Wrong number of guests and more guests showing up at check in time

[Kara69]

It seems that people entering the wrong number of guests and/or more guests showing up at check in time it's a common problem.  Have you had this issue?  How did you handle it?  It seems to me that Airbnb can make a simple change on the booking form asking to confirm the number and making sure that the guests knows the importance of entering the correct number of guests.

[Linda108]

It is more effective for the host to confirm the number of guests, @Kara69, then you can reinforce the consequences of unregistered guests coming to the listing.  Be sure your rules do not allow unregistered guests and define what you mean.  Sometimes guests think it is okay for some friends to come during the day or crash on the couch unless you specifically rule it out.  If a guest is just trying to scam you, you need a way to confirm the number of people in your home.   Some hosts have a door camera that is linked to their phone if they are remote hosts.

[Kara69]

Thanks for your input Linda.  We already do all that, however we still have guests who show with more people than agreed when booking.  We clearly state on the guest access information and house rules.  We even send them the house rules a day after booking, but of course they don't read them. 😞

That's why I think that a simple alert saying 'Make sure that you enter the correct number of guests when booking' might be very beneficial.

Guest access

You will have the entire house for yourself, there are no shared areas. All guests have access to the master bedroom. However, based on the agreed number of guests at the time of reservation, you will have access to the other bedrooms.

House Rules...
LEASE AGREEMENT
...
2. Rental Party. The rental party shall consist of Adults and Children (under age 18). The maximum number of guests is limited to 6 persons. Additional guests staying the night beyond the agreed upon number is not allowed. Any guests found staying at the house over the agreed number at the time of reservation will be charged a $200/night fee, taken from the deposit.

[Natasha45]

How will you get the $200 from the deposit? The deposit is something we as hosts never see & from what I’ve read, is IMPOSSIBLE to get from Airbnb. 

[Jess78]

You probably already have done this, but post clearly on your listing on Airbnb and post clearly in a printed out version of your house rules that as per your insrance policy, there are to be no extra guests who are not on the reservation without prior approval from you. Guests will be asked to leave if they violate this policy. I also ask guest to message me if any unregistered guest would like to visit during the day or evening. Then I approve or decline, and sometimes request extra money. If I don't get the extra money, I would cancel their reservation but that has not happened.

I have any guests over 4 people paying extra, so I also confirm after check in and keep tabs. I'm sure people could be snuck in and I'm pretty sure it's happened, but that would be more my fault for not monitoring it more closely I suppose. People are always going to push the limits...

[Kara69]

Thanks for you reply.  Yes, we already do that.  We very clearly include that in the house rules, we send them the house rules a day after booking and we have a printed version included on the house book that it's the first thing they see when they come inside the house.  I guess that I need to start confirming the number of guests routinely after they book.  Thanks again.

[Victoria567]

Phone air bnb immediately to say extra folk arrived and that you cannot host them and ask for advice but tell guests to wait outside and do not let them in under any means.

Ive heard this is a problem particularly with orientalist guests who rethinks it’s fine to pitch up with extra people.

Tell them only the number of guests in the booking only to be permitted to lodge with you and  tell the others to find a hotel.

its not your problem.....but WILL be your problem if you let them all in!

[Brian638]

Kara,

I had a dangerous experience with this several weeks ago and took my space down until yesterday to tighten it up.

My biggest mistake was letting them in the space. They booked for one and showed up with 4 at 4AM, hours after when they were supposed to arrive.

I felt just let them in the space to not cause a scene in those early hours and disturb the neighbors. I should not have done that. They smoked pot in the space and stunk up the entire house and then would not leave at checkout and stayed 3 hours past check out time. It took me driving them to just get them off the property.

My co-host was watching this on our outdoor and host space cameras and called the police as she was fearing for my safety since there were 4 of them and one of me. They actually entered the host space where we have a security camera and were poking around my garage. Quite a mess. Had I not let them in, called Airbnb and the police if necessary it would have not been as big an issue. I also made several other mistakes in my listing that allowed this to happen. If I was one of my neighbors I would not have been happy with me allowing this to happen.

After the fact, Airbnb was totally useless and could have not shown any less concern about this had they tried. Totally useless customer service from 3 different reps. They showed no empathy and just wanted me off the phone as quickly as possible.

To help prevent this in the future I added a $250 security deposit and only Guest who are ID verified and have recommendations from other host are allowed to Instant book. I also have this in my listing in about 3 places and it is a question they must respond to at booking. I also then message them right after the booking telling them I am just quadruple checking that they are aware of the 2 guest limit, even during the day, and that they will not be allowed to stay if they show up with more guest than that and Airbnb will be called to arrange other arrangements for them. I keep sending them this message every couple hours until they respond to it.

I am going to stick with Instant book for now but one more issue and it is going off. Then all guest can request and will need to answer the question before I will approve their reservation. Guest that do not meet the requirement already have to request to book due to my settings and cannot instant book.

So to summarize my mistakes were:

1. Allowing anyone to book with instant book. At the very least require ID approved. I would highly recommend recommendations from other guests also. 

2. No security deposit. Put a security deposit of at least $150. I did $250. This helps make people think twice about breaking the rules.

3. Letting them enter the space. This was my biggest mistake. Give em an inch they take a mile. So true.

4. Use Airbnb's self-serving auto pricing. It dropped my listing to $54 and I did not catch it. The result was a group of young partying adults to be able to book my space. Airbnb's auto pricing is geared towards renting your space at all cost. Airbnb still make out (they don't have to deal with anything) while us host seldom do.

In the end, this was entirely my fault as I was not diligent in my listing. I hope this helps others from repeating my mistakes 🙂