extra guests have arrived at our cottage greater then on the reservation

Gary287
Level 2
Toronto, Canada

extra guests have arrived at our cottage greater then on the reservation

I have some Blink Security cameras setup at our rental cottage. Not only is this listed in the description, but I've put stickers on our doors that say the premises are protected by security cameras. Recent guests that are staying with us now, have brought a dog which we only allow if they pay extra for, and there seems to be a lot more people at our cottage then was on the original reservation. We charge extra for any more than 6 people. Do I confront the guests with my security camera footage, or write to Airbnb? I'm not really sure how to handle this, and I'm getting really pissed off that people keep doing this, and thus the reason for the Security cameras, which I've found invaluable when people are checking in. 

15 Replies 15
David126
Level 10
Como, CO

I am sure you can think of a valid reason requiring you to attend the property.

David
Inna22
Level 10
Chicago, IL

@Gary287

I would first politely reach out through the app with something like: Thank you for staying with me. I charge extra for more than six people and for a dog. In order to properly adjust your reservation, please provide new total". If they reply, send a reservation adjustment. If not, tell them that you have footage and you really do not want to make a big deal out of it but they either pay or Airbnb makes them pay. If that fails, call airbnb. I think being matter of fact allows people to save face and they are more likely to pay.

Pete28
Level 10
Seattle, WA

- if at all possible go to the property. Dogs and extra people may have other physical consequences within 😞

- change your listing to be clear you live nearby and like to meet each guest personally...

Letti0
Level 10
Atascosa, TX

@Inna22  My guest is they tell AirBnB it's a service animal. 

 

@Gary287  Maybe part of the issue you are having is they cannot book for the 8 total you say they can have. It limits booking your place to 6. So if they have 2 children they can not book them. If you have an extra guest fee over 6 no one will know about, you need to adjust your limit to 8 for it to apply. 

The reason for that is I really don't want 8 People staying in our house. 6 is ideal(whether adults or children). If people want to have 8(and at any point during their stay) then I want them to pay extra. So I thought that my description of that is pretty clear, but maybe I will have to rewrite it. 

 

As for service animal, why would that make a difference? Is it against the law to refuse a service animal? 

@Gary287  Correct you can't refuse them, but I am pretty sure in Canada like the US you can't charge a pet fee for a service dog. 

@Letti0 @Gary287 I have the same situation, in that I allow 4 per my settings, but will allow up to 6 if the situation is right. So far, I've not had anyone sneak people in, but have had a few people ask me if they can bring 5 or 6.  Both times, the situation was fine and I was okay with it, but I feel I need to then change the total number of people booked for possible liability issues, in case there is a dispute that needs to be resolved through AirBnb, etc.  

 

I have found it will not allow me to go in and manually change it to 5 or 6 however, which I think we should be able to do.  Is there no other way Letti, than to change the settings to reflect 6?  If we want to charge for that 5th or 6th person, do we then just 'Request Money'?   What would you suggest? 

 

 

I had this very same situation last week. The guest booked 2 people, he then told me that there were going to be several overnight guests totaling 6 people. This was after the reservation had started. I said I didn't have any issue with this, but that he needed to e-mail Airbnb support and let them know to change the reservation, because of liability issues. He did and didn't have any problem doing so. I don't know what transpired between this guest and Airbnb, but they sent me an extra $100, and we received a very positive review from the guest. 

If a guest knows that there might be some additional overnight guests, I generally don't have an issue with it either, but as you said it's a liability and we need to know. 

@Gary287  Once the reservation has started you can not change guest counts, only AirBnB can. A real pain to have to call them I wish they would change this stupid issue. 

@John1080  On HA/VRBO the host can override the maximum easily without issue, not so on AirBnB. The only way to get around it I have found is to temporary change your maximum send the special offer or altered reservation. Then set it back to your real maximum. You could also have AirBnB change it, but that takes too much time IMHO.  

@Letti0 Thanks! I have gone ahead and changed it to 6 for the time being to test it out, while keeping my extra fee for guests exceeding 4. I'll see how this works out for a bit. 

@John1080  I had a booking for 16 and they needed to add one more. Guess what you can only do up to 16 on AirBnB even customer service could not change that one.

David126
Level 10
Como, CO

More likely to be an Assistance Animal than a Service Animal. 

 

Assistance Animals do not need to be declared.

David

I don't think this is a service animal, and I have at the very top of my listing that I allow small dogs at an additional charge of $75 per dog for the week, this looks like family pet. These folks brought a Golden Lab, which is a fairly large dog, and didn't even let us know. Also they've definitely been allowing additional overnight guests, without letting us know. I'm compiling my security cam footage now, so that I can figure out what to do next. 

I really don't want to have a bad review after having a perfect 5 star rating and this being our first real season with Airbnb, this guest was also an instant book, which I'm now considering getting rid of, because at least the other way I get to have sense of who's staying in our home before they book us.