What are extras services do you charge for? Where in your listing do you include them?

[Mary1211]

Hi there,

I'd love to hear how other guests include/communicate extra service charges.  

Do you put it in the house rules? The house manual? The listing, if so , where?  Do you place them all together, or do you have them littered throughout in the more relevant parts?

I'd love to see your exerpts of how you communicate extra guest charges.  

Similarly, if a guest asks for something you charge extra for, like a pet, do you say "Yes, and at 10 dollars a ngiht, it will come to an extra 50 dollars." 

I've been feeling taken for granted by a lot of the amenties I've been offering that make more work for me (early check in, extra guests during part of the stay, late check out, free parking permits, in unit laundry, pets, luggage storage, etc.) and if no one is mentioning it, and leaving me medicore reviews in spite of it, I figure I might as well start charging for services that make more work for me and do provide a material benefit for guests. 

I'd love to see what kinds of amenities other hosts offer, and how they communicate them in a clear manner understood by the guests.

Thanks so much for your time! 

[Sally221]

Dear Mary,

I'd put the charges + amenities in the listing as available perks or upgrades. We all hate feeling blindsided by extra charges we didn't see coming ( and there are  people who suffer from willful blindness )

Some people won't value anything that's free.  There's a lot of anecdotal evidence that being too inexpensive & accomodating attracts the less appreciative and more demanding guests. Perhaps a little market research of comparable listings in your area  would help you decide what amenities you do/don't want to offer? Good luck, Sally

[Mary1211]

Any particular place in the listing, like the front page or the house rules, or both?

and if the front page, any particular suggestions where exactly you may put things and would it be all together or littered in the relevant areas?

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Mary1211 

we can do early/a bit later check in and check out and luggage storage for an hour or two sometimes but only if it isn't inconvenient to us. We don't charge for it. We also don't mention it anywhere, it is on request.

Out of the season we accept pets and charge for it, it is written in our house rules and we tell the price during our communication prior the arrival. We charge for pets through booking alteration or through the resolution center before guest's arrival.

We also offer airport transfer ( basically I just contact the best taxi company and make a reservation for them). The Guest pays directly to the driver and we don't charge for this service. This is mentioned in our listing's description.

Depending of what you offer you can mention it in your description or in the house rules.

[Mary1211]

Thank you! My house rules does list the cost for dogs, and a guest asked if it was okay to bring the dog but didn't mention anything about the price.  I always feel like you could anger or upset them by reminding them of the price tag, even though it is clearly listed (but I've had guests upset about things clearly listed, like my place does not include a kitchen for the private room option under amenities, and the listing says in plain terms that the kitchen is a private area, there are no pictures of a kitchen, etc. Yet guests are regularly upset that there is no kitchen.. or I'm woken up by a guest in my kitchen, which is right outside my bedroom, at 7 a.m.

[Linda2606]

Did anyone ever respond as to where to add the fee's for early or late check in? I had been asked by a guest and fortunately we had the room ready so it wasn't an issue but we recently had this happen on another platform. Most guests here are very courteous and respectful but I figured I'd be consistent with the two platforms we are on.  So I was curious where we could add this as it is an inconvenience when the room is being cleaned and they show up an hour early and expect to be able to hang out while they wait.

[Mary1211]

You can put it in the house rules and listing description as well as initial messages.