max numbers of guests

[Lucinda-Beaumont0]

I have just noticed that although in my settings it says we can host a max of 9 people (7 beds plus 2 sofa beds), when someone tries to book the system will only let them have a max of 7.

I have only just noticed this and it is causing me a headache as some potential guests made an enquiry for 7 people, asking to use the sofa beds too. I said to them that we would usually charge extra for the sofa beds but that in this case (since I thought there were only 7 people coming and I hadn't mentioned in the description that we charge extra for this) that I would waive the charge. Now it transpires that they are actually a party of 9, not 7. If the system had been working correctly they would have been quoted quite a significant extra amount for two extra people over 7 to cover hassle and laundry etc so I'm technically being heavily short changed here.

Firstly, any ideas how to fix the 7 person vs 9 person technical issue stopping people booking? And secondly, any advice on how to handle the fact that they are a bigger group than they initially enquired about and I would like to charge the right amount for extra people even though I said I wouldn't! Would asking them to pay half of the amount they should have paid for two extra guests be very cheeky??!!

Sorry - long winded explanation but I hope it makes sense!

Thanks for any advice!

[City-Limits-Ranch0]

You really cannot charge more now, you will just have to chalk that up to goodwill.  In future never offer to do anything at no charge.  If you decide later to no charge something then you are not locked into it.

[Brittany1]

@Lucinda-Beaumont0 I totally disagree with @City-Limits-Ranch0. Is the reservation written for 7 or 9? If it is for 7 but there are actually 9 guests then I would let the guests know that there was an error with Airbnb, that you must have the correct amount of guests on the reservation and that there will be an extra charge. Airbnb only insures you for the amount of guests you have in your reservation. We take that fact very seriously. If you are having trouble adding the extra guests call Airbnb.

*In the midst of writing this I looked at your profile. It says that you allow 9 guests and don't charge an extra guest fee. So I'm not really sure where the confusion is. If you don't have an extra guest fee listed you can't charge someone. Our apartments have a 6 person max but we charge an extra guest fee over 2 guests. You might want to consider something like this.

So I would still recommend calling Airbnb to have their reservation changed to 9 BUT you can't charge for them because you say your place accepts up to nine guests. Good luck.

[Andrea9]

@Lucinda-Beaumont0

I just filled in but didn't send for an inquiry, and the system took the 9 guests easily.

And as @Brittany1 says your accommodation price is listed as is for 9 guests, no extra fee entered for extra guests beyond a certain number.

[Lucinda-Beaumont0]

Thanks for all the replies everyone. The fact it didn't say I have an additional fee for extra guests above 7 seems to have been me playing with it last night and forgetting what buttons I had pressed - oops! Have now reinstated the charge again. However when I tried before it was definitely only letting me put in a max of 7 even though it said max 9 in my settings. Anyhoo....since it Now appears to be fixed, hopefully I won't have the same problem!

In the end I explained we were having system gremlins (although apparently some of my own making when trying to correct the problem - whoops!) and came to an agreement that we would charge a small additional fee for the extra two but not the full normal amount. He was happy with this so fingers crossed all now sorted!

[Nancy67]

I had a convo with Airbnb a few weeks ago about this. I have 1 queen in my ensuite and the max number of people is listed as 2.

I received a request from a previously booked women (party of 2) coming in to town for a wedding, who mentioned they would like to bring another freind-- I replyed back and told them there is only 1 bed and there wasnt room for a third-- she promptly replied back they would put the 3rd girl on a pallet on the floor-- I said, fine, I have a twin blow up mattress that we could put in there for her, but that I would have to charge her $15 a day for the 3 nights for the 3rd girl, and I would ammend the the charges to include the 3rd person.

I upped the price and attempted to change the reservation to 3 and it wouldnt let me. I called Airbnb to find out why and they said I would have to ammend my entire listing (semi-permanantly) to 3 in order to change this one reservation. They suggested instead at keeping the number at 2 and just upping the charge and getting the booking guest to agree to the charges-- So I did.

That created much confusion and the guest seeing additional charges without upping the occupancy to 3--

She also argued that in my listing states "I dont charge for extra guests" No, youre right, I replied, but I also have a max number of 2 for the listing...she didnt quite understand that. 

Two things confuse me about this: Airbnb insists that all guests who are coming must be pre-registered. The Cust service phone rep advised me NOT to change my listing to an occupancy of 3.  

Also, the guest hedged and said she would pay me in cash upon arrival of the difference IF the 3rd girl "decided" to come on the trip. (I told her absolutley not, she would have to do this through Airbnb) however, when all three showed up and she tried to ammend the booking, it was too late to accept the funds through the system.

I never did get the $45, and Airbnb did not collect their rightful part of the ammended reservation either. Boo. 

[Andrea9]

@Nancy67

First of all - Airbnb apparently does a rudimentary kind of ID check, but I think it's more of a financial check, because even with all flaws in the system THAT works perfectly.

Checking the Verified ID for booking guests, means guest has to provide several uploads of id to prove they are who they are. That would most probably stop most scammers. So a good thing.

I think that with pre-registering all guests the rep meant that they have to be counted in the booking. As of yet there is no automatic ID check or even name registration of extra guests, unless the other guest(s) already have a profile.

By asking booking guest for full names and doing your own ID check you are only covering your own a** (kind of like asking to provide an official ID to back up a student ID somewhere before giving them reduced entry).

Re. extra guests, extra fee....:

The Airbnb system is quite good for what it is but has limitations. However, fine-tuning them to one's own needs requires knowledge of the site settings and some creativity.

The extra guests for no charge are a silly way of the system saying that you have a fixed charge for the maximum no. of guests.

Misleading of course because guests automatically think freeby.

What to do?

In your settings choose a base price for 1 guest and an extra charge for every guest after for ex. 1 guest.The extra charge can be minimal - 5 $, whatever. The 'no charge' in your listing will have disappeared and no more misunderstandings.

Then if somebody tries to stretch their booking with extra guests - children are a favorite here, because heck, they're not grown ups!

That's when you say, sorry but no. No third guest.

If you decide you're not that consequent with a No for a third person, then you do the following possibility:

You'd have to have principally chosen a larger extra guest charge in place after the first guest to make it work.

Go to your maximum no. of guests setting, then switch it to 3. After that go to the reservation and make a change (making changes is possible until the guests leave or the end of that day): 

The algorithms now let you type in 3 guests. The system will automatically upload the extra guest fee. 

If the 3rd person only stays for part of the original booking, then you'll have to calculate all fees in total and overwrite the automatic calculation. 

(And add this calculation in a message to the guest, so that it's clear what has been arranged.)

You send off this change offer, and your guest will have to confirm it.

After sending the change quickly go back and reverse the maximum no. of guests back to 2.  

Do not forget, since you'll otherwise end up having the same problem with bookings for too many guests as @Lucinda-Beaumont0 did!

Playing with the settings like this lets you individually adapt bookings for individual needs like extra days:

For ex. my set maximum no. of days/nights for a booking is 6. A guest said that she would need one day longer before flying back, and if I was open to that. I had already gotten a vey good feeling from her inquiry, the day she needed was still available, so no problem.

I switched my max nights from 6 to 7;

made a change in the reservation from the booked 6 to 7 and sent it.

Then switched the max back from 7 to 6.

Or if you are okay with a guest coming for one stay with an absent day or so inbetween that you don't want to charge.

You can have the booking for ex. Aug 2 till Aug 15 , but allow the guest to leave everything for 2 days and come back (without extra cleaning) for the rest of his stay.

In the original booking the system of course calculates 13 nights, while in the calculation you can overwrite the automatic price to reflect all fees for only 11 nights. In your separate message to guest you explain exactly what this entails, so that it can't back-fire on you if they decide to stay the 2 days after all. (Then you simply change the reservation again).

Easy and simple!

Hope it clarifies it all a bit.