Event pricing

[Carmen-and-Scott0]

We recently opened our str and have had three people reach out about having a wedding at our place. We turned them down citing we are not set up to accommodate events at this time. Then today, we realized we had a wedding at our place (which was not disclosed at time of booking). Our guests checkout tomorrow. We aren't even mad about it, but we haven't seen the condition of the property yet either. We are flattered that guests would want to have such a special celebration at our place and want to lean into it. Not to mention, my husband is an ordained minister and I do photography. We are out of our element as far as how to go about pricing for it (per person? lump-sum event fee?). We would love to glean some information from those of you that are already occupying this space. Thanks you so much in advance!

[Debra300]

@Carmen-and-Scott0,

I would be upset with the guests because your house rules state no parties or events, and will assume that there were more than the 8 person maximum.  The fact that they had the wedding anyway is very disrespectful.  You have no grounds to request additional payment from these guests, and I don't get the impression that you want them to leave due to the house rules breach.

If you want to offer ministerial and photography services at your property, you may want to explore offering Experiences.  I don't know the details, but I am the information is available at the Airbnb Help Center.

[Carmen-and-Scott0]

Thank you Debra. I thought our listing had $20 charge for every person above the 8 guests, but admittedly airbnb isn't the same platform I used back in 2019. I'm having issues with the House Manual.  I tried to paste our House Manual into the appropriate spot under "post booking" and there's only one paragraph which is sorely insufficient. I've been googling things to try to figure out why that is happening, but to no avail as of yet.  We don't plan on requesting additional monies from the guests. I'm acquiring information to see if we want to "lean into" doing this or, moving forward, to make sure we do everything in our power to discourage our guests from doing this in the future.

[Debra300]

@Carmen-and-Scott0,

To find your listing's dashboard be sure that you've clicked the Switch to Hosting button when you logon to Airbnb.  Click the Menu arrow and select Listings.

You set the maximum number of guests on the Listing and details tab of listing's dashboard.

In the listing Pricing and availability tab on a host's dashboard is where you can charge an extra person fee for each guest above a pre-set base number that's included in the standard rate up to the maximum guest limit that you've set 

In this example, you have chosen 2 guests to include in the standard rate and charge $20 for each extra guest.  The nightly rate could increase up to $120 for the six additional guests to reach your maximum of 8.  There is no systematic way to automatically charge for guests above that amount, but you could submit a payment request to guests via the Resolution Center.  I would not recommend that you use Airbnb as an event venue, because they do not collect a true security deposit nor provide coverage for damages as a result of a party or event.  Note, that you will be required to have business insurance that will cover events, because your home owner's insurance is unlikely to provide coverage for claims pertaining to a business transaction.  Also, check your state, county or city regulations regarding licensure and other requirements for hosting events.

[Carmen-and-Scott0]

That's the odd part. I added the $20 per person, per night for every guest over 8 when I created the listing, but I don't see where someone who is booking sees that information. And if they can't see it, they can say they were not aware and we would not have any recourse. Maybe it's because it is "per night" so if the additional people are only there during the day, then it doesn't count? But they are using consumables and creating wear and tear on the property.

My thought process is this, if airbnb asks for details (such as the extra charge per person per night over the max) then it only makes sense that it is disclosed or readily available on our listing when someone books, but that doesn't seem to be the case.  We're you able to see that? If not, I wonder at what point of the booking process is that information available? Is it only IF a guest is honest and books over the max of 8? 

There are a few issues I have ran into with airbnb since listing the Chateau. I'm opening up another can of worms and I am thankful you are giving me valuable feedback. I'm trying to figure out what of all the data-entry put into a listing (and it's extensive) is actually being disclosed to potential and/or booking guests.

When I google my questions, Google's default is to assume I don't know how to follow prompts or use the airbnb platform, which is not the case.