What to do when Guest books & intends to bring more than #of people on listing

What to do when Guest books & intends to bring more than #of people on listing

Hi,

 

A guest who seems very nice and has 3 positive reviews booked 2 nights in our 2 room suite that we have listed for 4 people. He said that his party has 3 adults, 2 boys about age 5 and a baby. He said he would bring a crib for the baby. 

 

The problem is that our suite rooms are small with queen beds. Our home is near the beach with older systems that are delicate. Because of this our listing is for 4 people and assumed it means not more. I'm concerned that having 6 people is too much for our listing but am worried about refusing the booking because how it will effect our ranking with AirBNB. 

 

Can anyone please offer suggestions on how you would handle this? Should I just let this go and change the listing to prevent this from happening again (is that possible) ? I am new to AirBNB as of June.

 

Thank you for your suggestions!

Julie

21 Replies 21
Lisa723
Level 10
Quilcene, WA

Hi, @Julie1036  Airbnb doesn't count children under 2 as guests. Your maximum is set to 4 so your listing can't be booked for more than 2 people over age 2. Also, your listing says it's not suitable for infants. So this must have been an inquiry, not a booking request, right? In that case you can just reply saying you are sorry but your maximum is 4 and your place is not suitable for babies. Then you can just let the inquiry expire.

Lisa723
Level 10
Quilcene, WA

(If somehow it was a booking request, then either that's an Airbnb bug or he misrepresented the number of guests in the request. In either case bring in Airbnb customer support. Declined requests will count against you.)

Hi Lisa,

 

Thank you so much for taking time to let me know your thoughts on this! He did make the reservation on Friday (2 days ago) and listed only "1 guest" (it is still listed that way). At the same time of booking he sent me a message that his party has 3 adults and 2 kids. I accepted his request based on this information in the message.

 

I wanted to be nice and didn't have more details so I replied that kids could bring a sleeping bag and if a baby then they can sleep in a portable crib. Today he replied that it is actually 2 kids (ages 3 & 6) and a baby + the 3 adults. 

 

What would you do in this situation?

 

Thanks again,

Julie

 

 

@Julie1036 In this case you can contact AirBnb support asking them to cancel the reservation for you without penalty, because you have a right not to accept unpaid or unlisted guests.

@Claudiu-Nicolae0  She already agreed to accept the unpaid guest. It's the infant they tossed in after the fact that there is really no room for a crib in either room. We all know AirBnB will not let her cancel because of a of an infant as it's part of their policy they don't count as guests. If she can some how prove her statement in rules to AirBnB, she might have a way out.

 

Not safe or suitable for infants (Under 2 years) - Outdoor deck has open stairs.

 

Maybe take pictures showing how unsuitable it is and to ask AirBnB to please inform the guests that she cannot responsible for the liability involved by being bring the infant may work. It's about all I can come up with. I actually have a fear for the safety of the 3 year old. They can ghost on a parent in seconds, as a mother of 4 and grandmother of 3 I know this first hand. @Julie1036 I would seriously change your listing to also say Not safe for child 5 and under, The outdoor deck has no gate would scare the heck out of me or install one that can be locked to prevent toddlers for falling.  

 

Try AirbnbHelp on Twitter the worse that happens is you host them. This the best I can come up with:

 

Good afternoon, I really need your help because I want to be a great host and I have a challenge here - I know you can help me sort this out!!!!

 

A guest booked a reservation and he did not mention an infant under 2 I would not have booked them as my listing has safety and liabiity concerns for small tottlers/infants. Had they mentioned the infant up front I would have had to decline for this safety issue as my rules state: Not safe or suitable for infants (Under 2 years) - Outdoor deck has open stairs.  Attached are photo's of the deck, stairs and stairway opening. It's XX feet to the bottom and there are XX stairs. A small child could be seriously injuried if a parent just turns his head for one split second. Thank you for any help in this concerning matter. 

 

Regards, 

Julie

Jackie148
Level 7
Edens Landing, Australia

My add clearly states not suitable for children I had a request for a booking for 3 months with a 3 year old and asked for me to supply a cot for their child I informed them that my apartment was not set up or suitable I declined the offer and was not penalised 

Letti0
Level 10
Atascosa, TX

@Lisa723  I am almost betting it was an actual request with 1 guest then he told the host it is acutally 3 adults, 2 children and 1 infant and sends the request  this way becuase they are over the limit they can not IB. I get this kinda thing alot they can't IB, but want me to take them anyway. There is a reason you can't IB your guest count is over my limit.

You are spot on. That is just what happened (please see the reply to Lisa that I just posted with details of how it happened). What do you suggest that I do?

 

@Julie1036  I guess my gut was right. He didn't want to pay more, so he took advantage of you being a newer host and probably not knowing better. This is going to be a hard one to get out of. He's an experience AirBnB traveler with 3 reviews. He has learned to play the system would be my guess. He can clearly see your a new host who will not want to rock the boat on a newer listing and knows you can't complain to AirBnB about the infant as AirBnB say they don't count as living breathing humans. So, he got you to agree to the two children first then spring the extra on you. This is going to be a real pain in the a$$ booking is my guess. You can't cancel as you approved the extra child. It was not an IB to say your uncomfortable with it. You don't have a rental agreement like I do that I can get them to cancel within the 48 hr grace period penalitiy free of charge. I'm racking my brain on this one. I'm going to think on this for a little bit and see if I can come up with some other idea for you, but it's not looking hopeful. 

I'm new at Airbnb. first day. lol. Can you explain what you mean?

 

"I get this kinda thing alot they can't IB, but want me to take them anyway. There is a reason you can't IB your guest count is over my limit."

Lisa723
Level 10
Quilcene, WA

What a jerk. I’d call CS and hope for the best. In future do not accept bookings with a messsge indicating number of guests is not accurately captured in booking. Good eye @Letti0 in three years of hosting three properties this has never happened to me.

Thank you all for chiming in. I feel so taken advantage of. I'll try calling CS and post what happens. And I learned a good lesson. I really appreciate all you ladies who helped me to understand what happened.

@Julie1036 DO NOT CALL use Twitter with the message to them I typed above. 

 

Here it is:

 

Good afternoon, I really need your help because I want to be a great host and I have a challenge here - I know you can help me sort this out!!!!

 

A guest booked a reservation and he did not mention an infant under 2 I would not have booked them as my listing has safety and liabiity concerns for small tottlers/infants. Had they mentioned the infant up front I would have had to decline for this safety issue as my rules state: Not safe or suitable for infants (Under 2 years) - Outdoor deck has open stairs.  Attached are photo's of the deck, stairs and stairway opening. It's XX feet to the bottom and there are XX stairs. A small child could be seriously injuried if a parent just turns his head for one split second. Thank you for any help in this concerning matter. 

 

Regards, 

Julie

So here is an update. I took everyone's advise and called CS bringing attention to the details you all suggested. The person I spoke to was very nice and said it's not my fault and that the guest broke the rules on 2 accounts: not correctly listing the number of guests and the baby. I told her I don't want to be the one to contact the guest and I was worried about this lowering my status as a host. She said not to worry on both issues and that they will take care of it. 

 

I will post what happens after the case manager contacts me.

 

Thank you all again!!!