How to deal with extra guests?

Answered!
Deborah0
Level 10
California, United States

How to deal with extra guests?

A host (call him Mark) recently described a problem, that seems to me to be an exceptionally common problem which hosts bring to the host communities to ask about.   Mark said that the guest booked 4 people, but that 6 people actually arrived.  He thought at first that only 4 guests would stay, as this had been the arrangement and what they paid for (and he doesn't allow more than 4 to stay at his home -- which is an entire house listing).  However, the next day when he went by the house to see the guests off and check them out, he saw all 6 people inside, and as they left, he saw that they were all carrying luggage, so it was clear they had all stayed there. 

 

Do you have any advice for Mark?

1 Best Answer
Quincy
Community Manager
Community Manager
London, United Kingdom

Hi everyone,

 

Please note that this content has been archived.

 

You can still access if if you have the link but it won't appear when you search on the Community Center.

 

Please take a look at our Help Center article on "When guests want to bring more people" for more information. 

 

To ask a new question just click below:

 

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Thanks

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236 Replies 236
Chris1148
Level 2
Murphys, CA

Ok, so I am over the guests sneaking in a 3rd party. NOW, I have a booked guest asking if it is OK if their son is law & daughter park their truck with a camper shell in THIER (our) parking lot. She assured me they would be sleeping in the truck.  I am not sure how to respond to this. I feel like such a newbie!  I texted her that although I can only accommodate 2 people in the cottage, if they are staying in the camper in my parking lot for two days, they can pay an extra $200 or go the the local RV park for $175,which by the way does have several openings this weekend. I don’t want to be rude, by my homeowners insurance only allows for 2 people and my broker lives across the hill and looks down onto the parking lot of the cottage. Can’t afford to lose my insurance. Any suggestions on a better way to handle this?

@Chris1148   Assuming you told the guests this in a polite way, I see it as fine. The son-in-law and daughter were going to sleep in their camper shell and use the cottage bathroom, shower, hot water, toilet paper, and cooking facilities for free, they figured? People's presumptuousness knows no bounds.

I must have put it in a polite way as they accepted. Now, they need to accept & pay before they arrive and I will make sure there are extra pods for the Kurig, extra towels, soap, makeup removal... a. couple of chairs from the main house ....

@Chris1148   Great- a win/win.  Pointing out how much the local campground costs was a smart approach, rather than just saying you'd charge xxx more per night.

You handled this beautifully. Giving options like that, is a "caring" approach. Another tool for your tool belt, if you want to discourage something in the future, is to tell them that you have to say No because your insurance says you can't. 

Thank you all for your input. Guests just arrived with 3 cars, one a camper, a boat AND a DOG! I have a NO PET policy. They assured me the dog was staying in the camper for the weekend? What do I do with this one? I am worried for my 3 cats. They do not do well with strange dogs. I am baffled. Do guests do these things all the time?

@Chris1148   Ask the guests if they actually read your listing description, where NO PETS is clearly stated. Have they bothered to approve the extra $200 charge for their kids to park their camper there for the weekend and avail themselves of the amenities?

You either have the choice to ask them to leave and refund them the nights they haven't stayed, or let it slide. And tell them if that if the dog is either not in the camper or tied up at the camper, or if it is loose on the property at any time, you'll have to ask them to leave.

Ed51
Level 2
Kilcreggan, United Kingdom

I have had a few guests who claim to be 1 but more turn up to include the person booking does not stay but uses it for other people (&doesn't say) I try to ammend the booking but you can't change it so I have to charge them on site. I can't cancel the booking otherwise airbnb will penalise me... Ed

@Ed51  It's against AirBnB's terms of service to take cash off site. You need to bill them with the Request Money option. If they do not pay it immediately tell them they must all leave but the one who was booked and paid for. You can also call AirBnB they can adjust the reservation for you also to the correct number of guests and bill for it immediately.  

Ed51
Level 2
Kilcreggan, United Kingdom

Thank you for that, most the more troublesome ones are the late bookers 21.30 for that night/arrivals 23.30 & phoning air bnb then to sort money makes the late night very late indeed.
I used allow bookings/arrival up to 23.00 (the same thing on air bnb) but reduced it to 22.00 (but guests think they have to arrive by then (not cut off time for bookings that night)
Ed

@Ed51  I reduced my time to 20:00 (8:00 PM) I am also a entire house and make them sign my rental agreement which also asks for all the guests names and ages, the renters address, etc. It's a CYA requirement as far as I'm concerned ;D 

Ed51
Level 2
Kilcreggan, United Kingdom

PS, I ask for the names of all the people staying, I've done this for years, also if it's a whole property (not a room) I ask for their postal address.

Helen3
Level 10
Bristol, United Kingdom

If you specify it in your house rules you can @Ed51

 

Personally I wouldn't book at listing in the UK that asked for my address (as there is no legal requirement here to have this and Airbnb keeps this information anyway).

 

You obviously need to keep any information like this you receive according to the General Data Protection Regulations, so should be able to demonstrate this to any guests who inquiries.

Levan3
Level 2
Vilnius, Lithuania

I started hostingjsut recently and I had the same problem already after the first few hostings. So I started double checking with my guests how many people will be visiting after every booking. Some of them admitted  that they will be bringing more people than indicated. To those who admitted, I've sent the booking alteration request. All except one agreed and send paied extra guest fee. 

 

However, I noticed that these people then tend to subtract a star for the value element. Out of 6 such cases, 4 guests rated lower for the value, even though I had reduced prices to collect reviews. There is a connection for sure, because out of my 18 reviews only these 4 guest gave lower stars for the value, whilst all the remainig guests gave me 5 stars in all components. 

 

So, now I decided that I won't ask for alteration anymore (at least for the initial period). I will instead report this behaviour to Airbnb. Hope they'll act on this.

Helen3
Level 10
Bristol, United Kingdom

No @Levan3

 

It's because these people are cheapskates and you have caught them out. 

 

It's nothing to do with the value you provide.

 

Do continue to ask for the additional fee.

 

You are the one who should be marking the guests down and letting other hosts know they have done this.