing where you state that all guests of any age are counted toward the total.  You would absolutely be held legally liable if something happened at one of your Airbnbs and you had knowingly allowed them to exceed the legal count.  Also, if you don't charge per person, it shouldn't even be an issue.

 

Tell the family that legally, your space can only hold XX persons, and so they cannot have YY persons in the unit and that if the arrive with more than the legal number they will be refused entry.  Tell them to cancel and give them a refund.

@Mark116 I do that, but we all know that no one reads. And it doesn’t help that Airbnb contradicts it. Guests might even assume that they can argue their way into my listing .

@Inna22   Airbnb says somewhere, something about some hosts including children in the guest count.  But, even if they didn't, if it's a problem for you, then include it in the booking message that guest count must include all persons, including children of any age.  If you get push back, refer them to your listing and house rules.  

@Mark116 I am so tired of guests pushing and taking and having to clarify my clarifications. I provide one parking space. I say it in the description and in the getting around section. Yet, someone told me yesterday that since my opening paragraph says "parking", that means as many spaces as a guest would need. Even though immediately blow that paragraph it goes on to not only specify it is one space, but also describe the garage. With measurements! Some people bring a passenger van and get angry with me that it does not fit so I now include garage measurements. As a result, my description is getting bigger and bigger and so fewer and fewer people read it because it is so long

@Inna22  It's probably a function of your high guest count, even in a mini van, you would need 2 cars to fit 16 people.  Have you ever considered lowering the count to something more like 12?  

This happens most often with my smallest unit (and cheapest). As we often discuss the less people pay the more they demand